North (North - Seamus Heaney)

Member Name: MI9to5

Product:	North - Seamus Heaney
Date:	18/06/09 (51 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Interesting once you understand them

Disadvantages: Some are a bit heavy

North is a collection written by Irish poet Seamus Heaney and was first published in 1975.

Seamus Heaney as I have just mentioned is an Irish poet. He was born in Northern Ireland in 1939 but currently lives in Dublin. It is said that he moved to Dublin due to persecution in Northern Ireland because of the political side to his poetry but this has never truly been confirmed or denied. Heaney began his profession as a poet in 1966 and has written ever since, even being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.

North was Heaney's fourth collection of poems to be published. It was preceded by Wintering Out in 1972 and followed by Field Work in 1979. The collection itself was the first of his works to really directly deal with the troubles that Ireland had experienced throughout the 1960's and 1970's. Most of the poems in the collection therefore draw parallel's between objects or past events in order to bring forth the problems of Irish society.

The collection contains twenty-two poems all of which relate in some way to the many issues facing those within the Irish community. Personally I find some of the poems rather difficult to digest because of the numerous layers within them and often find myself feeling rather uncertain of what is actually being discussed within them. My problem with the poems though is less with how they are written but more with the way that people like to dissect them and try and find hidden meanings.

I have previously mention that the poems deal with issues with Ireland but I personally don't always think that these issues are in the foreground of all the poems and often find other things that for me are much more prominent. I studied this collection for my degree programme this year and had many a discussion with my seminar leader over my interpretation of the poems in comparison to those widely accepted.

This doesn't mean however that my interpretations are incorrect or that those of others are incorrect but simply that the poems speak out on my levels and that different people will tap into different parts of them. Furthermore Heaney himself has never openly admitted that the poetry he has written contains political agendas this is simply something that is inferred and that critics have grasped and hung on to.

Like I have said I do find some of the poetry rather tough going but others I find rather pleasant and interesting to read. For example the poem 'Bog Queen' is one I particularly enjoy reading. This poem is again one that can be interpreted on many levels and one that my seminar leader and me disagreed about. The poem I will admit is rather voyeuristic on my levels but also strongly relates to Ireland. As you can see it wasn't about whether the poem had Irish connotations that we disagreed on but more what the poem was saying. In my opinion the poem expresses the idea that Ireland's history has been misinterpreted and that with the tie between England severed the country would be able to rise and the true history would come to light. My seminar leader wasn't certain about this but then again this is only my view. I wonder what you think?

I'm not going to go on and dissect all the poems within the collection but will say that some of them do provide a little disturbing reading depending how you view them. They are frequently filled with voyeuristic and sexual images and Heaney constantly describes land and countries as forms of the female body. On the whole I wouldn't say I was exactly fond of this collection but in some ways I am glad I read it. Personally I prefer some of Heaney's other poems such as "Mid-term Break" and "Digging", which relate more to the family and are quite touching. If you yourself however are a fan of 'political' poetry then this may be worth a shot.

Summary: A collection of poetry