Seamus Heaney

In "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke and "Digging" written by Seamus Heaney, both the poem are about the writer's association with their father when they were young. Both parents function as workers, and both poets admire their father for their diligent work. In "My Papa's Waltz", the poet specifies that his father's hand have a battered knuckle on one hand and a palm built up hard by soil. In fact, this demonstrates that his father works hard. When he finishes his duty, he would tend to…

Beowulf : The Most Glorious Hero of all Time In the epic poem Beowulf, translated by Seamus Heaney, Beowulf completes many heroic and glorious actions allowing him to earn eternal life. The first indication of Beowulf achieving his goal of eternal life is through glory to one’s king. From achieving glory from one’s king, the kin of the clan will most likely begin to speak of this glory that was achieved ; thus, creating eternal life. For example, this can be seen when Hrothgar was…

exceeds the aspects of diversity. Even though humans do not worship paganism as often as before, the common fact in every religion contributes to the idea of one or multiple higher power known as Gods. As the days of Beowulf end and death occurs, Heaney says, “What God judged right would rule what happened to every men, as it does to this day” (2858-2589). This quote simply gives another example of their spirituality. As in today's world, even death attains as an unescapable concept. The only…

revolution, the Industrial revolution and the World Wars. Deep within these eras grew artists – poets – who showed us the vagaries of their lives during those times. The works of three poets, namely; William Wordsworth, William Butler Yeats and Seamus Heaney shall be used to represent the transition in form of behavior and life of individuals and society in these eras. Out of this traditional and apparently extremely slow unchanging pre-industrial life grew, surprisingly, the seeds of modern…

This concept economically and money wise presents the idea of the one percent owning ninety-nine percent of the money. Depressingly in today's world people tend to measure money as social power and achievements, similarly as Beowulf in the poem. Heaney says, “Beowulf with a gold standard as a victory gift, an embroidered banner; also breast-mail and a helmet; and a sword carried high” (69). This quote is achieved after Beowulf is successfully able to defeat Grendel and rip his arm off. The…

has outstanding abilities, strength, and distinguished courage, which was what Beowulf held but did not portray very well. Although, Beowulf fitted in with the Anglo Saxon time period “hero”, the protagonist was over appreciated for his victories. Heaney lacks in describing how Beowulf was just like every ordinary individual who was just in for the title and praise not so much as a hero. With Beowulf given so much praise, he had taken it for granted by saying he is a “hero” and soon becomes an…

In James Joyce’s Dubliners (1914) and Seamus Heaney’s late twentieth century selected poems the treatment of personal loss simultaneously reveals similarities and reinforce the texts’ distinctive qualities addressing the question. Within both texts’ treatment of personal loss, each explicate critical and perceptive (context) insights regarding their respective social milieus (context) which expound visceral revelations relating to societal constructs and existentialism (context)…

Poets Seamus Heaney, Robert Frost and Gwen Harwood explore various contrasting poetic techniques in depicting ideas towards the reader. Heaney and Frost portray the idea of becoming overloaded with the concerns of life through contrasting imagery of childhood and nature. Harwood and Heaney look into the idea of the atrocities of war, by Harwood using different techniques of the contrasting understandings of frogs and Heaney’s depiction of people in battle. While continued contrast is seen in…

In the first stanza, Heaney talks about how a fisherman catches a dead infant in the water. In tanza two he talks about a mother that drowns her infant. Stanza three he goes deeper into the mother’s feelings when drowning the infant. In the fourth stanza, he talks about the struggle and gives the reader insight into her religion. In the final stanza, Heaney closes the poem by referencing how God is powerless. Heaney structured this poem to convey a hidden message on…

How is the theme of loss portrayed in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Mid Term Break’ and ‘On My First Son’? ‘Mid Term Break’ is a poem written by Seamus Heaney as an adult. It is about him looking back on the loss of his younger brother so is written retrospectively. The poem does not rhyme, this is because Heaney just sat down and wrote it in one go, and this is effective because it makes it more natural as it is just an outpouring of his grief and tells more of a story. The title of the poem suggests a…