"Anyone who reads poetry has
reason to rejoice at living in the age when Seamus Heaney is
writing"
The New York Times Book Review
This
website is aimed at encouraging interest in Irish poet Seamus
Heaney and enhancing the enjoyment of his work. It also seeks
to celebrate and promote that special area where Seamus Heaney was born and grew up, namely South Derry
in Northern Ireland. It is not owned by, nor affiliated in any
way to, Seamus Heaney, nor does it seek to represent his views
nor those of his publishers Contact with him cannot be
made through this site.
Seamus Heaney was born near Castledawson
in County Derry and now divides his time between Dublin and
Glanmore in County Wicklow. His body of published
work is vast and includes a mix of poetry, prose, criticism, theatre
and translation.
He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford and for many years
taught at Harvard University. His writings, lectures and readings
have made him one of the most popular and admired writers of
our time. He is a member of Aosdana, an association of people
in Ireland who have achieved distinction in the arts. He was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995
"for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past".
Seamus Heaney is best known for his poems, including translations
into English of the work other poets. Along with Ted Hughes he has also
edited two best-selling poetry anthologies, The Rattle Bag (London
& Boston, Faber and Faber, 1982) and The School Bag (1997)
He has published two plays, The Cure at Troy: A Version of
Sophocles' Philoctetes (London, Faber and Faber in association
with Field Day, 1990); and a translation, The Burial at Thebes:
Sophocles' Antigone (Faber & Faber, 2004).
There is one important thing to say about poetry: you don't need to know a lot of it for it to have value and meaning in your life or the life of your society."
Seamus Heaney, Friends of Classics, 13th January 2004
Seamus Heaney is one of the most recognisable figures in Ireland
and beyond. One of the things that has endeared him to so many
people at home and abroad is that he has never lost touch with
his South Derry roots. In his poems, essays, interviews and
in his other public remarks he often affectionately refers to
places such as Mossbawn, his childhood home ... to the townlands
of Tamniarn, The Creagh, Anahorish, Broagh, Leitrim and Derrygarve
and Tamlaghduff ... to the Parishes of Ballyscullion and Magherafelt
... to the towns or villages of Castledawson, Bellaghy, Magherafelt
and Toome ... and to other places in the locality such as Devlin's Forge at The Hillhead, Lagan's Road, The Strand at Lough Beg,
Church Island, Lough Neagh and The Old Cross of Ardboe.
" If you have a strong first world and a strong
set of relationships then in some part of you you are always
free, you can walk the world because you know where you belong,
you have some place to come back to."
Seamus Heaney at Magherafelt Civic Reception January
1996
If you would like to know more about these places and to find
out about Heaney Breaks and guided tours of South Derry go to
our Seamus
Heaney Tours page
In a generation of highly talented Irish writers, Seamus Heaney
stands out as a truely international figure. His influence on
contemporary poetry is considered to be immense. Robert Lowell
called Heaney "the most important Irish poet since Yeats." Many
others have echoed that sentiment. His influence is not restricted
to Ireland but is felt world-wide. In 1995 he followed in the
footsteps of three earlier Irish writers Shaw, Beckett and Yeats
by being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature "for works
of lyrical beauty and ethical depth which exalt everyday miracles
and the living past."
For a period of over forty years his poetry collections have
been featuring consistently in the best-seller lists. His volumes
make up two-thirds of the sales of living poets in the U.K.
Seamus Heaney's 2007 publication is a special limited
edition collection called The Riverbank Field. It is published
by Peter Fallon of Gallery Press. For more information visit
www.gallerypress.com
Seamus Heaney's contribution to the world of letters is not
confined to poetry. He is also a much respected critic and in
2003 he won the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism for
his book Finders Keepers. To mark the occasion Heaney published
a limited edition broadside poem called Testimonies - reproduced
later as Anahorish 1944 in his District and Circle collection.
Visitors to Heaney country can view this poem at Laurel
Villa Townhouse Magherafelt Seamus Heaney has
also made his mark as a playwright. His play The Cure at Troy,
an adaptation of Sophocles's Philotetes, has been widely quoted
in the context of the Northern Ireland Troubles and the ensuing
peace process.
Essential Reading - Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney (Hardcover) by Dennis O'Driscoll (Author) Published by Faber & Faber 6 Nov. 2008 ISBN-10: 0571242529 ISBN-13: 978-0571242528
RRP £22.50
Athough Seamus Heaney is the subject of numerous critical studies no comprehensive portrait has appeared until now. Through his own lively and eloquent reminiscences, "Stepping Stones" retraces the poet's steps from his early works, through to his receipt of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature and his post-Nobel life. It is supplemented with a large number of photographs, many from the Heaney family album and published here for the first time. In response to firm but subtle questioning from Dennis O'Driscoll, Seamus Heaney sheds a personal light on his work (poems, essays, translations, plays) and on the artistic and ethical challenges he faced, providing an original, diverting and absorbing store of reflections, opinions and recollections.
March 2009: Seamus Heaney Wins Prestigious David Cohen Prize for Literature
Seamus Heaney has been recognised for the "sheer scale" of his literary achievements with the £40,000 David Cohen prize. His fellow poet and chair of the award's judges, poet laureate Andrew Motion honoured Heaney for a body of poetry that over the past 40 years has "crystallised the story of our times, in language which has bravely and memorably continued to extend its imaginative reach", and for his critical writing, his translations and his lecturing, which "have invigorated the whole wider world of poetry". On receiving his prize, Heaney said the award was "highly honorific". "First of all there's the list of the previous winners, a roll call of the best; there's the fact that you don't enter for it but are chosen from the wide field of your ontemporaries; and then there's the verification of that reference to 'lifetime achievement'", he said, calling it "a lovely reward when offered by a panel of such distinguished writers and readers". Motion admitted that Heaney's reputation as Nobel laureate, bestselling poet and "venerated public figure" meant that "judging panels might be expected to feel some trepidation about bestowing another prize on him". But the David Cohen Prize judges felt that the "self-renewing force of his writing, and the sheer scale of his achievement", made the award of the prize "an absolutely right and proper act of recognition.At the presentation of the award Seamus Heaney chose two poems to sum up his lifetime achievement in poetry, namely The Underground his lyrical evocation of a moment during his honeymoon and his sonnet A Drink of Water. He admitted the difficulty of attempting to exemplify a body of work which spans over forty years in just two poems." It's the 'lifetime achievement' factor that means most to me, so I have a slight problem in knowing how to represent a lifetime of poems by reading only a couple of them," he told guests at the event at the British Library, thanking the prize's judges, chaired by poet laureate Andrew Motion, for "the corroboration that their decision gives to somebody whose first poems were published under the pseudonym Incertus – somebody not sure, uncertain. It's always important to be reassured."He said that at first he had considered reading his prose poem The Wanderer, which remembers the day he won a scholarship to St Columb's College in Derry – "a lifetime achievement award I received at the age of 12". "The day the news came to Anahorish School, the master called us up around the desk and very ceremoniously presented me with a silver half-crown, for doing so well on my own behalf and behalf of the school," he said. Instead, he decided to plump for The Underground, which sees he and his wife "Honeymooning, moonlighting, late for the Proms", running down the corridor from the underground to the Royal Albert Hall, Heaney imagining himself as an Orpheus who won't look back, and therefore keeps his bride."Marie and I were then on our honeymoon and as well as calling with my editor in Russell Square, we went to a Promenade concert in the Albert Hall, by the underground, of course, Marie in her white going away coat that had received a beetroot stain in the Museum Tavern the night before, both of us late and running down the corridor," Heaney said, telling guests he was reading it "in gratitude for all that London and the people I have known in London have given by way of literary inspiration and confirmation."His second choice of poem, A Drink of Water, recollects a figure from his childhood, an old woman who drew water every morning, "Like an old bat staggering up the field", who is revealed later as a muse of sorts to the poet; Heaney said it was "about receiving a gift and being enjoined to 'remember the giver'", something he said he would always do when remembering that evening."The old lady in the poem was a neighbour, a crone, as she might have been described, who lived on her own, down the fields from us," he said. "To us kids she had a certain witch-like aura, but in the poem she becomes more like a muse offering the cup of poetry to the child incertus." Afterwards, the editor of The Poetry Review, Fiona Sampson, said it must have been "peculiar" for Heaney to pick just a couple of poems to sum up his life's achievement, "not only because it's so huge, but because the work of Seamus Heaney is very much of a piece. He works through preoccupations at book-length, or at decade-length."
Seamus Heaney at 70 On 13 April 2009 Seamus Heaney reached the age of 70. A number of special events took place and both BBC and RTE
(ww.rte.ie/heaneyat70) marked the occasion with a number of programmes. RTE commissioned a full length documentary called Out of The Marvellous as well as a 15 CD boxset of his Collected Poems. A sculpture depicting one of Seamus Heaney's most famous poems has also been unveiled in Bellaghy. The life-size bronze figure is an interpretation of the Nobel Laureate's work Digging. The sculpture, created by Scottish artist David Annand, was commissioned by the Bellaghy Development Association. Birthday tributes were paid to the poet during the course of the unveiling.
Latest Heaney book
The Testament of Cresseid and Seven Fables by Robert Henryson, translated by Seamus Heaney
Hardback ISBN: 9780571249282 Published: June 2009 Faber & Faber London
£12.99 £10.00 (Hardback) from Faber
Seamus Heaney’s latest work is a translation into modern English (from Lowland Scots) of the late Medieval writer Robert Henryson’s long poem The Testament of Cresseid, set in the aftermath of the Trojan war. Heaney’s translations preserve the metre and rhyme scheme of Henryson’s originals, which are presented on the facing page, as well as a good deal of their charm and vigour. |
