Tag Archives: Seamus Heaney

St. Francis: Made for Beauty

By Robin Bates | Published: October 7, 2023

St. Francis radically changed the way we see beauty and ourselves in relationship to beauty.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "As Kingfishers Catch Fire", "Francis Meets a Leper", "Saint Francis and the Birds", "St. Clare Dies at Her Mirror", "St. Francis and the Sow, Bonaventure, Clare, Dante, David Citino, Duns Scotus, Galway Kinnell, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Life of a Saint: After Giotto, Marilyn Nelson, Murray Bodo, Paradiso, Plato, St. Francis, Thomas of Celano | Comments closed

A Blacksmith Poem for Labor Day

By Robin Bates | Published: September 3, 2023

A Seamus Heaney blacksmith poem for Labor Day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Forge", blacksmiths, Labor Day, Work | Comments closed

Heaney and the Good Friday Agreement

By Robin Bates | Published: April 12, 2023

Looking back at Northern Ireland’ Good Friday agreement, Clinton has cited a Seamus Heaney poem. There’s good reason for this.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Cure at Troy", Bill Clinton, Good Friday agreement, Ireland, Irish Troubles, Joe Biden, Northern Ireland, Philoctetes | Comments closed

The Decision to Stay or to Leave

By Robin Bates | Published: March 7, 2022

To leave Ukraine or stay in it: these poems grapple with such a dilemma.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Prospective Immigrants Please Note", "Casualty", "City", Adrienne Rich, C.P. Cavafy, refugees, Ukraine invasion | Comments closed

Yeats, Not Heaney, for Dark Times

By Robin Bates | Published: December 10, 2020

For social and political barometers, try Heaney for optimism, Yeats for pessimism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Cure of Troy", "The House of the Stare", Donald Trump, Election 2020, GOP, Joe Biden, William Butler Yeats | Comments closed

Heaney and Biden, Two Great Souls

By Robin Bates | Published: November 12, 2020

Joe Biden’s fondness for Seamus Heaney indicates a man who is “patient, reasonable, and full of unmistakable human compassion.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Cure at Troy, favorite books, Joe Biden | Comments closed

Seamus Heaney’s Healing Vision

By Robin Bates | Published: November 8, 2020

Seamus Heaney’s “Cure at Troy” points toward a country’s possibility for healing, a powerful vision as America emerges from the Trump presidency and a contentious election.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Cure at Troy, Election 2020, Joe Biden, Philoctetes, Sophocles, truth and reconciliation | Comments closed

Hope for a Great Sea-Change

By Robin Bates | Published: November 1, 2020

The Seamus Heaney poem that Biden quotes in a new ad is itself taken from Heaney’s verse translation of Sophocles’s “Philoctetes.” It’s perfect for the current moment.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Cure of Troy", 2020 election, Joe Biden, Martha Nussbaum, Philoctetes, Sophocles | Comments closed

A Herculean Task: Purging Old Files

By Robin Bates | Published: January 4, 2018

I’ve spent the last couple of days going through my father’s files (and throwing most of them away). I feel like Heracles cleaning out the Augean stables, as described by Seamus Heaney.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "at last we killed the roaches", Augean stables, Herzog, Lucille Clifton, Saul Bellow, Scott Bates | Comments closed