Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney and Liam Neeson…

Now, there’s two names that you don’t often hear in the same sentence. One, Heaney, a great northern Irish poet and Harvard professor. The other, a world-famous actor from the same part of the world, known for his stirring roles in numerous films including Schindler’s List, Taken, Star Wars, Silence, Ordinary Love, and this year’s The Marksman.

Both men of great talent and great storytellers. There’s nothing quite like hearing Seamus Heaney’s poems read aloud by Liam Neeson, with his distinctive and sometimes haunting voice. If you love Ireland and love poetry, then you’ll love listening to this:

About Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney, one of Ireland’s best-known poets, got his inspiration for many of his poems from the people and places he encountered around his homeplace.

Digging

The eldest of nine children, Seamus was born and brought up in County Derry. His parents were farmers and Seamus developed a love of the land and the local places around him, although he admitted to little interest in being a farmer himself. He reflects on this in one of his well-known poems ‘Digging’. 

Heaney studied English at Queen’s University, Belfast, and began a teaching career in the city. In 1965, he married a neighbor of ours, Marie Devlin, also a teacher. They had two boys, Michael, and Christopher, and later a daughter, Catherine.

The eldest of nine children, Seamus was born and brought up in County Derry. His parents were farmers and Seamus developed a love of the land and the local places around him, although he admitted to little interest in being a farmer himself. He reflects on this in one of his well-known poems ‘Digging’. 

America called

In 1981, Seamus moved to America where he spent sixteen years as English Professor at Harvard University. During this time, he also held the post of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University. Heaney returned to Ireland, making his home in Dublin. Among the many awards he received for his work, perhaps the greatest honor was being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. It is tantamount to his talent that school syllabuses all over the world invite students to study his work, and to visit the places that inspired him.

The Seamus Heaney Homeplace in his native Bellaghy, County Derry, celebrates his incredible life and work, and shows many examples of his handwritten notes as he crafted his poems. Heaney died in 2013 at the age of 74. His grave is nearby in the local churchyard. 

Learn more about Seamus Heaney and his life’s work at: https://seamusheaneyhome.com/