I bought this latest Heaney book while I was in Ireland recently and it lives in my nightstand, along with the other Heaney books in the series (his letters, and his translations). They are an endless marvel and constantly make me ponder. Part of the attraction for me is that Heaney is simultaneously a peerless transcendent writer, but also is very everyday. He came from a working class, or maybe lower middle class, background and stuck to Belfast and Dublin and lived a relatively humble life. When I think of Yeats I can only see him in Tweed suits, visiting country estates with servants, and making posturing speeches in the Irish Senate. Yeats was an expert commentator, but removed from many of the experiences and lives he documented. Heaney really lived them. It's so much more relatable.
> Yeats was an expert commentator, but removed from many of the experiences and lives he documented
Yes! I actually studied Yeats as my Leaving Cert History Special Topic and had a gra for him for many years. But as I get older and see him more in historical context his success does seem to be partially a political artefact and his involvement in the founding of the Irish state bestowed upon him a beatificence that perhaps outshone even his brilliance and made him seem more timeless than perhaps he was. But then again, 1913, Byzantium, No Second Troy … it’s hard to find more strident and articulate polemicals
Bush league poetry compared to WB Yeats or John Berryman.
I bought this latest Heaney book while I was in Ireland recently and it lives in my nightstand, along with the other Heaney books in the series (his letters, and his translations). They are an endless marvel and constantly make me ponder. Part of the attraction for me is that Heaney is simultaneously a peerless transcendent writer, but also is very everyday. He came from a working class, or maybe lower middle class, background and stuck to Belfast and Dublin and lived a relatively humble life. When I think of Yeats I can only see him in Tweed suits, visiting country estates with servants, and making posturing speeches in the Irish Senate. Yeats was an expert commentator, but removed from many of the experiences and lives he documented. Heaney really lived them. It's so much more relatable.
> Yeats was an expert commentator, but removed from many of the experiences and lives he documented
Yes! I actually studied Yeats as my Leaving Cert History Special Topic and had a gra for him for many years. But as I get older and see him more in historical context his success does seem to be partially a political artefact and his involvement in the founding of the Irish state bestowed upon him a beatificence that perhaps outshone even his brilliance and made him seem more timeless than perhaps he was. But then again, 1913, Byzantium, No Second Troy … it’s hard to find more strident and articulate polemicals
Do you mean John Betjeman?
> WB Yeats or John Berryman
With O’Leary in the grave