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    Death of a Naturalist: Poems
    Death of a Naturalist: Poems
    Death of a Naturalist: Poems
    Ebook53 pages31 minutes

    Death of a Naturalist: Poems

    By Seamus Heaney

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    About this ebook

    Death of a Naturalist (1966) marked the auspicious debut of Seamus Heaney, a universally acclaimed master of modern literature. As a first book of poems, it is remarkable for its accurate perceptions and rich linguistic gifts.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateFeb 4, 2014
    ISBN9781466864078
    Death of a Naturalist: Poems
    Author

    Seamus Heaney

    Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. His poems, plays, translations, and essays include Opened Ground, Electric Light, Beowulf, The Spirit Level, District and Circle, and Finders Keepers. Robert Lowell praised Heaney as the "most important Irish poet since Yeats."

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    • 5/5
      https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/death-of-a-naturalist-by-seamus-heaney/I met Seamus Heaney only once, a chance encounter in a pub (the Foggy Dew in Temple Bar in Dublin, some time around 1989); he offered to buy me a drink on the basis of having known my parents in his Belfast days, but I was too shy to accept. I wish I had. I would have learned something from even ten minutes’ conversation with him. I also once sat opposite his wife Marie at a dinner, but did not pluck up the courage to say much to her.He came from Bellaghy, 30 km up the River Bann from my own ancestors in Aghadowey, and this first collection is very much about growing up there and growing into his role as a poet. I knew a few of them from school days: the opening “Digging”, where he sees his vocation as poetry rather than agriculture:Between my finger and my thumbThe squat pen rests.I’ll dig with it.The heart-wrenching “Mid-Term Break”, about the death of his younger brother in a car accident:No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.A four foot box, a foot for every year.The rather regrettable “Docker”:Mosaic imperatives bang home like rivets;God is a foreman with certain definite viewsReading the full collection is well worth it. There’s a real underlying narrative, of a shift from his family heritage on the farm and boyhood fascinations with the land, to adulthood and poetry, There are some lovely natural images, such as “Waterfall”:Simultaneous accelerationAnd sudden braking; water goes overLike villains dropped screaming to justice.And romance in a sequence beginning with “Twice Shy”:Her scarf à la Bardot,In suede flats for the walk,She came with me one eveningFor air and friendly talk.We crossed the quiet river,Took the embankment walk.And at the end, another moment of self-dedication in “Personal Helicon”:I rhymeTo see myself, to set the darkness echoing.I don’t read a lot of poetry, and I should read more.
    • 4/5
      A straightforward and relaxing collection of poetry. Fans of Robert Frost and Billy Collins will enjoy Heaney's work here---as a collection, the poems stand together powerfully and gracefully. Worth exploring and re-exploring for any poetry readers.

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