“When I was teaching, I gave a lot of my mind and anxiety to it. There was always something clenched and anxious in me until the classes were over.” MindClassTeachingAnxietyAnxiousOf My Mind Author:Seamus Heaney
“Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.” MadeEnoughJobsFeltSafeAnticipationTense Author:Seamus Heaney
“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
“Irish readers, British readers, American readers: is it odd that I haven't a clue about how differently they react? Or better say, I cannot find the words to describe my hunch about them.” HavensReaderBritishOddClueHunches Author:Seamus Heaney
“Best to say that once a poem is finished I trust it to make its way, and I trust readers will find their way to it and through it, if the thing has got itself rightly expressed.” IfsWayReaderFinished Author:Seamus Heaney
“I felt implicated in American affairs.Outraged at the blatant lies about Iraqs involvement in al Qaeda, at the regimes arrogance and stupidity, Guantnamo Bay and all the rest of it. But the poems at the start of District and Circle Anahorish 1944, The Aerodromearent particularly aimed as criticism. On the contrary, there's a recognition of the big contribution to world order made in Europe during World War II.” WorldMadeWarBigsLyingOrderFeltEuropeCriticismAffairIraqStupidityContraryCirclesRecognitionWar Of The WorldsArroganceContributionAlsWorld War IiRegimesWorld War IInvolvementAl QaedaWorld OrderOutragedBlatant Lies Author:Seamus Heaney