Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Justin Heaney, MRIAwas an Irish poet, playwright, translator and lecturer, and the recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature...
NationalityIrish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth13 April 1939
CityCastledawson, Northern Ireland
CountryIreland
Seamus Heaney quotes about
hardy suppose thomas
I suppose you could say my father's world was Thomas Hardy and my mother's D.H. Lawrence.
censure considers flourish itself qualified rhetoric vigilance
No place in the world prides itself more on its vigilance and realism, no place considers itself more qualified to censure any flourish of rhetoric or extravagance of aspiration.
associated full life reflects
I think that water is immediately interesting. It's just, as an element, it is full of life. It is associated with origin; it is bright - it reflects you.
faking
The faking of feelings is a sin against the imagination.
poetry refusal
The experimental poetry thing is not my thing. It's a programme of the avant-garde: basically a refusal of the kind of poetry I write.
generally
I think childhood is, generally speaking, a preparation for disappointment.
allowed education ireland northern schools secondary students won
I would say that something important for me and for my generation in Northern Ireland was the 1947 Education Act, which allowed students who won scholarships to go on to secondary schools and thence to university.
mysterious wonder poetry-is
Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.
strange huge
Strange, it is a huge nothing that we fear.
wetness might centre
The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage. The wet centre is bottomless.
lyric-poetry facts truthfulness
In fact, in lyric poetry, truthfulness becomes recognizable as a ring of truth within the medium itself.
queens lunch once-upon-a-time
I've nothing against the Queen personally: I had lunch at the Palace once upon a time.
forgiveness sea forgiving
Hope for a great sea-change timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive.
forgiveness revenge believe
So hope for a great sea-change On the far side of revenge. Believe that further shore Is reachable from here. Believe in miracles And cures and healing wells.