Portrait of Seamus Heaney

Postmodern

Seamus Heaney

1939 – 2013

Irish poet, playwright, translator, lecturer (1939–2013)

  • Ireland
  • Irish
  • ◆ Nobel 1995
UGC NET importance

About

Seamus Justin Heaney was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is Death of a Naturalist (1966), his first major published volume. American poet Robert Lowell described him as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats", and many others, including the academic John Sutherland, have said that he was "the greatest poet of our age". Robert Pinsky has stated that "with his wonderful gift of eye and ear Heaney has the gift of the story-teller." Upon his death in 2013, The Independent described him as "probably the best-known poet in the world".

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Portrait by Sean O'Connor, cropped by Sabahrat (Public domain) via Wikimedia Commons.

Life on the Timeline

1939 – 2013
800 BCToday

Major Works

Exam Dossier

The curators are preparing this dossier.

Exam intelligence for Seamus Heaney — most-asked topics, previous-year themes, practice questions and revision plans — is being assembled. Meanwhile, the Study Guide can walk you through what matters for UGC NET.