Seamus Heaney "Digging"

[dave00dance]

english lessons 1997 ill never forget the CATS faint dIns lol

[titansfangrl]

One of my favorite poems beautifully done, and what a lovely voice he has too!

[Mystro84]

@insomnia759

I think the Brits have decided 'Well: Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Hemmingway, John Donne, Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters... that'll do for a while'.

Speaking as an Irishman, no other country has produced such a range or depth of literary genius as Ireland has given our relatively tiny population.

Britain, however, produced Shakespeare, and comparing any other writer - be they a poet, novelist or playwright in the English language to Shakespeare is like comparing a craftsman to God...

[insomnia759]

a genius, what is it about the Irish, theymay have produced most of the best, along with the Scots, the Brits don't quite have it any more, I can tell you! If you want to be a poet, study Heaney

[Mystro84]

That man is an untold genius. He is, arguably, the greatest of Ireland's living treasures.

[Kellyyym]

Love Seamus Heaney :) I learned a good few of his poems for the Junior Cert, excellent with words <3

[djlun45]

wtf

[aubreyaardvark]

..."I dig with it."... beautiful

[haggisvan]

top class words, more than i could muster and a shadow of what i could. the total and only reason why men like him should stand and we should kneel. thank you!!

[mrbobbo666]

had to study this for gcse, my english teacher hated it. I think this is a case of someone else's opinion rubbing off on me slightly because I really see where she came from, there are so many better pieces out there than this.

[irishgirl1168]

This poem makes me feel like I'm home. I'm an American of Irish decent. My Grandfather was a farmer in Arkansas. His father before him was a farmer and his father before him was a farmer, and so on. My Great-Great Grandfather was born on a ship coming from Ireland to America. I'm so proud of my Irish heritage and of my ancestors as Mr. Heaney was so obviously proud of his. God bless you Mr. Heaney for your works.

[KelseyHynes]

thanks :)

[sainglain]

Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995

"for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past"

[yeehaw789]

i just did an essay on this

[gangstaz001]

This man has a weird English/American Accent.

[StanleyDonwood]

@gangstaz001 How about Derry?

[dsbuchalter]

@gangstaz001 he's Irish :)

[gangstaz001]

arrghhhh i gotta do one of his poems for my exams!

[amilo2008aaaa]

'' I`ll dig with it " ...Seamus Heaney has an optimistic spirit ... but unfortunatly, the time is change and Irish people too..

[MadexPL]

Thanks for this! English is my second language and now I have the proper prenanciation of some of the words ;)

Cheers!

[ashenstaff]

I dont like him as much now, as when he was younger, when he seemed closer to ordinary people like me. But I've always loved the mellow brilliance of his language, something peculiarly Gaelic about his use of English.Somehow he is much further away as he has become so eminent.

[AlbinusMakedonion]

I don't like Seamus Heaney too much. But this special poem is absolutely beautiful.

[ashenstaff]

The younger Heaney. Wonderfully spare yet rich language,the complex interaction of consonants.I love the grounding in Irish cultural history.

[rosepoetful]

The perfect memorial to John Cuishne, every gardner listening to GQT will miss his gentle humour and breadth of knowledge.

[enamorata1]

Would like to dedicate this beautiful poem to John Cushnie, gardener, writer and BBC radio presenter who suddenly died today, 01/01/2010.

[AlbinusMakedonion]

Personally, Seamus Heaney is one of the many Swedish Academy's wrong selections. He's a good poet but... Nobel Prize? Having huge, brilliant poets in both sides of the world and what they found was... Heaney? Alright, though. That prize, in a sense, doesn't mean too much.

[johnest911]

this is excellent. such tension between his heritage and what he has become. just beautiful.

[twilightvampgirl]

my english teacher told us about this its great !!!! love this poem

[mrcomedian14]

This is on my GCSE english..

[caimorgan]

"il dig with it " power to the man :D

studing seamus for my as'es in school, :D

[sirtinycreep]

This is great. Was on my A Level studies. :)

[519573]

AS Level Eng Lit for me.

[chippanfire]

Excellently pure. Pure and simple!

[theartpredator]

beautifully done! I linked to it from my blog--thank you!

[petebkr]

Thanks Gwendolyn.

I should emphasise that the hard [editing] work was done by the BBC NI production team on "Seamus Heaney: A life in Pictures".