Abstract
This paper reviews Seamus Heaney's poem, "Funeral Rites". The paper illustrates how this poem reflects Heaney's attempt to show the process required for the violence to end, while also challenging people to rethink their views on the violence. The central theme presented in this paper, is how the chaos of death and violence is understood and processed through the use of rituals. The paper also discusses the extensive use of imagery and symbolism in the poem.

From the Paper
"The symbols in the poem are also important to the meaning. The most significant symbol is the funeral procession itself. This procession has two meanings. Firstly, it represents the ritual that allows the real meaning of the violent events to be overlooked. Secondly, it represents the process of coming to understand and deal with the reality of the events. In the poem, the funeral procession leads to the river of knowledge and then to the grave site where the mythical figure Gunnar is invoked. Gunnar is a Viking hero who sacrificed himself to end a long fight. The reference to the violence in Ireland is clear, with Gunnar a symbol of sacrifice. The funeral procession as a whole, represents the path that needs to be followed for Ireland to return to peace. Just as a funeral procession leads to the acceptance of an individual's death, the funeral procession represents a process of coming to an understanding of the situation in Ireland and the way to overcome the violence and find the path to acceptance and forgiveness."

Tags:death, rituals, procession, symbolism, imagery, tragedy, gunnar, viking, sacrifice

Abstract
The paper aims to understand what is meant by the 'death' of the 'naturalist' in Seamus Heaney's work "Death of a Naturalist". The paper makes it clear that Heaney is a naturalist throughout the course of his professional life and was not describing the death of the naturalist within him. The paper then offers insight into this work by discussing a violent accident that took his younger brother's life, and explains how this tragedy provides Heaney with an experience that alters his understanding of nature and manifests a greater sense of foreboding of what it means to be a man at the mercy of nature's irresistible force. The paper provides evidence from his poem that his invocation of the 'death' of a naturalist was an emotional response to the trauma of his brother's untimely demise and all which this experience revealed about nature to him.

From the Paper
"It is therefore that we are inclined to add the scrutiny applied to the startling poem, "Death of a Naturalist" also to the life of Seamus Heaney as a means to interpreting the motive for the eulogy of his internal naturalist. Truthfully, there is little mystery as to the autobiographical force which directed his pen at this point in his life, demonstrated more explicitly by such works as "Mid-term Break," where he tells in no uncertain detail of the death of his four year old brother by automobile accident. As perhaps a recurrent theme relating to the naturalist proclivity toward description through the senses more than through the psyche, he describes his auditory experience upon learning of his brother's death. He opens the poem speaking of the tense duration before he was to be joined with his already grieving family, telling that "I sat all morning in the college sick bay. Counting bells knelling classes to a close." (Heaney) This lonely imagery is offered in the stead of actually telling us that this was the place where he learned of the tragedy.
"And in a manner that follows the rationality of the naturalist, the remainder of the poem is also starkly put, with any emotional demonstration exhibited by the subjects; his mother, his father and the men of his town. The poet would not offer here any greater indication of his own emotional disposition beyond the toned description of the world surrounding him. This is a distinctly naturalist disposition, to separate one's self from the egoistic experience of understanding something as personal as tragedy, instead using this to key into something about the human experience, inherently afflicted as it is by suffering and unspeakable sorrow. To dispense with the trite elaboration on his own endurance of this condition, Heaney instead explores this experience with an eye to the sensory perception of grief."

Tags:vulnerability, accident, life

Abstract
This paper discusses and compares the poems "Bye-Child", "The Outlaw", "Bogland", "Limbo" and "The Harvest Bow", by Seamus Heaney. The paper illustrates how each poem evokes a powerful sense of the Irish perception of Ireland, a love-hate relationship in which kinship to the land is deeply felt, along with profound spiritual loneliness. The paper explains that although the overall tone of these poems creates a feeling of tragic alienation, isolation and sterility, there remains a hint of hope.

From the Paper
" "Bye-Child" tells the story of a feral child found shut up in a henhouse, the ultimate symbol of ignorance, isolation and alienation. The squalor of his condition is expressed in "the dust,/ The cobwebs, old droppings/ Under the roosts"; he is fed on scraps thrown through a trapdoor "morning and evening". This image is an extreme dramatization of Irish poverty and deprivation. The child lives for the arrival of the scraps, his only link with the unnamed "she" (his mother?) and for the sight of the lamplight in the window, the symbol of comfort and companionship from which he is inexplicably excluded. His uncomprehending patience is compared to that of a dog; he is "kennelled and faithful". Thus, in spite of the misery and neglect of his parents ("their" implies his mother has companionship), there is no resentment in his acceptance of his situation. He loves the light; thus the Irish, in spite of their hardships and lack of comfort, still love their motherland."

Tags:Europe

Abstract
This paper discusses the Irish poet ,Seamus Heaney, who is the most prolific poet of our times and one of the best Irish literary figures to emerge after Yeats. The author points out that "Digging" refers to "a passion" that give a meaning and purpose to life. The paper examines his unassuming, non-aggressive approach that makes his work standout among heaps of conventional political poems. The references are annotated.

From the Paper
"Born in 1939, Seamus rose to the heights of international fame when his first collection of poems appeared in 1966 titled, "Death of the Naturalist". It was in this collection that his most widely read poem appeared which gives a reason to believe that Seamus' past is important to him and his rural background has always been a source of pride. This is one reason why we notice references to his past deeply embedded in many of his poems most noticeably in Digging, a poem that talks about Seamus' life on a farm in Mossbawn, a place "30 miles northwest of Belfast"."

Tags:irish, yeats, passion, meaning, purpose, life, style, unassuming, non-aggressive, political

Abstract
In this article, the writer compares Seamus Heaney's translation of 'Beowulf' to two other translations of the epic poem. The writer discusses what makes some translations unreadable. Further, the writer discusses the use of modern language to make sense of the poem to contemporary readers.

From the Paper
"Michael Alexander has identified 'Beowulf' as the first substantial work in English and pointed out that it has both a severe artistic dignity and a penetrating understanding of human life. This long poem has been translated by any number of individuals beginning with Alfred Lord Tennyson and continuing through the translation by Seamus Heaney. Heaney was initially commissioned by the W. W. Norton Publishing Company to represent this famous Old English poem to undergraduates in a free standing and relatively faithful translation that would also appear in an ... "

Tags:Beowulf, translation, Seamus Heaney

Abstract
This paper examines "Station Island" by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, It looks at how Heaney is also a spiritual writer, and his "Station Island" is a deeply spiritual work that tries to portray the spiritual hunger often felt by the people in this modern and technological world and how the title, "Station Island", itself has a association with spirituality and pilgrimage. It analyzes how Heaney uses many poetic devices throughout his writing to good affect and how it helps the reader to imagine the feelings and actions of Heaney that are going on in his mind. The words Heaney uses enrich the poetry; he uses much onomatopoeia to create atmosphere in his writing.

From the Paper
"The third part of "Station Island" is a series of monologues on the voice of Sweeney a mysterious and scary figure from Heaney's childhood, the poems in the third part are dramatic and Heaney creates images from the past to tell the story of religious confusion. Sweeney was also a character in previous Heaney poems and in "Sweeney Returns" Heaney depicts the return of the mysterious figure with an altered tone, this time the tone of Sweeney is more political than religious. "On the Road" is the last poem which concludes the book and states that "all roads are one." The voices of Sweeney-Heaney merge, as the religious and aesthetic quests join in the volume of final words [O'Connell, 1985]."

Tags:onomatopoeia, monologues, spirituality, pilgrimage

Abstract
This paper opens with the full text of Seamus Heaney's poem "Mid-Term Break," after which the writer details the poet's unique style of writing. This paper discusses Heaney's use of iambic pentameter in the text, which serves as the sound structure for this particular poem. This paper examines Heaney's use of emotion, rhythm and literary imagery to convey the feeling of sadness throughout the poem. The writer of this paper also breaks down each line and stanza while clearly describing the author's intention.

From the Paper
"In the first sentence, the speaker relates spending a whole morning in a college infirmary as bells outside sound the end of classes. The speaker states, "I sat all morning in the college sick bay." This first image shows the speaker as sympathetic rather than dispassionate. The fact the speaker spent "all morning in the college sick bay" indicates some sort of hardship, either physical or mental, resulting in that person's inability or lack of desire to move to a more comfortable location, such as a dorm room or cafeteria. This also introduces the concept of the speaker as an alienated character. The term "sick bay" connotes not only sickness but also contagion and quarantine. Also, the speaker was, "Counting bells knell classes to a close," suggesting a pessimistic, darkly shaded outlook. The word "knell" denotes "to ring slowly and solemnly, especially for a funeral...A signal of disaster or destruction" (American Heritage), thus adding a mournful tone to the poem reflected by the speaker spending the morning isolated in a college sick bay."

Tags:literature, english, analysis, poetry, iambic, pentameter, emotion

Abstract
This paper explores the process and result of translating a classic for modern audiences using Seamus Heaney's translation of "Antigone", titled "The Burial at Thebes". The paper demonstrates how Heaney's use of language in "The Burial at Thebes" modernizes Sophocles' "Antigone", thus creating a play that is more captivating than traditional translations and easier for the audience to internalize. The paper also notes the powerful imagery and modern political references in "The Burial at Thebes".

From the Paper
"Translating a Greek tragedy is difficult. In Watling's introduction, he says, "The problem of finding English substitutes for Greek idiom and terminology is difficult enough in prose, more difficult in verse, and most difficult of all in drama" (16). These translations are necessary, however, to keep the stories alive. One obvious reason is that most of society does not understand ancient Greek, so they simply could not read it as is. But even if everyone could transcribe the original Antigone, its literal word-for-word translation would be almost meaningless. It takes a talented writer to interpret the text and rewrite it in a way that reads easily to modern audiences."

Tags:characters, setting, language, imagery, literature

Abstract
This paper looks at how the poem "Digging" is one of Seamus Heaney's earlier and cruder poems, reflecting a much rougher style. It looks at how his themes are very direct and the impact created is not as significant as some of his later work. It discusses how the poem reflects an internal struggle as Heaney comes to terms with his career, that of a poet, and breaks with his family tradition of farming.

From the Paper
"Heaney's poem has a quality of honesty, as it conveys farm life as it really is, rather than a cover-up. He portrays it as hard work, performed with simple pride, with no pretensions whatsoever, amongst "the cold smell", "the squelch and slap". He relives his childhood experience, yet he doesn't want to follow in his forefather's footsteps. Though his roots are farming, he honestly admits that he has "no spade to follow men like them". His reason for choosing another vocation is not that he feels it is beneath him or ashamed of it, rather on the contrary, he feels great pride for his family traditions. However, he feels that he is not cut out for that life, and since he has more choices than his father or grandfather had, he exercises those choices."

Tags:farmer, ireland, irish, laureate, nobel

Abstract
This paper discusses how, on the surface, the poem by Nobel Prize Laureate Seamus Heaney called "Churning Day", is a wonderful journey into the past, into the old ways of making butter when technology and the corporate world were far from becoming part of Europe. The paper looks at how the poem is both a history lesson and a reflection of Heaney's agricultural upbringing. It also shows how the poem is in a very real way a testament to his sharp eye and attentive ears towards the culture in rural Ireland in which he grew up.

From the Paper
"In the poem it is clear that Heaney sees his boyhood old-world family lifestyle as a metaphor, and all the things that were part of those experiences are building blocks for his storytelling. But he shows how highly intelligent he is by his strategic use of words - just enough descriptiveness and emotion. Still, he does not let the tools of poetry overpower the poem. As a poet he has the license to pour forth with images and metaphors, but he handles this poem with grace, the same as his family handled the chores of making food with grace and deliberation. His poetry is, according to The New York Times, "...accomplished, predictable" (Unterecker, 1967). "

Tags:butter, ireland