[This entry was updated by Robert Buttel from his entry in the Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography, volume 8, pp. 142-165.] From the beginning critical as well as popular acclaim has greeted each volume of Seamus Heaney's poetry. Who would h...

From the beginning critical as well as popular acclaim has greeted each volume of Seamus Heaney's poetry. Who would have predicted in 1966, when his first full-length book appeared, the impact such poetry would have? It is, after all, a poetry manifestly...

The poetry of Seamus Justin Heaney (born 1939) reveals his skill with language and his command of form and technique. In his poems, Heaney balances personal, topical, and universal themes. He approaches his themes from a modest perspective, creating dept...