We go to poetry, we go to literature in general, to be forwarded within ourselves. Seamus Heaney forwardgeneralliterature Change image and share on social
I have always thought of poems as stepping stones in one's own sense of oneself. Every now and again, you write a poem that gives you self-respect and steadies your going a little bit farther out in the stream. At the same time, you have to conjure the next stepping stone because the stream, we hope, keeps flowing. Seamus Heaney biteconjurefar share on social
The experiment of poetry, as far as I am concerned, happens when the poem carries you beyond where you could have reasonably expected to go. Seamus Heaney carryconcernexpect Change image and share on social
When I first encountered the name of the city of Stockholm, I little thought that I would ever visit it, never mind end up being welcomed to it as a guest of the Swedish Academy and the Nobel Foundation. Seamus Heaney academycityencounter share on social
In a way, Anglo-Saxon poetry cannot be translated. Seamus Heaney anglopoetrysaxon Change image and share on social
My point is there's a hidden Scotland in anyone who speaks the Northern Ireland speech. It's a terrific complicating factor, not just in Northern Ireland, but Ireland generally. Seamus Heaney complicatefactorgenerally Change image and share on social
If poetry and the arts do anything, they can fortify your inner life, your inwardness. Seamus Heaney artfortifyinwardness Change image and share on social
I've said it before about the Nobel Prize: it's like being struck by a more or less benign avalanche. It was unexpected, unlooked for, and extraordinary. Seamus Heaney avalanchebenignextraordinary Change image and share on social
I'm very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination - poets in particular. Seamus Heaney aliveconsciousdear Change image and share on social
The faking of feelings is a sin against the imagination. Seamus Heaney fakefeelingimagination Change image and share on social