Heaney, Seamus

Heaney, Seamus

▪ Irish poet
in full  Seamus Justin Heaney  
born April 13, 1939, near Castledàwson, County Londonderry, N.Ire.

      Irish poet whose work is notable for its evocation of Irish rural life and events in Irish history as well as for its allusions to Irish myth. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995.

      After graduating from Queen's University, Belfast (B.A., 1961), Heaney taught secondary school for a year and then lectured in colleges and universities in Belfast and Dublin. He became a member of the Field Day Theatre Company in 1980, soon after its founding by playwright Brian Friel (Friel, Brian) and actor Stephen Rea. In 1982 he joined the faculty of Harvard University as visiting professor and, in 1985, became full professor—a post he retained while teaching at the University of Oxford (1989–94).

      Heaney's first poetry collection was the prizewinning Death of a Naturalist (1966). In this book and Door into the Dark (1969), he wrote in a traditional style about a passing way of life—that of domestic rural life in Northern Ireland. In Wintering Out (1972) and North (1975), he began to encompass such subjects as the violence in Northern Ireland and contemporary Irish experience, though he continued to view his subjects through a mythic and mystical filter. Among the later volumes that reflect Heaney's honed and deceptively simple style are Field Work (1979), Station Island (1984), The Haw Lantern (1987), and Seeing Things (1991). The Spirit Level (1996) concerns the notion of centredness and balance in both the natural and the spiritual senses. His Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966–1996 was published in 1998. In Electric Light (2001) and District and Circle (2006), he returned to the Ireland of his youth.

      Heaney wrote essays on poetry and on poets such as William Wordsworth, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Elizabeth Bishop. Some of these essays have appeared in Preoccupations: Selected Prose, 1968–1978 (1980) and Finders Keepers: Selected Prose, 1971–2001 (2002). A collection of his lectures at Oxford was published as The Redress of Poetry (1995).

      Heaney also produced translations, including The Cure at Troy (1991), which is Heaney's version of Sophocles' Philoctetes, and The Midnight Verdict (1993), which contains selections from Ovid's Metamorphoses and from Cúirt an mheán oíche (The Midnight Court), a work by the 18th-century Irish writer Brian Merriman. Heaney's translation of the Old English epic poem Beowulf (1999) became an unexpected international best seller, while his The Burial at Thebes (2004) gave Sophocles' Antigone contemporary relevance.

Additional Reading
Studies of Heaney's life and work are Michael Parker, Seamus Heaney (1993), on his earlier career; and Thomas C. Foster, Seamus Heaney (1989). Analyses of his writings include Henry Hart, Seamus Heaney: Poet of Contrary Progressions (1992); Elmer Andrews (ed.), Seamus Heaney (1992); Tony Curtis (ed.), The Art of Seamus Heaney, 3rd rev. ed. (1994); Michael R. Molino, Questioning Tradition, Language, and Myth: The Poetry of Seamus Heaney (1994); and Helen Vendler, Seamus Heaney (1998).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Heaney, Seamus Justin — (1939 )    The eldest in a Catholic family of nine children, he grew up on his father s cattle farm near Castledawson, Londonderry, Northern Ireland. He attended St. Columb s College, Derry, and moved in 1957 to Belfast to continue his studies.… …   British and Irish poets

  • Heaney,Seamus Justin — Hea·ney (hēʹnē), Seamus Justin. Born 1939. Irish poet whose work is typified by dense, earthy imagery and concern for the political crises of his homeland. His books include Death of a Naturalist (1966) and Field Work (1979). He won the 1995… …   Universalium

  • Heaney, Seamus — ► (n. 1939) Poeta irlandés. Es autor de los poemarios Muerte de un naturalista (1966), Norte (1979), La luz eléctrica (2001). En 1995 recibió el premio Nobel …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Heaney, Seamus (Justin) — born April 13, 1939, near Castledàwson, County Londonderry, N.Ire. Irish poet. After studying at Queen s University in Belfast, he became a teacher and lecturer. Appalled by the violence in his native Northern Ireland, he moved to the Republic of …   Universalium

  • Heaney, Seamus (Justin) — (n. 13 abr. 1939, cerca de Castle Dawson, condado de Londonderry, Irlanda del Norte). Poeta irlandés. Después de estudiar en la Queen s University en Belfast, fue profesor y conferencista. Horrorizado por la violencia en su Irlanda del Norte… …   Enciclopedia Universal

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  • Séamus Heaney — Seamus Heaney Seamus Heaney (à droite) en compagnie d Antoni Milosz, en 2004 Seamus Heaney (API  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Seamus Heaney — en agosto de 2004. Nacimiento 1939 Condado de Derry, Irlanda del Norte, Reino Unido Ocupaci …   Wikipedia Español

  • SEAMUS — Seamus, auch Séamus, ist ein männlicher Vorname irischen Ursprungs mit der Bedeutung Einer, der ersetzt (an eines anderen Stelle tritt). Der Name geht auf den hebräischen Namen Jakob zurück; die anglisierte Form ist James.[1] Einige Namensträger… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Séamus — Seamus, auch Séamus, ist ein männlicher Vorname irischen Ursprungs mit der Bedeutung Einer, der ersetzt (an eines anderen Stelle tritt). Der Name geht auf den hebräischen Namen Jakob zurück; die anglisierte Form ist James.[1] Einige Namensträger… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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