Seamus Heaney's Versions of Pastoral | Zendy

Iain Twiddy | Zendy

AI Assistant Blog Pricing

Home ZAIA Blog

Open Access

Seamus Heaney's Versions of Pastoral

Author(s) -

Iain Twiddy

Publication year - 2006

Publication title -

essays in criticism

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 0.111

H-Index - 9

eISSN - 1471-6852

pISSN - 0014-0856

DOI - 10.1093/escrit/cgh003

Subject(s) - poetry , perch , art , social connectedness , art history , fishery , literature , fish <actinopterygii> , biology , psychology , psychotherapist

SEAMUS HEANEY begins his 2001 collection Electric Light with two poems of return and renewal. ‘At Toomebridge’ runs ideas of origin and aftermath together in the water which leaves Lough Neagh to become ‘the continuous / Present of the Bann’. Revisiting the territory of ‘A Lough Neagh Sequence’ and his early collections, Heaney takes poetic stock, celebrating ‘As once before / The slime and silver of the fattened eel’. In evaluating his poetic inspiration, Heaney suggests that origin is indistinct from destination. In ‘Perch’, that inspiration flows out to a Heraclitean connectedness:

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.

Having issues? You can contact us here

Accelerating Research