This book examines the influence of American poetry on Seamus Heaney's achievement by close attention to the themes, style, and resonances of his poetry at different stages of his career, including his appointments in Berkeley and Harvard. Beginning with an examination of Heaney's education at Queen's University, this study presents comparative close readings which explore the influence of five American poets he read during this period: Robert Frost, John Crowe Ransom, Theodore Roethke, Robert Lowell, and Elizabeth Bishop. Laverty demonstrates how Heaney returned to several of these poets in response to difficulty and to consolidate later aesthetic developments. Heaney's ambivalent critical treatment of Sylvia Plath is investigated, as is his partial misreading of Bishop, who is understood today more sensitively than in her lifetime. This study also probes the reasons for his elision of other prominent American writers, making this the first comprehensive assessment of American influence on Heaney's poetry.
| ISBN: | 9783030955670 |
| Publication date: | 10th May 2022 |
| Author: | Christopher Laverty |
| Publisher: | Palgrave Macmillan an imprint of Springer International Publishing |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 266 pages |
| Series: | New Directions in Irish and Irish American Literature |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: poetry and poets European history Literature: history and criticism |
This book examines the influence of American poetry on Seamus Heaney's achievement by close attention to the themes, style, and resonances of his poetry at different stages of his career, including his appointments in Berkeley and Harvard. Beginning with an examination of Heaney's education at Queen's University, this study presents comparative close readings which explore the influence of five American poets he read during this period: Robert Frost, John Crowe Ransom, Theodore Roethke, Robert Lowell, and Elizabeth Bishop. Laverty demonstrates how Heaney returned to several of these poets in response to difficulty and to consolidate later aesthetic developments. Heaney's ambivalent critical treatment of Sylvia Plath is investigated, as is his partial misreading of Bishop, who is understood today more sensitively than in her lifetime. This study also probes the reasons for his elision of other prominent American writers, making this the first comprehensive assessment of American influence on Heaney's poetry.
Seamus Heaney and American Poetry features in the following genres: Literary studies: poetry and poets, European history, Literature: history and criticism
Seamus Heaney and American Poetry is available in Hardback
Seamus Heaney and American Poetry was written by Christopher Laverty and published by Palgrave Macmillan an imprint of Springer International Publishing
Seamus Heaney and American Poetry has 266 pages
Yes it is part of New Directions in Irish and Irish American Literature series
£80.99