Death of a Naturalist

by Seamus Heaney

Genres: Poetry
Pages: 56
Rating:

Synopsis:

Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney is the stunning and revelatory first collection by the Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet.

Seamus Heaney’s Death of a Naturalist collection contains some of the poems I know best, including my favourite, ‘Mid-Term Break’, the final line of which is always a perfect punch in the gut:

“A four foot box, a foot for every year.”

There’s something that’s very distinctive about Heaney’s voice as a poet for me, something very solid and direct. It’s not that he doesn’t use imagery, or metaphors, or poetic diction — of course he does at times — but it still feels fundamentally straightforward. Which is part of the art of it, of course.

Definitely one of my favourite volumes of poetry I’ve read lately, if not ever.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)

Door into the Dark

by Seamus Heaney

Genres: Poetry
Pages: 56
Rating:

Synopsis:

"Door into the Dark," Heaney's second collection of poems, first appeared in 1969. Already his widely celebrated gifts of precision, thoughtfulness, and musicality were everywhere apparent.

Seamus Heaney’s Door into the Dark was only his second collection, but his style is unmistakeable. I couldn’t pick a poem from this collection I especially liked as a stand-out, but they all have presence and demand attention: there’s something deliberate about every single word.

Which is not to say ponderous, to be clear — they’re all very readable and don’t drag on too long or anything like that! It just feels like every word and phrase is chosen to be impactful, to have weight.

Not a favourite collection, but it was worth the read.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)