I think anyone of my generation from Northern Ireland is aware of the enormous cultural value that Seamus Heaney brought to the peoples of this place through his poetry and mind, when few others were celebrating the national identities of this contested terrain.

For that reason, Heaney is deep in my consciousness. From the first couple of poems we listened to at primary school, through to the complexities of rewriting Beowulf (which I learned in the original at university – tough but fascinating stuff!).

I have no doubt that I will read many of his poems in my personal reading life and possibly here once more. Today’s poem was one I knew too little about until I turned it up on the Nobel Prize website (click here to open in a new window).

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Take care!

Patrick xo