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Irish Poet and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney died today

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  • Irish Poet and Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney died today

    Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny said Mr Heaney’s death "brings great sorrow to Ireland, to language and to literature".
    He said: "Today, it would take Seamus Heaney himself to describe the depth of his loss to us as a nation. "He belongs with Joyce, Yeats, Shaw and Beckett in the pantheon of our greatest literary exponents."

    My feelings exactly. He was an wonderful person who brought the entire country together through his poetry.

    I have had this poem running through my head all day. This, I studied in school and can still recite from memory. Unfortunately, it's a very sad poem and based on tragedy in Heaney's own life.

    Mid-Term Break

    I sat all morning in the college sick bay
    Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
    At two o'clock our neighbors drove me home.

    In the porch I met my father crying--
    He had always taken funerals in his stride--
    And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.

    The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
    When I came in, and I was embarrassed
    By old men standing up to shake my hand

    And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble,'
    Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
    Away at school, as my mother held my hand

    In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
    At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
    With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.

    Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
    And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
    For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,

    Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,
    He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.
    No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

    A four foot box, a foot for every year.

    Seamus Heaney
    Student and Mom to an Oct 2013 boy
    Wife to Anesthesia Critical Care attending

  • #2
    What a huge loss to the literary world. A stand-out in a tough field--to be a great among Irish poets is truly something, given his company. Ireland produces amazing poets.

    And, of course, in this country, the news most likely will report the death of "See-Muss." My husband really wanted to name our daughter, Ava-Marie, "Aiofe." Loved the name, but didn't want her to have to correct the slaughtering of her name...

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    • #3
      He really was, probably the last great Irish poet. I haven't seen anyone of this generation that compares.
      It's funny, DH just said there's a guy at work called Seamus. He said it's not too bad but there are a lot of Irish around here so I'm sure that's why.
      Student and Mom to an Oct 2013 boy
      Wife to Anesthesia Critical Care attending

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      • #4
        Originally posted by MrsC View Post
        He really was, probably the last great Irish poet. I haven't seen anyone of this generation that compares.
        It's funny, DH just said there's a guy at work called Seamus. He said it's not too bad but there are a lot of Irish around here so I'm sure that's why.
        I grew up in an Irish and Italian neighborhood. I knew several guys names Seamus--and everybody knew how to pronounce Irish names. It wasn't until I moved away to other areas where people spelled "Sean" as "Shawn" and so forth.

        I really am sorry for your feeling of loss. I think the US news coverage so far has been pretty good. And no mispronunciation!

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        • #5
          Rest in Peace...One of my favorite poets Digging is one of my students' favorite poems...

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          • #6
            He was a graduate of, and for a while, a lecturer at one of the universities I've worked at. I would be inclined to agree that he was the most recent (wouldn't like to say last) of the truly great Irish poets.

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            • #7
              Truly a huge loss.


              Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
              Wife to Family Medicine attending, Mom to DS1 and DS2
              Professional Relocation Specialist &
              "The Official IMSN Enabler"

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