Sweeney Out-Takes

A three-poem sequence dedicated to the noted contemporary Cork writer and poet Gregory of Corkus, pseudonym for Greg Delanty (b. 1958). Heaney reprises the internal struggles of the medieval Irish king of the Buile Shuibhne  (Heaney’s published translation as Sweeney Astray,  November1983) . See also the Sweeney Redevivus section in Station Island of 1984.  The basic story tells of Sweeney’s behaviour towards Bishop Ronan that brings the curse of madness upon him. He is driven out into the wilderness where readers follow him in his crazed wanderings through the forest and hills, torn within himself by his love of the wild and his incurable loneliness. All three pieces bear inverted commas suggesting they are re-produced as, of course, are out-takes.. i  Otterboy Heaney recalls a letter […]