Seamus Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, seventy two years after William B. Yeats became the first Irishman to do so. Though that "Rich and Rare Land" produced many fine poets during those years, Heaney is truly a worthy successor to Yeats.
Born on April 13, 1939 in Mossbawn, 30 miles north west of Belfast in the county of Derry, Heaney would live through the tumult and tragedy of the "troubles" that had bled Ireland in the period that inspired Yeats a generation before.
Seamus Heaney received his Nobel Prize for Literature for his more than 16 volumes of poetry and prose. Described as eloquent yet simple, he is compared with W.B.Yeats and Robert Frost.
In announcing his prize, the Swedish Academy praised Heaney for "works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and living past".
Some works by Heaney:
- Eleven Poems
- Death of a Naturalist
- Wintering Out
- Door into the Dark
- Preoccupations: Selected Prose
- The Haw Lantern
- Seeing Things