Tribute to Seamus Heaney
by
, 08-31-2013 at 11:40 PM (4411 Views)
I suppose most have heard the great Irish poet Seamus Heany passed away yesterday. Here's a little tribute.
The BBC obit seems to focus on the Catholic/Protestant conflicts that has consumed Ireland. I did not really see that side of his work, since I’m neither Irish nor British ethnicity. My appreciation of Heaney’s poetry really focused on his nature and rural life themes. Here’s a poem that highlights for me what makes his poetry unique and spectacular. In regard to the copywrite laws, I’ll only post the first half of this two part poem.
Mossbawn 1. Sunlight
By Seamus Heaney
For Mary Heaney
I. Sunlight
There was a sunlit absence.
The helmeted pump in the yard
heated its iron,
water honeyed
in the slung bucket
and the sun stood
like a griddle cooling
against the wall
of each long afternoon.
So, her hands scuffled
over the bakeboard,
the reddening stove
sent its plaque of heat
against her where she stood
in a floury apron
by the window.
Now she dusts the board
with a goose's wing,
now sits, broad-lapped,
with whitened nails
and measling shins:
here is a space
again, the scone rising
to the tick of two clocks.
And here is love
like a tinsmith's scoop
sunk past its gleam
in the meal-bin.
Notice the unique but simple diction, a farmer’s diction but stilled charged with freshness. There is nothing in there that smacks of cliché, even though it appears to be describing a common activity. I love the short lines, suggesting a simple person. I love the cacophony of hard sounding consonants: pump, bucket, griddle, bakeboard, plaque, scone, tick, scoop. Short words with hard consonants suggest an elemental simplicity, recalling early English or Gaelic roots. Mary Heaney is his wife, and in her simple rural baking he sees love.
You can read about tributes here and obits from The Independent and The New York Times, each with some more information.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention that Heaney had a fine translation of Beowulf in verse, which I enjoyed reading very much.
Finally, here is a nice video memorial to him.
May he rest in peace.