Seamus Heaney
Born
in Castledawson, County Derry, Ireland
April 13, 1939
Died
August 30, 2013
Genre
Influences
Geoffrey Chaucer, Lord Byron, T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, Gerard Manley
...more
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Opened Ground
14 editions
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published
1996
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Death of a Naturalist
29 editions
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published
1966
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Selected Poems, 1966-1987
30 editions
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published
1990
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The Burial at Thebes: A Version of Sophocles' Antigone
by
26 editions
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published
2004
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North
21 editions
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published
1975
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Human Chain
31 editions
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published
2010
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Field Work: Poems
29 editions
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published
1979
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District and Circle
24 editions
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published
2006
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100 Poems
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The Spirit Level
36 editions
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published
1996
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“If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way.”
― Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney
― Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney
“Human beings suffer,
They torture one another,
They get hurt and get hard.
No poem or play or song
Can fully right a wrong
Inflicted and endured.
The innocent in gaols
Beat on their bars together.
A hunger-striker's father
Stands in the graveyard dumb.
The police widow in veils
Faints at the funeral home.
History says, don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.
So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracle
And cures and healing wells.
Call miracle self-healing:
The utter, self-revealing
Double-take of feeling.
If there's fire on the mountain
Or lightning and storm
And a god speaks from the sky
That means someone is hearing
The outcry and the birth-cry
Of new life at its term.”
―
They torture one another,
They get hurt and get hard.
No poem or play or song
Can fully right a wrong
Inflicted and endured.
The innocent in gaols
Beat on their bars together.
A hunger-striker's father
Stands in the graveyard dumb.
The police widow in veils
Faints at the funeral home.
History says, don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.
So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracle
And cures and healing wells.
Call miracle self-healing:
The utter, self-revealing
Double-take of feeling.
If there's fire on the mountain
Or lightning and storm
And a god speaks from the sky
That means someone is hearing
The outcry and the birth-cry
Of new life at its term.”
―
“It is always better
to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.
For every one of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,
that will be his best and only bulwark.”
― Beowulf
to avenge dear ones than to indulge in mourning.
For every one of us, living in this world
means waiting for our end. Let whoever can
win glory before death. When a warrior is gone,
that will be his best and only bulwark.”
― Beowulf
Polls
November 2015 Short Story Poll
1933, The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, 120 pages
1952, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, 109 pages
1955, A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor, 24 pages
1865, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Nikolai Leskov, 88 pages
1729, A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Works by Jonathan Swift, 48 pages
1971, Don't Look Now and Other Stories by Daphne Du Maurier, Title Story Only 130 pages
1871, Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, 108 pages
1939, The Legend of The Holy Drinker by Joseph Roth, 120 pages
1955, Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo, 128 pages
1979, Field Work by Seamus Heaney, 66 pages
Topics Mentioning This Author
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
History is Not Bo...: Historical Person Game | 363 | 385 | Jul 05, 2010 05:49PM | |
College Students! : Fall/Winter 2010-2011 Leaderboard & Completed Tasks (1/5 updated) | 207 | 179 | Feb 27, 2011 05:24PM | |
Book Nook Cafe: What I read in July 2011 | 163 | 93 | Aug 26, 2011 05:39PM | |
Chicks On Lit: Audio Reading of the Classics | 21 | 56 | Nov 03, 2011 06:03AM | |
Crazy Challenge C...: Tatum's Reading and Challenge List | 48 | 61 | Mar 24, 2012 08:10AM | |
You'll love this ...: Reviewing 2012 | 74 | 90 | Jan 06, 2013 08:16AM | |
All Things Medieval: Beowulf | 10 | 45 | Feb 10, 2013 01:18PM | |
Classics for Begi...: Louise's Classics | 16 | 111 | Apr 28, 2013 08:34AM | |
The Seasonal Read...:
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2820 | 767 | May 31, 2013 09:02PM |