Seamus Heaney, from “Squarings”
Seamus Heaney, from “Squarings” Seamus Heaney often said that, from his experience as a poet, one’s creative life followed three … Continue Reading Seamus Heaney, from “Squarings”
Seamus Heaney, from “Crossings”
Seamus Heaney, from “Crossings” Seamus Heaney often said that, from his experience as a poet, one’s creative life followed three … Continue Reading Seamus Heaney, from “Crossings”
Seamus Heaney, from “Settings”
Seamus Heaney, from “Settings” Seamus Heaney often said that, from his experience as a poet, one’s creative life followed three … Continue Reading Seamus Heaney, from “Settings”
Seamus Heaney, from “Lightenings”
Seamus Heaney, from “Lightenings” Seamus Heaney often said that, from his experience as a poet, one’s creative life followed three … Continue Reading Seamus Heaney, from “Lightenings”
Seamus Heaney, “The Strand at Lough Beg” (An Elegy from the Troubles)
Seamus Heaney, “The Strand at Lough Beg” In Memory of Colum McCartney All round this little island, on the strand … Continue Reading Seamus Heaney, “The Strand at Lough Beg” (An Elegy from the Troubles)
Seamus Heaney’s “Beowulf”
From the end of Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, here is an immense mourning for a person and a civilization, … Continue Reading Seamus Heaney’s “Beowulf”
Ship in Air
Here’s a nice anecdote told twice, first from some anonymous Irish source, and then Seamus Heaney’s version of it in … Continue Reading Ship in Air
Heaney Comes to Poetry
Here are some of Seamus Heaney’s memories of reading, writing, and poetry, from earliest schooldays to university, all taken from … Continue Reading Heaney Comes to Poetry
Heaney on Writing
Here’s Seamus Heaney talking about writing, from Dennis O’Driscoll’s book-length interview with him, Stepping Stones: On Inspiration On the week … Continue Reading Heaney on Writing
5 Elegies by Seamus Heaney
from “Clearances” When all the others were away at Mass I was all hers as we peeled potatoes. They broke … Continue Reading 5 Elegies by Seamus Heaney
“All I know is a door into the dark”: 2 Poems by Seamus Heaney
A young Seamus Heaney recalls a blacksmith from his boyhood, while a much older Seamus Heaney illustrates the sometimes excessive … Continue Reading “All I know is a door into the dark”: 2 Poems by Seamus Heaney
The Poet Speaks #11: George Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Philip Levine, Stephen King, Seamus Heaney: “struggling erring human creatures”
George Eliot, on empathy: The greatest benefit we owe to the artist, whether painter, poet, or novelist, is the extension … Continue Reading The Poet Speaks #11: George Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Philip Levine, Stephen King, Seamus Heaney: “struggling erring human creatures”
The Great Myths #23: The Monster Grendel (Anglo-Saxon)
Then from the moor under misty hillsides, Grendel came gliding girt with God’s anger. The man-scather … Continue Reading The Great Myths #23: The Monster Grendel (Anglo-Saxon)
The State of Poetry Now?
Are poets today largely talking to themselves? Are many of them happy to do so, locked away in academia or … Continue Reading The State of Poetry Now?
Heaney’s Bog Poems
Here’s Seamus Heaney, first talking about his poems on the bog bodies of Iron Age Europe, in Dennis O’Driscoll’s Stepping … Continue Reading Heaney’s Bog Poems
