Gone but not forgotten. Great poets, Seamus Heaney 1939 – 2013.
I’d like to share an extract from one of my favourite books, The Celts by Frank Delaney which extended from the BBC2 series published in Britain last decade.
This part comes from the chapter, Expressions, and is on page 151. The author, Mr Delaney, is discussing Mr Seamus Heaney, the writer, who said this:
Poetry of any power is always deeper than it’s declared meaning. The secret between the words, the binding element, is often a psychic force that is elusive, archaic and only half-apprehended by maker and audience. For example, in the context of monasticism, the god of my title would be the Christian deity, the giver of life, sustained of nature, creator father and redeemer Son. But there was another god in the tree, impalpable perhaps but still indigenous, less doctrinally defined than the god of the monasteries but more intuitively apprehended. The powers of the Celtic Otherworld hovered there.
Here is a link to one of Seamus Heanley’s poems…someone, probably him before he went, had the foresight to place them in photograph form so are searchable on google. This is one I rather like,
Thanks for reading.
To me, poetry is as important as life and death.
How important is poetry to you?
Does it feature at all in your world?
unextraordinarybint Samantha Harris in London, England. 