Seamus Heaney writing style by Seamus Heaney

Crossings xxxiii

From cover to cover Seeing Things features a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; between first order experience and seeing things again. Such crossings require a range of access points: doors, windows, gates, casements, a moment of final unroofing. Heaney indicated to DOD (p.25) that the poem was set specifically at The Wood farm inherited from great-uncle Hughie into which the family moved from Mossbawn following the death of the poet’s brother Christopher in 1953; it was partly rebuilt: one of the twelve-liners recollects my father’s vision of what the new house […]

Crossings xxxii

From cover to cover Seeing Things presents a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; between first order experience and seeing things through new eyes. Such crossings involve a range of access points: doors, windows, gates, casements, a bridge across a ditch that unites him both with the life of his childhood (still present in the landscape and language) and a ghostly revenant, the recently deceased father whose death left the poet ‘unroofed’. Heaney pays tribute to the never distant, ever-satisfying element of his rural Ulster upbringing (Running water never disappointed). It provided […]

Crossings xxxi

From cover to cover Seeing Things presents a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; between first order experience and seeing things through new eyes. Such crossings involve a range of access points: doors, windows, gates, casements, an area of Ulster fen. Heaney’s poem generates increasing momentum: his camera eye moves from measurable distance (quarter of a mile) to nano close-up (millionth of a flicker); his eye-brain coordination shifts from ‘easily recognizable objects’ to unrecognizable objects because too fast to register; the poet himself morphs from the man behind the steering wheel of […]

Crossings xxx

From cover to cover Seeing Things features a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; between first order experience and seeing things through new eyes. Such crossings involve a range of access points: doors, windows, gates, casements, a circle of plaited straw. Of tradition in Ireland St Brigid’s Day witnessed the piety and superstition of rural communities. This hybrid Christian/ Celtic feast of renewals (the new life could be entered) provides a poetic charge as Heaney reviews ‘old certainties’ (MP221, below). The girdle is a crossing point (going through); from upbringing he recall […]

Crossings xxix

From cover to cover Seeing Things features a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical worlds; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; between first order experience and seeing things anew. Movement from one side to the other requires a range of crossing points: windows, gates, casements, a familiar Ulster door with a latch. ‘All these things entered you/ As if they were both the door and what came through it’ said Markings III, presenting a crossing point with no view – between the‘within’ and the ‘without’, between the present and the what-next, between the known and the longed-for. Heaney […]

Crossings xxviii

From cover to cover Seeing Things features a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; between a first order experience that seemed ordinary long ago now recognized as a ‘marvel’ worth crediting. Schoolchildren taking advantage of winter weather engage in a daring activity producing something extraordinary and ‘furthering’ themselves in the process. Imagine what a child sees squinting through the mouth of a glass bottle – its circularity, its illusion of distance, its shiny, reflective light effects. Now apply those properties to a strip if ice on a frozen pond somewhere around Mossbawn on […]

Crossings xxvii

From cover to cover Seeing Things features a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical worlds; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; of first order experience seen through new eyes. The poem is triggered by recollection of Heaney’s late father’s advice to a close family member. He fondly remembers his father’s dry, reticent personality and his occasional shafts of wit, fitting for the world in which Patrick Heaney lived and for whatever lay on the other side. Nothing is for ever (Everything flows). Patrick Heaney stood for solide feet-on-the-groundness, personal and professional strength (solid man … pillar to himself […]

Crossings xxvi

From cover to cover Seeing Things features a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical worlds; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; between first order experience and seeing things anew; between political affiliations. Movement from one side to the other requires a range of crossing points: doors, windows, gates, casements … the windscreen of a car. In this piece Heaney comes up against a presence that experience has taught him to be wary of. The poem focuses pointedly on the Ulster’s Troubles and evidence of British forces and military vehicles sent to the province. Sighing with exasperation (Only), Heaney […]

Crossings xxv

From cover to cover Seeing Things features a series of interfaces: journeys in and out of real world situations; between real and mythical; between secular and spiritual; between existence and annihilation; between objective and subjective; from the present into the future; between first order experience and seeing things anew. Movement from one side to the other requires a range of access points: doors, windows, gates, casements, a car’s windscreen, the human eye. Heaney sets the scene for a dramatic, unexpected encounter: a time of day (driving south at dawn); a state of emergency (going full out); poor visibility on narrow Irish roads (high-up stone-wall country); the early chill (rocks still cold); potential skid conditions (Rainwater gleaming). Then suddenly around […]

Settings xxiv

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic period preceding Seeing Things when Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), he allowed himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, moments and emotions of previous experience, from where he weighed up what ‘In time … was extra, unforeseen and free’ (Markings I). HV: ‘Squaring’ xxiv, Heaney’s hymn to natural sufficiency, records the ever-present potential of the senses for a fuller happiness (p147). The poet composes an anthem to ‘perfected form’. His elated consciousness is undisturbed either by man’s clamour or signs of nature’s turbulence (Deserted harbour […]

Settings xxiii

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal happenings and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic period preceding Seeing Things when Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), he allowed himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, moments and emotions of previous experience, from where he weighed up what ‘in time … was extra, unforeseen and free’ (Markings I). Recalling a symposium (Heaney does not tell us when or where) of specialists and literary figures Heaney recounts an excursion – the poet identifies Danish poet Ivan Malinowski on the same tour whose death in 1989 introduces an short Heaney-style tribute to a kindred spirit. […]

Settings xxii

By and large the ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic period preceding Seeing Things when Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), he allowed himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, subjects and emotions of early experience, whence he weighs up what ‘in time … was extra, unforeseen and free’ (Markings I). This poem breaks the mould. Heaney focuses on the ‘spirit’. Following his current ‘method’ of seeing things through fresh eyes, Heaney soul-searches, setting the current piece on a higher abstract and metaphysical plane. He refers seven unanswered questions to a highly respected […]

Settings xxi

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic period preceding Seeing Things when Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), he allowed himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, moments and emotions of previous experience, from where he weighed up what ‘in time … was extra, unforeseen and free’ (Markings I). The poem expresses a move away from the Catholic lessons to which Heaney was exposed as a boy (he might have said ‘overexposed’); his sole experience of firing an air-rifle (Once and only once) brought about a re-appraisal of soul, death and eternity. The […]

Settings xx

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic period preceding Seeing Things when Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), he allowed himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, moments and emotions of previous experience, from where he weighed up what ‘in time … was extra, unforeseen and free’ (Markings I). Behind every picture lurks a story. On tour the poet stands at a picture post-card site in Central Moscow (Red Square) and sifts what he sees against what he ‘knows’ about the Kremlin building: its brick wall ostensibly nothing out of the ordinary (unthreatening […]

Settings xix

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic period preceding Seeing Things when Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), he allowed himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, moments, models and emotions of primary experience, from where he weighed up what ‘in time … was extra, unforeseen and free’ (Markings I). Settings xix sets out a diorama of memory à la Heaney that features things that might play/ have played a role in its genesis. The reader peeks in as if from behind glass or through a peep-hole. Heaney paints a stage-set: something built […]

Settings xviii

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic period preceding Seeing Things when Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), he allowed himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, caricatures and emotions of primary experience, whence he weighs up what ‘in time … was extra, unforeseen and free’ (Markings I). A precocious youngster comments on a fall from power; his over-fifty-self credits that early discrimination. Attending a rural Ulster get-together of countrymen (fair-hill), young Heaney takes a dislike to a rope salesman. He watches the smutty routine of an individual who thinks highly of himself […]

Settings xvii

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic period preceding Seeing Things when Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), he allowed himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, subjects and emotions of primary experience, whence he weighs up what ‘in time … was extra, unforeseen and free’ (Markings I). All about ‘the myths surrounding eels’ (DOD93)! The poem sets an old wives’ tale alongside the non-scientific theory of an early classical scholar later discarded as poppycock. Heaney is taken by the eel’s alleged curative power useful to him at moments when his creative ‘blood […]

Settings xvi

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic of Seeing Things Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), allowing himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, substances and emotions of primary experience, whence he weighs up what ‘in time was extra, unforeseen and free’(Markings I). Heaney recalls a childhood rodent killer of massive proportions. Witnessed within the Heaney farmstead the deadly power of shop-bought Rat poison awakens myriad associations both contemporary and classical. Heaney’s young attention was particularly taken by the mystical change in the substance’s colouring, from dull, reddy-brown blood pudding to light-catching phosphorescent; its thick […]

Settings xv

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic of Seeing Things Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), allowed himself to be transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, moments and emotions of primary experience; his aim is to credit ‘marvels’ that he failed to recognize first time round. Heaney conceded in conversation with DOD (322) that the death of his father, Patrick, contributed to his sinking sense of being ‘unroofed’ at this stage in his life and may have influenced the re-evaluations that Seeing Things undertakes. Heaney relives a moment of revelation. His sensitivity to the compositional […]

Settings xiv

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic of Seeing Things Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), willingly transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites and moments of primary experience; his aim is to credit the ‘marvels’ he failed to recognize first time round. The railway cutting close to Heaney’s childhood home in Mossbawn becomes the melting-pot in which his future was being formed. An ‘ordinary’ afternoon from the 1940s awakens within Heaney a sense of the extraordinary and is treated with classical splendour – a boy standing on his local railway trackfigured as an innocent abroad (seraph) […]

Settings xiii

The ‘Settings’ sequence presents a chain of backdrops against which personal events and dramas were played out. Within the dynamic of Seeing Things Heaney deliberately swooped on anything that stimulated memory or association (DOD 320), willingly transported back by the poems that ‘came on’ to the sites, sensations and moments of primary experience, whence he sets out to give the marvels that emerged the credit-rating they failed to achieve first time round. The rich tapestry of Heaney’s upbringing and his subsequent career and relationships are particularly suggestive of the decorative mountings into which priceless gemstones and rich memories are set both as invaluable personal items and poems of beauty. Settings xiii unfolds within a setting of sun-drenched languor: hints […]

Lightenings xii

The title of the first section, ‘Lightenings’, arrived by accident, when I found a dictionary entry that gives it to mean ‘a flaring of the spirit at the moment before death’. And there were also the attendant meanings of being unburdened and being illuminated, all of which fitted what was going on as the first poems got written (DOD321). The message that emerges is that Heaney accepted the ‘attendant meanings’ readily enough but had greater difficulty coming to terms with a definition linking imminent death with a soaring of the spirit; he finds an example that encapsulated his dilemma but does not solve it. He is weighing the Catholic teachings to which he was exposed against the doubts generated […]

Lightenings xi

The title of the first section, ‘Lightenings’, arrived by accident, when I found a dictionary entry that gives it to mean ‘a flaring of the spirit at the moment before death’. And there were also the attendant meanings of being unburdened and being illuminated, all of which fitted what was going on as the first poems got written (DOD321) Heaney offered his reader a clue as to how to ‘enter’ the poems: You could think of every poem in ‘Squarings’ as the peg at the end of a tent-rope reaching up into the airy structure, but still with purchase on something earthier and more obscure (DOD 320); So long for air to brighten, said Fosterling, Time to be dazzled and […]

Lightenings x

Heaney offered his reader a clue as to how to ‘enter’ the poems: You could think of every poem in ‘Squarings’ as the peg at the end of a tent-rope reaching up into the airy structure, but still with purchase on something earthier and more obscure (DOD 320). So long for air to brighten, said Fosterling. Time to be dazzled and the heart to lighten. Heaney’s observer sits astride a crag top at a quarry’s edge, close to a sheer drop (Overhang of grass) where Nature clings precariously but persistently to life (seedling birch). Heaney identifies himself as the lofty speaker (Rock-hob where you watched), a man in his fifties studying the cargoed brightness carried along by the laws of meteorology: ineffable (travelling/ […]

Lightenings ix

Heaney offers his reader a clue as to how to ‘enter’ the Squarings poems: You could think of every poem in ‘Squarings’ as the peg at the end of a tent-rope reaching up into the airy structure, but still with purchase on something earthier and more obscure (DOD 320); Three triplets revisit a childhood moment when child-Heaney felt totally happy, comfortable and secure; the final triplet reveals the sadness of a poet in his fifties for whom the loss of those who nursed him on that day undermines the old certainties. The insecurity generated by the scary boat movement at Inishbofin (Seeing Things I) is replaced: the craft in which they stand on Lough Neagh within a few miles […]