“Harvard created wonderful conditions for me as a writerbut the writing was done, almost entirely, when I got home.” WritingDoneHomeWonderfulConditionsHarvard Author:Seamus Heaney
“The appointment [in Harvard] gave me economic safety, writerly support, and intellectual self-respectplus eight months to myself every year.” YearsSelfSupportEconomicMonthsIntellectualSafetyEightHarvardAppointments Author:Seamus Heaney
“Even though Helen Vendler wasn't on the Harvard faculty when I came first in 1979, she was a guardian spirit; Robert Fitzgerald gave me the use of his study in Pusey Library. Monroe and Brenda Engel kept open house, Bob and Jana Kiely made me at home in Adams House. Then, too, in 1979, Frank Bidart, whom Id met in Dublin after the death of Robert Lowell he was over seeing Caroline Blackwood Frank brought me into his circle of friends, including Robert Pinsky and Alan Williamson.” FirstsMadeUseHomeSpiritHouseStudySeeingMetsLibraryIncludingCirclesFacultyBobFrankGuardianHarvardHelenDublinCircle Of FriendsEngels Author:Seamus Heaney
“Harvard meant a lot in my writing life from the beginning, even though I didnt actually do much composition on the spot.” WritingSpotsCompositionWriting LifeHarvard Author:Seamus Heaney
“The poems I did write there [in Harvard] include Alphabets the 1984 Phi Beta Kappa poem and A Sofa in the Forties. And, of course, the John Harvard poem for the 350th anniversary Villanelle for an Anniversary.” WritingCoursesFortyHarvardAlphabetSofasBeta Author:Seamus Heaney
“Anything Can Happen is also, incidentally, a poem that arose from teaching. I'd talked about the Horace Ode (I, 34) [on which the poem is based] in a lecture I gave at Harvard in the fall of 2000 entitled Bright Boltsand remembered it after the Twin Towers attack.” HappensFallTeachingRememberedTwinsTowersEntitledLecturesHarvardAnything Can HappenOdesTwin Towers Author:Seamus Heaney
