How does Heaney’s Poetry Combine Pictures of Ancient Ireland with those of Modern Times?

Heaney’s Poetry Combine Pictures of Ancient Ireland with those of Modern Times

Seamus Heaney as a patriotic poet of Ireland recognizes the cyclical nature of Irish history and uses this in his poetry to reflect the contemporary political situation. Two months after Door in the Dark was published, Northern Ireland fell into chaos. History had indeed repeated itself; as the conflict in the province intensified, it progressively became more and more bloody. Heaney, at his mid-career, finds himself expected to address that crisis in his poetry. He returns again and again to the contemporary political situation, seeking ways in which to address it and confront it in his work. Like his Irish predecessor poet, W.B Yeats, Heaney finds himself thrust into the role of a public figure, combining the past and the present of Ireland and thereby suggesting a way for the future.

 

In the poem ‘Bogland’, the poet describes the broad expanse of the prairies, comparing it to the narrowing of prairies, comparing it to the narrowing of one’s focus when one observes the bogland. The poem refer to many people of Ireland’s past, the people of Ireland’s present  and also the people of Ireland’s Future. The treasures of the past are yielded up to the present and will influence the future. The bogland is the framework which preserves the past history and past treasures and allows continuity into the future. The poet writes of the ‘pioneers’ who dig downwards and find layer upon layer of history, mythology and folklore. The pioneers are those who search for and find the Irish heritage and the bog is the metaphorical repository, and sometimes actual repository of this heritage.

‘Bog Queen’ gives another example of the link between the ancient Ireland and the Moder. Here the Bog Queen is the narrator. Her body was discovered in a bog near Belfast in the eighteenth century. The woman was a Viking and so again, the poet discovers the link between Ulster and the Province’s Viking past. He finds physical, historical evidence to connect Northern Ireland with the Danish Vikings and Jutland itself. The Bog Queen is a symbol for Ireland itself and she speaks of the way she has been pillaged through the centuries.

To sum up, Seamus Heaney’s poetry combines pictures of ancient Ireland with those of modern times most effectively. His intention is to show the cyclical nature of Irish history and Irish Trouble in particular.