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Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. (CC BY-NC-SA)

Developed by: Barbara Stout (Teacher Librarian), St Stephen's School (2020)

Introduction

Seamus Heaney is widely recognized as one of the major poets of the 20th century. A native of Northern Ireland, Heaney was raised in County Derry, and later lived for many years in Dublin. He was the author of over 20 volumes of poetry and criticism, and edited several widely used anthologies. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past." Heaney taught at Harvard University (1985-2006) and served as the Oxford Professor of Poetry (1989-1994). He died in 2013.

Heaney has attracted a readership on several continents and has won prestigious literary awards and honors, including the Nobel Prize.

 

 

SOURCE: Seamus Heaney (2020) Poetry Foundation URL: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/seamus-heaney

Journey to Seamus Heaney HomePlace – read by Liam Neeson

A home for inspiration, echoing the life, literature and legacy of Seamus Heaney. Seamus Heaney HomePlace is a purpose-built arts and literary centre, which celebrates the life and work of the late poet and Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney, and contributes to his legacy. Opened in September 2016, HomePlace houses an interactive exhibition, arranged over two floors and filled with personal stories and artefacts, dozens of family photographs, video recordings from friends, neighbours, world leaders, cultural figures, and the voice of the poet himself. HomePlace also includes a recreation of the poet’s Dublin study.

SOURCE: Youtube, posted by Discover Ireland on 15 May 2018, Duration:2:30 mins, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzeTFAQVCSs&feature=youtu.be

Definitive Works

Beowulf: Translated and Read by Seamus Heaney 

Composed towards the end of the first millennium, the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is one of the great Northern epics and a classic of European literature. Seamus Heaney's translation , completed near the end of the second millennium is both true, line by line, to the original, as well as being an expression of his own creative, lyrical gift.
Seamus Heaney brings his vibrant powerful writing to life as he reads extracts from the narrative.

 

SOURCE: YouTube, Beowulf - Seamus Heaney: Part 1 of 2, posted by SkitlerRemix, (2012), Duration 1:07:27, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaB0trCztM0

SOURCE: YouTube, Beowulf - Seamus Heaney: Part 2 of 2, posted by SkitlerRemix, (2012), Duration 1:07:33, URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zsxxg5P-DnY