“A Call” Commentary“A Call,” by Seamus Heaney, traces the growing import of death, and therefore appreciation of life, on the speaker. By making a simple call to his father, he is thrown into a series of reflections on his father, as well as time,...

“Mid-Term Break,” by Seamus Heaney, traces the emotional progression of a teenage boy after finding out that his little brother has died in a horrific accident. The harsh realities of life force him into a despondent blur, and he is not able to...

The undertaking of a transition from one phase of life to another can prove difficult and there may be obstacles to overcome along the way. In order to transcend adversity, an individual will often need to maintain diligence and perseverance to...

The Digging Skeleton and Bone Dreams are poems written by Seamus Heaney during a time of conflict between England and Ireland. He writes poems in hope to bring peace and to stop the fighting and bloodshed. He reflects this mindset in his poems...

Heritage appears as a central theme both to ‘Translations’ and ‘District and Circle’. Heritage can be described within the context of these texts as a set of ideas, traditions or explicit values that gives a sense of identity or belonging to a...

‘I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering’ (Robert Frost).

The art of discovery has long since marked the progression of humankind through a process of finding unique and unsought information that is able to...

If there is one thing that almost every single person in world has in common, it is an existential fear of death. The subconscious thought that eventually reaches a sudden, overwhelming, hyper-realistic tipping point that we have been internally...

Seamus Heaney, a 20th century poet from Northern Ireland, is well known for composing pieces that were strongly influenced by his local background. Heaney’s preoccupation with this largely rural setting, as it appears through the lens of his own...

In Seamus Heaney’s short autobiographical poem, Digging. Heaney describes his strong feeling towards the land on which he grew up on and the role that he and his relatives played on it, but also his untraditional choice to write rather than dig....