Heaney

Prompt: Seamus Heaney's poetry can be read as an autobiography

Critique 1
Critique 2 makes the suggestion that Heaney's fascination with death is inspired by the death of his brother. However the inference could be made that outside of 'Mid Term Break' Heaney presents a romantic view of death that is a departure from the realism evident in 'Mid Term Break. Furthermore, it could be suggested that the allusion to 'a four foot box' hides the finality and brutality of death, presenting an idealised view. Heaney's romanticisation of death is particularly evident in 'Requiem For Croppies.' Heaney shies away from commenting on the brutality of death, hinting at its transformative qualities and the possibility that death can position an individual as a 'faceless' martyr. he speaker within the poem is able to live on within the conscience of Ireland, both inspiring and sustaining the Irish narrative, through 'barley [that] grew up out of the grave.' In the reality of Heaney's poetry death is not a concrete finality but rather an abstract cycle of perpetual life and death, breeding life and death.

Critique 2
Much of Heaney's work is a reflection of his own life experiences, with Mid-Term Break being the most purely autobiographical. Heaney reflects the most formative experiences of his life through his poetry. His development as a result of "The Swing" allowed him to 'go sky high' in his career as a poet, indicating the importance Heaney attached to his childhood experiences on the farm and with his family. Perhaps his most powerful poem, "Mid-Term Break" gives the reader a deeper understanding as to why Heaney is so obsessed with life and death in his poetry, because of the death of his younger brother Christopher. The "hard blow" associated with Christophers death (as well as the car which killed him) show the significant effects of the incident on Heaney and give us insight into who Heaney is.

Critique 3
A lot of Heaney's work can be seen as autobiographical, they are presented in a way so that we can see how past experiences have affected his values. Death of a naturalist is an example of one of Heaney's transformations through the use of an autobiography. It is an autobiography of a childhood experience where Heaney lost some of his innocence by learning more about the world. The idea of discovering "perhaps biology is not for me" caused young Heaney some distress as he quickly lost interest in what he used to love.