Seamus Heaney
1939-2013
My sense is of a life well lived:
of
genius, faith, and grit.
Of
a landscape, ploughed-over
harrowed, and sown.
Of
a force, ancient as Aran,
sweet as the Derry air.
And
ringing! on the anvil of his passing,
the
menacing loss of a friend.
_______________
© Cormac E McCloskey
Seamus Heaney was born in in Northern Ireland and grew up in the townland of Bellaghy. Among academics he is regarded as one of the greatest poets, in English, of the 20th century; a status confirmed when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past." And not withstanding the many accolades, he never became distant, nor lost the common touch.
Over a cup of tea it occurred to me, that in the original, I had the farming metaphors in the wrong order. Not a mistake that Seamus would have made.
Cormac 31 August 2013
Seamus Heaney was born in in Northern Ireland and grew up in the townland of Bellaghy. Among academics he is regarded as one of the greatest poets, in English, of the 20th century; a status confirmed when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past." And not withstanding the many accolades, he never became distant, nor lost the common touch.
Over a cup of tea it occurred to me, that in the original, I had the farming metaphors in the wrong order. Not a mistake that Seamus would have made.
Cormac 31 August 2013
No comments:
Post a Comment