Poems, 1965-1975 – Seamus Heaney

Bill Levin suggested this book of poetry by Seamus Heaney. It’s rare that we read poetry as a book club and Bill had the insight and knowledge of the author to pull it off. Each of us nine members selected one poem from this collection to read aloud and discuss. We gathered around the outdoor Sanctuary at the Larke’s home on a beautiful spring day May, 6, 2023. Bill shared his first hand knowledge of the author, having been introduced to him in Cambridge, MA once upon a time. I recall Bill leading off with his reading of “Digging.” The rest of us followed. The Larke’s schedule took them to Sicily at the time of the next meeting, so they passed on proposing the upcoming book selections. It fell to Renee to come up with our next title (see Paradise – Toni Morrison).

Notes from Goodreads

This volume gathers nearly all of the poems from Heaney’s first four Death of a Naturalist (1966), Door into the Dark (1969), Wintering Out (1972), and North (1975). Works of Irish poet Seamus Justin Heaney reflect landscape, culture, and political crises of his homeland and include the collections Wintering Out (1972) and Field Work (1979) as well as a translation of Beowulf (1999). He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995. This writer and lecturer won this prize “for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past.”