Seamus Heaney

1
SeamusHeaney

• BY
• Ben Murphy

2
Contents

• Facts
• Family
• Childhood
• Books/Poetry
• Occupation
• Prizes/Honours

3
Facts

• Full Name Seamus Justin Heaney    
• Birth 13 April 1939
• Father Patrick Heaney
• Mother Margaret Kathleen McCann
• Heaney Siblings two sisters and six brothers
• Spouse Marie Devlin
• Number of Children 03
• Education St. Columb's College, Queen's
  University

4
Family 1/2

• His father, Patrick Heaney, a local of
  Castledawson, was the eighth child of ten born to
  James and Sarah Heaney. Patrick was a farmer but
  his real commitment was to cattle-dealing, to
  which he was introduced by the uncles who had
  cared for him after the early death of his own
  parents.

5
Family 2/2

• Heaney's mother came from the McCann family,
  whose uncles and relations were employed in the
  local linen mill and whose aunt had worked as a
  maid for the mill owner's family.

6
Childhood

• Heaney was born on 13 April 1939 at the family
  farmhouse called Mossbawn, between Castledawson
  and Toomebridge in Northern Ireland.
• Heaney was the first of nine children. In 1953,
  his family moved to Bellaghy, a few miles away,
  which is now the family home.
• He received a scholarship to attend the boarding
  school St. Columbs College in Derry and went on
  to Queens University Belfast, studying english
  and graduating in 1961.

7
Books/Poetry 1/2

• Some of Heaneys more popular books include
• Buile Suibhne
• Opened Ground
• District and Circle
• The Redress of Poetry
• As a translater, Heanys most famous work is the
  translation
• of the epic Anglo Saxon poem Beowulf.
• The Testament of Cresseid and Seven Fables.

8
Books/Poetry 2/2

• Some of Heaneys most popular poems include
• A Kite for Aibhin
• Blackberry Picking
• Casualty
• Death of a Naturalist
• Digging
• Exposure
• From Lightnings
• Keeping Going
• Lovers on Aran
• Mossbawn
• Midterm Break

9
Occupation

• In the early 1960s he became a lecturer in
  Belfast after attending a university there. In
  1962 Heaneys poetry began being published.
• Seamus Heaney published his first poetry book in
  1966, Death of a Naturalist.
• In 1972, Heaney left Belfast and moved to Dublin
  and worked as a teacher in Carysfort College.
• Seamus Heaney was a visiting Professor at Harvard
  University from 1981 to 1997.
• From 1989 to 1994 he was also the Professor of
  Poetry at Oxford, having only to deliver three
  public lectures every year, this post did not
  require him to reside in Oxford.
• In 1996 Heaney was made a Commandeur de l'Ordre
  des Arts et Lettres.

10
Prizes/Honours

• Among his many awards Heaneys most famous award
  is the Nobel Prise in Literature in 1995 .
• Whitbred Book of the Year award in 1996.
• T.S. Eliot Prize in 2006.
• 2008 Seamus Heaney street in Denmark named after
  him.
• 2009, David Cohen Prize,
• 2010 Forward Poetry Prize.
• 2011,Britains top 300 intellectuals.
• 2012, Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetrys
  Lifetime Recognition Award.

11
Farewell

• A writer and a speaker, Heaney died on
  30/08/13 in Blackrock Clinic in Dublin following
  a short illness.
• Hundreds of people attended his funeral.
• A crowd of 81,553 spectators applauded Heaney for
  three minutes at an All Ireland Gaelic semi-final
  match on September 1st.
• His funeral was broadcast live the following day
  on R.T.E radio and television.
• His poetry collections sold out rapidly in Isish
  bookshops immediately following his death.