Seamus Heaney - The Tollund Man

[MrMoshmuma]

No need for the music

[boyleb1]

i dream of having wrote this and winning the newidgate

[ndyestermorrow]

Could've done without the distracting music. The poem is music enough.

[OldwomanAsh]

I wrote on this for my final exams. I still love his poetry and his depth. I love the omnipresence of the ancient European heritage, not better nor gentler than modern life - but infinitely more personal. At least, I felt that way.

[amigaway]

Strong and beautiful parallel. Seamus Heaney's poem, which is about human sacrifice of course but also about the irish civil war and the constant violence that the poet is accustomed with (hence the ending) is already a masterpiece in and of itself that should be contrasted with the harvest bow where he shows the bounds that are created by the ancestral irish culture ! But that particular link to the black movements of the 60's, not only respects Heaney's message, but reinforces it !

[hillarychapman1]

Too bad there's this piano meandering behind this astounding poem

[GilesConradWatson]

I can't understand why this has created so much controversy. The pictures make for an interesting reading of a poem that works on several different levels: surely a fitting tribute to a superb poet, and not an insult to him? I am sure Heaney himself would appreciate the comparison between the American civil rights movement and the struggle in his own country, and you've included good pics of the Tollund Man himself. Worked for me - and what's wrong with the music, anyway?

[fucknbastard]

Utter horse shit.

[IgnatianMystic]

You really are a fucknbastard.

You also have no respect for poetry. Jerk.

[b00i00d]

This is simply heart-breakingly beautiful! Any chance you could send me the mp3?

[mrhuther]

That final line is one of the most haunting things I've ever heard.

The background music made my ears hemorrhage.

[westernOZ]

whats with all the black power, martin luther king photos, they have nothing to do with the poem

[Walkingcompilation]

Depends on your interpretation.

[AnotherCuppaCoffee]

The poem is about human sacrifice done in the honor of a god and sanctioned by one's tribe or nation. Like Jim Crow and lynching in the US, NI denial of Catholic rights, extreme nationalism, Nazism, etc. All forms of human sacrifice, an error as old as our divided human nature.

[twinkletoes3121]

who does the music in the background??

[mossfitz]

the musical background is appalling. Please remove this.

[demonic88]

ew combined degree, LOSER! GO SINGLE HONOURS!! seamus, you're a saint. 69 and still going, you lived to see a peaceful northern ireland (and you had more than a little to do with it boyo!) nice video, you should listen to the poet and the piper album, its a tour he did with a piper (i saw them do a concert in dundalk, really lovely)

[Bernie150]

First, I think it's clear this is a photo-montage set to music/ poetry, and not the other way around.

Second I think it's clear the video is using the poem as a metaphor for inhumanity in America, in the same way Heaney's poem is using the Tollund man's demise as a metaphor for inhumanity in Northern Ireland.

(Come on people, seriously!)

The music, I could take or leave...

[dylanesque2100]

this has nothing to do with heaney or the poem

[PatchworkPorpoise]

Well, he did write it...

but i know what you mean.

[rizzzkhan]

i think the creator of this piece might have been tryin to draw a likeness between the decades of war and conflict in Northern Ireland with the struggle of the Black population in around the same period in history. though i still cant explain the background music...i personally consider it an insult to the genius of Seamus heaney

[aliahmed13]

Heaney is undoubtedly one of the greatest poets of our era. His deeper feelings are apparent but we need to think and dig below the surface to ascertain his true purpose. Seamu Heaney R.I.P...oh wait, hes still alive. Rocking the place down !!!

[revert786]

im studying this poem at university level, for a combined diploma in English literature and Irish History. This piece especially is so ambiguous and contains so many different meanings and interpretations. I've heard that he is as a person really charismatic...well the warmth in his voice is sure appealing to me. I'd certainly love to meet this 'Einstein of poetry' in person one day!!

[Bartelsen]

Hehe, I live in Aarhus. I didn't understand the political pictures either

[Lilynia]

Um.....I'm going to have to repeat boyleb and ask if you even know what this poem's about? Because...well, the music isn't ridiculous so much as the images. Other than the pics of Irish landscape and the Tollund Man himself. I didn't understand what the poem has to do with prejudice against black people in America.... Please explain the reasons behind this absurdity!

[boyleb1]

do you know anything about this poem?the music is ridiculous?

[ShiningPie]

a good poem - nice photos

[subz6]

who did the music?