ONLINE: The poet Robert Lowell called Seamus Heaney the greatest Irish poet since William Butler Yeats. When Heaney died in 2013, his and Yeats' successive lives covered almost 150 years of Irish history. Their writing careers spanned their country’s dynamic eras, including the Irish revolution and the 30 years of strife (the Troubles) in Northern Ireland. Yeats writes of and to his unattainable love Maud Gonne and of Irish identity, politics and folklore; Heaney reflects on rural life in Northern Ireland as well as world events throughout the last half of the 20th century. Our weekly discussions will be text focused: In class we will read, analyze and discuss poems from the assignment schedule, trying to understand phrases, lines and individual poems. The poems might also be discussed in the context of the poets' lives and times. | Facilitated discussion.
Max enrollment: 15.
