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Seamus Heaney’s Prose Style

Heaney is a poet, critic and accomplished prose writer. Without any


hesitation, he is the most prolific (   
  ) writer of the modern era. He


presents his views with great force and rigorous (    
  ) logical style. He
is very much clear in his thoughts and this makes his style lucid and
charming. He has a great store of knowledge also that makes him clear headed
and honest in his opinions. He is a teacher of English literature and a poet
himself that has greatly served his prose style. As William Logom asserts;

“Heaney has the most flexible and beautiful lyric voice of our
age. And his prose often answers his poetry in a run of subtle


(
 ) and subtly resonant (  ) phrasing.”

The success of a prose writer depends on the skill, patience and

experience of handling language. In this regard, Heaney’s prose style has the
# #
precision and consciousness (!" $ % ) of a mathematician. His vast
knowledge, immense reading and spirit to know more also aided him greatly. In
“The Redress of Poetry” he follows the scientific outlook and has used exact


words with great care. He avoids ambiguities ( &
 '() *
 ) and where he thinks
fit clarifies his point further. He uses the words with the greatest possible
economy and avoids the meaningless empty talk. So, for Heaney proper words,
in a proper place is true end of his writings. There are certain statements in the
text of “The Redress of Poetry” that prove this point. As;

“The movement is from delight to wisdom and not vice versa.”

At another point he comments about poetry;

“Poetry cannot afford to lose its fundamentally self-delighting

inventiveness (
+
 ).”

Commenting on the significance of poetry he writes;

“I want to profess the surprise of poetry as well as its

reliability.”

Heaney’s arguments base upon his own thinking as well as views of other
great writers. We find views of T.S. Eliot, Havel, and Pinsky, references from
Hardy, Herbert, Sydney, Borges, Plato, and Aristotle and so on. No doubt, at
one hand this shows Heaney’s learning and reading of the ancient and the
modern great writer, at the same time, it also make his case more forceful and
worth pondering. Almost all his writings, including ‘‘The Redress of Poetry’’
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bear the high seriousness of his approach. In fact, his supreme intellectual

,
outlook, broadmindedness and impersonal attitude (.   - ) and commitment
with the purpose give him the title of a ‘Serious Writer’.

Heaney quotes the noble writers whose views are not easy to be ignored
and this adds strength to his defense of poetry. Poetry for Seamus Heaney is
not a ‘pack of lies’ but something that creates nobility in life. To make his
argument more forceful he gives Borges’ remarks: “The taste of the apple
lies in the contact of the fruit with the palate, not the fruit itself.”
Heaney’s style is just a suitable medium for the expression of his
thoughts. He avoids all literary artificial devices and writes in an unconscious
effortless manner. This use of easy and simple language and appropriate words
enables him to convey his meanings effectively. His arguments are lucid,
rational and to the point.

Heaney uses a language of comparison which also makes him very

0
popular. He uses the contradictory terms and the antitheses ( &
/ 
) ) like
3
the heaven and earth, grace (12   ) and guilt, virtue and sin,
imagination and reality, popular and common and above all the truth and the
popular notions. In the same way, he compares poetry with both Philosophy
and History. Even the views of the two great philosophers Plato and Aristotle
are compared, giving his writings a power of analysis. This ability of arguments
and the counter arguments establish his reputation as a ‘Classic Prose
Analyst’ much in the line of Francis Bacon.

But a strange mixture of romanticism is not absent from his writings.

This saves his prose from being dull. Like the romantics, he has a firm faith in



intuition ( *
 4 5 ) and the power of nature to light the world. This all gives
Heaney’s prose a kind of vitality hardly found in any other writer of his age.

To sum up we can say that Seamus Heaney is the master of versatile

prose style. There is a smooth unobstructed ( + 6
+ 7 ) flow in Heaney’s
language. His choice of concrete and meaningful words helps him in conveying
his sense properly. There is no beating about the bush, nor is there heap of
unnecessary details. He tries to convey his thoughts and meanings through
appropriate language and words and avoids all superfluous and vague
expressions. Moreover, he combines the scientific, the imaginative, the
romantic and the classic expressions.

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Accusations against Poetry

Or

Why did Heaney feel the need to defend poetry?

Over the year, as a form of art poetry has been greatly criticized. Many
have rejected it calling it a ‘foolish form of escapism’ and a ‘pack of lies.’
Some are not even ready to accept it a suitable subject to be read and taught.
This attack on poetry is something that has continued over the years and is
done even today. This propaganda against poetry seems to be subjective (
), highly biased, and unreasonable. Let us now go through some of the
accusations against poetry that forced Heaney to defend it.

Plato, the great Greek philosopher attacked poetry saying: “All poetical
imitations are ruinous to the understanding of the hearers.” To him
every poet is an imitator, and therefore, like all other imitators, he is twice away
from the truth. Plato attacked poetry on intellectual, ethical and emotional
grounds. On the intellectual side, he says, the poets have no knowledge of
truth, since they imitate only appearances. It is only the reflection or shadow of
the ideal world. Thus poetry can tell us nothing about this world of reality. The
moral or ethical objection of Plato against poetry was the telling of lies. It can
only please the vices and senses of the people by providing them what they like
on emotional grounds. According to Plato; poetry feeds those emotions which
should be starved. It makes the emotions control us when we might have
controlled them. In the emotional poetry, reason is dominated by emotions.
Besides it gives encouragement to unworthy emotions as well.
9
Another objection usually raised against poetry is its illogical (8  :; ) )
and irrational (<=%)-) approach. The poets with their emotional craziness and
lack of moral restraint cannot guide the masses. When we analyze Plato’s
observation with reference to our age, we will find that heaps of objections are
still there. In modern times, it is usually propagated that the poetry is
impractical for common people. Poetry deals with an ‘ideal’ world and the ‘ideal’
value of the things. The world of the poetry is the world of escapism. Where no
one groans, no one cries for the need of daily utility. It takes the reader to a
world of addiction and illusions. Half asleep and tranquil a reader becomes
unfit to face the practical challenges of routine life.

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Poetry whether it be romantic or classic is based upon theoretical

concepts. This fact diminishes the range and scope of poetry as compared to
the other subjects.

In The Redress of Poetry, Heaney mentions the heckler who will want poetry to
be more than an imagined response to the conditions in the world.

For the political activists what is use of ‘imagining’ an order which is a

complete set of events but cannot produce new events. Even if we accept the
,
‘ideal’ presented by the poetry and the noble conception (1 $ ) of human
nature, what help would it give practically to the society. If a poet has a soul
stirring (
+>
?) 
@$) and mind enlightening experience, he has no magic to
transfer it in his readers. The process of education and learning in poetry is
subjective and might prove a help to the poet not the readers. Hence, images
and dreams, no matter how inventive or original will remain just images to
satisfy the aesthetic demands of the readers.

Poetry over the years has been criticized for the fault of diction. Poets use
far-fetched words and images, confusing the readers instead of giving them
clarity of vision. The poets use a specialized vocabulary for the composition of
poetry. Great poets like Alexander Pope, Dryden, Brown, and Addison etc. have
been found culprit of complex and deliberately subtle poetic diction. Hence,
instead of solving the problems of the society, poetry becomes a mere juggling
of the words whose only pleasure is the ‘diction’ and not the ‘idea’. The poets
C
# #
#
write in an ornate (AB )    ) pompous (  +  4
 
) style which instead of


clarifying, bewilder (
+ 4 D ) and confuse the reader. It neither convinces nor
persuades.

To conclude we may say that the poetry has been severely criticized. It
has been called a useless knowledge and a waste of time. It has been said that
there are other more fruitful knowledge and a man may better spend his time
in them than poetry. Being twice removed from reality, it is ‘the mother of
lies.’ Poetry produces desire in man to indulge in fancy (<
2  1 ), and day
C
dreaming. These all are the reasons that compelled Plato to banish (
+   E ) )
poets from ‘Republic’. Seamus Heaney an ardent professor, critic and a
famous poet could not hold a silent tongue and decided to defend poetry. No
doubt, he has done it in a commendable way.

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Assignment = 3
HEANEY’S DEFENCE OF POETRY
OR

HOW HAS HEANEY DEFENDED POETRY IN HIS

REDRESSOF POETRY
Seamus Heaney, an Irish poet and writer, was born in 1939 and awarded
the Noble Prize in 1995. He is the most prolific writer of the modern era. He
presents his views with great force and rigorous logical style.

In “The Redress of Poetry” he has tried to defend poetry as a literary form, its
function and its practicality in the real world. By Redress Heaney means:

“Reparation ( )) ? ) of satisfaction or compensation for, a wrong

sustained or the loss resulting from this.”

Over the year, as a form of art poetry has been greatly criticized. Many
have rejected it calling it a ‘foolish form of escapism’ and a ‘pack of lies.’

Plato, the great Greek philosopher attacked poetry in hardest possible

way. To him every poet is an imitator, and therefore, like all other imitators, he
is twice away from the truth. Plato attacked poetry on intellectual, ethical and
emotional grounds. On the intellectual side, he says, the poets have no
knowledge of truth, since they imitate only appearances. Thus poetry can tell
us nothing about this world of reality. The moral or ethical objection of Plato
against poetry was the telling of lies. According to Plato; poetry feeds those
emotions which should be starved. It makes the emotions control us when we
might have controlled them. In the emotional poetry, reason is dominated by
emotions.

Aristotle was the great disciple of Plato who tried to show that; “Poetry
was not only pleasant but also useful, for man and society.”Aristotle

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observes that poetry is not concerned so much with what is but with what
ought to be.

These were the controversial remarks about poetry that forced Heaney to
defend it. In “Redress of Poetry” Heaney has tried to defend poetry on


practical grounds. In his defense of poetry, he quotes (
 .  D
+ < F + G   ),
gives personal views and refers to different poems as well.

The first poem quoted in his book is George Herbert’s “The Pulley”. The
subject matter of the poem is the importance of eternity. Our earth is a reality
of an open day light, but the existence of the next world is ‘another’ type of
‘reality’. This is the sixth sense present in the poetry that combines the two
realities. It guides us how to accept them and live the life accordingly. The idea
about the life after death can only be given through poetry and not in any other
subject.

Then Heaney gives the reference of “Ode to Nightingale” the famous

poem of JOHN KEATS. In this poem, the journey from ‘actual’ to the ‘ideal’ is
beautifully depicted. In this Ode, the poet is bewitched by the world of

HC
nightingale (
 + G   2  (  ). Actually, with the help of this example, Heaney
wants to tell his readers that though, poetry is a flight of imagination yet its
ultimate purpose is to give a moral lesson and to reveal the reality in the best
possible way.

“Poetry gives moral with pleasure”.

Before a detailed analysis of his defense of poetry, Heaney quotes Robert

Pinsky and agrees that it resembles his own notion of the redress of poetry.
Pinsky says that a genuine poet never writes in compulsion because he always
responds to the call of his heart.

Moreover, Heaney further tries to raise the status of poetry above

philosophy and History. Philosophy just give advises while history tells the
facts. The aim of poetry is to represent the particular through the universal. As
Robert Frost gives the message:

“Earth’s the right place for Love.”

Seamus Heaney moves ahead in his arguments with ‘Classic Clarity’

and ‘Romantic Zeal’. He agrees that the immediate aim of poetry is to give
pleasure but it is not all. The ultimate end of this pleasure is wisdom. Hence,
poetry travels from delight to knowledge.

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As for as, the composition of poetry is concerned, it is neither simple nor

H
H
emotionally barren. Good poetry involves the interplay ( ":   ": ) of the
conscious and unconscious efforts of the poet. Herbert Read tries to sum up
the process of composition in an accurate way. Good poetry is never an
immediate reaction to the provided cause. The sensations must be allowed to
sink deep in our mind. In the process of imagination, the sensations revive and
with the unity of elements an expression is formed which is called poetry. W.
Words Worth, a famous poet defends poetry as: “Poetry is the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feeling. It takes its origin from emotions recollected
JK
in tranquility ( I L MN OPQ R).”

Another charge against poetry is that, “what can be the function of

poetry in a depressed era? Can poetry play a practical part in our life?”

According to Heaney, the use of poetry for practical and social reasons
as, revolution, war, politics and other government policies would narrow the
scope of poetry. In text, Heaney says: “if you want to make poetry practical,
then it will not remain poetry.”

Poetry cannot bring political change. It tries to change the mind; it never
gives straight facts but inspires people to bring change. If poetry is used for
political purposes and practical necessities, it will not remain poetry but it
would become a kind of propaganda. Like Aristotle, Heaney too is of the view:
“It is not the function of the poet to relate what has happened but what
may happen.”

Keats says: - Poet is not a teacher but a preacher.

Hence, poetry does not change life; it only tells what way of life is the best.
Poetry based on common experience.

The function of the poetry and the approach of the poet should be
unbiased because a poet is the representative of humanity, talking to men not
nations or politicians. Words Worth called poetry:”the most philosophical of
all writings, the breath and finer spirit of all writings.”

In this regard, Heaney praises W.B. Yeats who was an Irish and
remembers the Irish people killed in 1916 Easter Rising. But he also talks of
the English men who were killed and this grief for humanity had to be
responded by poetry. So poetry is not weakened by force nor it is misguided by
false notions, it offers comfort in affliction and tries to perpetuate the
happiness.

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In the final stages of his arguments, Seamus Heaney gives the reference of
Herbert’s most celebrated poem “The Collar”. The theme of this poem is that
God loves the sinner and man gets closer to God because of his sins. This is the
reality of human life and presented beautifully by the poet.

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