Seamus Heaney: An Obituary | Luke Luby

Luke Luby pays tribute to the recently deceased poet laureate. Poet. Playwright. Nobel Prize winner.These are just some of the phrases directed at the late Seamus Heaney, though none seem to convey how masterful Heaney was with the written word.As President Michael D. Higgins said in one of the more fitting tributes to Heaney: “As tributes flow in from around the world, as people recall the extraordinary occasions of the readings and the lectures, we in Ireland will once again get a sense of the depth and range of the contribution of Seamus Heaney to our contemporary world, but what those of us who have had the privilege of his friendship and presence will miss is the extraordinary depth and warmth of his personality."Many tributes from friends, politicians, and other contemporaries have painted Heaney as a warm, funny and open man, while also praising how humble he was. Poet Michael Longley also praised Heaney, saying that he had written ""miracles right the way through his life".Born in April 1939 on a small farm named Mossbawn near Bellaghy in Co. Derry, Heaney was the eldest of nine children. He was educated at St Columb's College, Derry, before attending Queen's University Belfast, after which he made his home in Dublin, with periods of time teaching in Oxford University, as well as Harvard in the US.In 1995 he was elevated to greater heights, alongside poets such as W.B. Yeats, when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. The award praised Heaney for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth. President Higgins was also to explain how much of an impact on and inspiration to future generations of poets:  "Generations of Irish people will have been familiar with Seamus' poems. Scholars all over the world will have gained from the depth of the critical essays, and so many rights organisations will want to thank him for all the solidarity he gave to the struggles within the republic of conscience."Heaney's poetry first came to national attention when his book Death Of A Nationalist was published in 1966. The first poem, Digging, seemed to resonate with many, as it was soon studied on both sides of the Irish border. Never afraid of hiding his Irish heritage, he courted controversially wrote an open letter to two of his contemporaries, Andrew Motion and Blake Morrison. The letter, which consisted of a 198 line poem, was to protest his inclusion in The Penguin Book Of Contemporary British Poetry, and included the lines "Be advised My passport's green/ No glass of ours was ever raised/ To toast The Queen."The public row sparked the creation of the TS Eliot Prize for poetry for anyone from Ireland or Britain, which Heaney later won for his work District and Circle. Professor James McElnay, the vice-chancellor of Queen's University Belfast said that Heaney was "selfless in his contribution to Queen's", saying: "Whether giving his name to the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry, crafting our university's Centenary Stanza or contributing copies of his early works, Seamus asked for nothing in return. His contribution to the world of literature has introduced millions of people around the globe to the enjoyment of poetry and enhanced it for many more." Former US President Bill Clinton weighed in on Heaney's death, describing him as "one of the world's favourite poets", and saying that his poems were "a gift" to the Irish people, to the world, "and a gift to me in difficult times."A man of unparalleled literary genius, he rivals James Joyce and Oscar Wilde for the title of Ireland`s finest writer.