Seamus Heaney and American Poetry

This book explores the influence of American poetry on Seamus Heaney's career, focusing on the themes, style, and resonances of his poetry at different stages, including his appointments in Berkeley and Harvard. It examines the influence of five American poets he read during his education, including Robert Frost, John Crowe Ransom, Theodore Roethke, Robert Lowell, and Elizabeth Bishop. It also investigates Heaney's ambivalent critical treatment of Sylvia Plath and his partial misreading of Bishop.

Format: Hardback
Length: 245 pages
Publication date: 10 May 2022
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG

This book delves into the profound influence of American poetry on the remarkable achievement of Seamus Heaney, through a meticulous examination of the themes, style, and resonances of his poetry at various stages of his career, including his appointments at Berkeley and Harvard. The study begins by exploring Heaney's educational journey at Queens University, where he was exposed to the works of five American poets who left a lasting impact on his artistic development: Robert Frost, John Crowe Ransom, Theodore Roethke, Robert Lowell, and Elizabeth Bishop. Through comparative close readings, Laverty sheds light on how Heaney revisited these poets in times of difficulty, consolidating his aesthetic advancements. Additionally, the book delves into Heaney's complex and sometimes ambivalent critical treatment of Sylvia Plath and his partial misreading of Bishop, a writer who is now understood more sensitively than during her lifetime. Furthermore, the study investigates the reasons behind Heaney's omission of other prominent American writers, making this a comprehensive assessment of the profound influence of American poetry on his poetic oeuvre.

Weight: 467g
Dimension: 210 x 148 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783030955670
Edition number: 1st ed. 2022