Seamus Heaney at University College Dublin, 2009. Photo by Sean O'Connor
When on Friday I saw the news on my Facebook feed that Seamus Heaney had died, I first thought I'd seen wrong, then felt shock, then realised I was going to cry. All day on Facebook and elsewhere I saw similar responses from poets and poetry lovers, along with countless news stories from around the world, comments from students who said that Heaney had kindled in them a love for poetry or that they didn't really like poetry but they hadn't minded studying his - and on, and on. His death was one of the top stories on the Guardian and BBC websites. In Ireland, as well as worldwide, many public figures commented on their sense of sadness and shock, along with the general public. There was a good deal of shock; he was only 74 and while the last time I saw him read was over a year ago, some had seen him at events only a week or two ago. And there were so many poets, students and others who'd had personal encounters, and long-time friends - everyone so sad, especially friends, even those who didn't know him personally.
So much has been said already but I just wanted to say a little about Heaney's importance in my poetic life. He may very well have been the first contemporary living poet who I remember knowing of by name. I remember reading 'The Tollund Man' when I was fairly young - I would guess, between 12 and 14. At the time I think it was unlike any other poem I had read and it still carries this sort of aura, of at least a faint astonishment of my young self. It was at one and the same time personal and historical, physically evocative and disturbing, and relatable. There was just something that was different about it. I had similar experiences with 'The Otter' and 'The Skunk', though with their very different subject matters.
Later, my favourite Heaney poems have included 'The Toome Road', 'The Strand at Lough Beg', 'Act of Union', 'District and Circle', and of course 'The Underground'. Some of his poems gave me a further insight into the beauty and wounds of Ireland, my adopted country for a few years. Others left lines echoing through me, lines which continue to do so regularly, for years: "Let me sleep on your breast to the airport" ('Wedding Day'), "Lost for its sunlit hills" ('Out of Shot').
I was able to go to his readings three times. In fact, I attended the T S Eliot Prize reading where he was nominated (and won) for District and Circle, but he was unable to appear due to his recent stroke, which was disappointing and worrying. I finally saw him in 2010 (I think?) at Southbank for the release of Human Chain, again at the readings for the 2010 T S Eliot Prize (at the start of 2011), and finally at Poetry Parnassus a little over a year ago. His reading voice was beautiful and unpretentious. He was low-key, interesting and very witty, with a very kindly air. The first time I saw him, he concluded with 'Postscript' and I think I cried. I so badly wanted him to read that poem, possibly my favourite of his works. I just regret that at none of these readings I queued up or tracked him down for a book signing, though I think the T S Eliot reading might have been the only opportunity. Even a very short meeting would have been nice. Like so many, I think I assumed that I would have another chance, that he would be around for much longer. Everyone who ever met him has spoken of his kindness, including a friend who randomly spoke with him in Belfast years ago and only later found out that he was a famous poet.
All I really wanted to say was this: Seamus Heaney, your poetry changed our lives, for a lot of us at least a little, for some a lot. I'm so glad I was able to attend your readings three times but I'm sad that I never met you and I'm very sad that you're gone. We will miss you a lot and it's wonderful that your amazing verse is still with us.
Here is 'Postscript', a poem which will always be in my heart - a heart this week "caught off guard and blown open."
POSTSCRIPT (Seamus Heaney)
Beautifully put, Clarissa. I regret I never saw Seamus read and that I only discovered his brilliance at a late stage: I tended to gravitate towards writers who shared my 'pinko' view of the world.
ReplyDeleteAnd for all that Heaney was feted by politicians (some of whom I would not cross the road to shake hands with!), his was a radical voice and he disturbed hornets' nests in ways that could have put him in danger.
His strength was that he was no one's mouthpiece: to paraphrase his poem 'Flight Path', he wrote 'for [him]self'.
Thanks David. I totally agree with you - I think that in terms of the Irish political situation and so on he walked a fine line but mostly with great success. Plainly in his work and life, even at the moments when he was angry (not his dominant emotion, but it's in some of the poems more or less explicitly) he was a decent kind man who wanted peace and happiness for his loved ones and for everyone. And then he wrote beautifully. What else do you need in a poet?
DeleteIt's crazy how sad I feel! It seems I'm not alone though. Even those who didn't know him personally feel bereft so I can only imagine the sadness of his friends and family. But we can all continue to read the poems and to carry the lines within us which have particular personal meaning.
I also felt sad when I heard the news of his passing, though it took me a while to realize it was him because I actually didn't know that's how his name is pronounced... (I never heard his name before, so I always pronounced "Seasumus" in my head.) I don't have any personal stories with Heaney, I just knew him through (guess who?) MacNeice.
ReplyDeleteI'm really curious to hear his readings now, will look for it. xx
Having lived in Ireland and enjoying Irish literature, I can tell you this, Irish names are a minefield...they so often don't sound anything the way they look. Seamus is a relatively straightforward one!
DeleteI am fascinated by all the (more or less) Northern Irish authors who have been great: MacNeice and Heaney are just two.
It was a very very sad loss for world literature and culture and people seem personally sad even when they didn't know him. I've read lots of great stories and anecdotes from people who knew, met or saw him. Apparently, at an All Ireland football semifinal game in Dublin a couple of days after he died, 80,000 spectators clapped for him for two minutes. I thought that was a lovely detail. The Irish do love their own but how many literary figures would receive that acclaim at a sports game?!
By the way, here is a good link (on The Poetry Archive) to listen to him reading some poems, although there are also others:
Deletehttp://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1392
I was in a bookshop café last weekend and I picked up Heaney's book, Human Chain. I read several poems which I had not read before and they just flowed! It was as if he was more at ease with his craft as he aged. As I stood up to leave, I asked the woman at the next table if she would like to look at the book: she was very pleased. I have no idea if it was her first time reading Heaney but I was glad to pass on some of the Heaney magic!
ReplyDeleteI preferred District and Circle, but Human Chain was also a lovely collection. I just wish there had been another, I think we all expected one at least. I haven't heard whether there will be any kind of posthumous collection coming. Hopefully your bookshop lady liked it too...!
DeleteMy favourite Heaney poem is 'Mycenae Lookout', where, from the standpoint of ancient Greece, there is a flashforward to the founding of Rome, "a hilly, ominous place", and the killing of Remus by his twin brother, Romulus. This follows the use of the word 'time-wound' to convey a sense of unremitting human violence going forward into a future that is now our past. The ancient Greeks cannot have imagined the destruction of the 20th and early 21st centuries! (When my twin boys are fighting, I often think of Romulus and Remus...)
ReplyDeleteI think that Mycenae Lookout is one of the many I've not read properly. I looked at my own Heaney favourites and realised a slight preference for poems relating to the Troubles, and urban poems - the latter not being his speciality. When people have talked about their Heaney favourites these past couple of weeks many have of course mentioned 'Digging', 'Blackberry Picking', 'Mid-Term Break' and so on, but it is touching to see the individual poems which have a particular personal meaning for different people. I would say that I have yet to engage properly with the majority of his poems but it's nice to have something to look forward to!
DeleteFunnily enough, my parents and I were just talking about Rome (where we've all been in the last few years) and the story of Romulus and Remus. And "time-wound" is a fantastic, though sad, expression.