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SEAMUS HEANEY (1939-2013) - Coggle Diagram
SEAMUS HEANEY (1939-2013)
LIFE
born in Mossbawn (Northern Ireland)
at school he became aware of the religion and cultural division of Ulster
the Unionist culture was in contrast with his Catholic and patriotic upbringing
he lived in Belfast and graduated in English language and literature
He worked at Berkeley (University of California)
he returned to Belfast and then established at Sandymount, Dublin
he started to take part in the poetry workshops organised by Philip Hobsbaum
worked for the BBC radio and tv, becoming a well-known commentator
Professor at Harvard from 1982 to 1992
1995 was awarded the
Nobel Prize for Literature
WORKS
1966
Death of a naturalist
first collection of poems
1969
Door into the dark
influenced by his involvement in the Catholic civil rights movement
1972
Wintering out
response to the complexity of Irish question
1975
North
poems resulting from the meditation of
The Bog People
, by the Danish archaeologist P.V. Glob
dealt with the discovery in peat bogs of the bodies of people sacrificed 2000 years ago during tribal rituals
metaphor for the atrocities of Irish troubles
1980
Selected poems 1965-1975
Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968-1978
1999
a translation of the Scandinavian epic poem
Beowulf
2001
The electric light
1996
The Spirit level
2006
District and circle
T.S. Eliot Prize
2010
Human chain
1984
Station Island
1987
The Haw lantern
1991
Seeing things
POLITICS
attacked by
Unionists
he was a Catholic poet
Republican sympathisers
blamed him for not taking a clear stance supporting the movement for independence from Britain
others
for his comparison of Irish troubles to the prehistoric blood sacrifices
THEMES
material from his childhood
emphasis on
human work
his father digging, his mother butter-churning
satisfying rather than alienating
involvement of the poet with his community
isolation, repression, disenchantment
recognition of death as a necessity for a poet
STYLE
enjembement
allitteration
onomatopeia
imitation of Anglo-Saxon kennings
Gaelic use, archaisms
POEMS
Digging
dealing with his childhood he also explores his feelings towards Ireland
Between my finger and my thumb [...] the squat pen rests. I'll dig with it
Punishment
written to Windeby I, a body found in northern Germany, maybe an adulteress punished in a brutal way
reference to the Irish troubles' injustices