Seamus Heaney: A Collection of Critical Essays

This collection of 11 essays addresses the entire poetic oeuvre of Seamus Heaney up to and including "Seeing Things" and the verse-play "The Cure at Troy". The 11 contributors include poets and critics from Britain, America and Ireland. They examine a variety of aspects of Heaney's work, and open up, from various angles, the sources, directions, continuities and purposes of Heaney's career to date. Heaney has always been ready to try new things - these essays are designed to help the reader get a clearer view of the "figure in the carpet". The poetry is analyzed and assessed in its own right, but it is also discussed in relation to its literary, social and historical contexts. A spectrum of approaches is represented, from traditional humanist perspectives to those of poststructuralist, political and cultural criticism. In their concern with the values embodied in Heaney's acts of language, these essays make a contribution to the contemporary debate in Ireland. Elmer Andrews is the author of "The Poetry of Seamus Heaney: All the Realms of Whisper", and a contributing editor to "Contemporary Irish Poetry: A Collection of Critical Essays".