Examine the influence of Heaneys childhood upon his poetry :: English Literature

Examine the influence of Heaneys childhood upon his poetryIntroductionSeamus Heaney was born on a turn in county Derry in North Ireland onApril 13th 1939 he was one of nine children.The Heaney family had lived in that area for centuries and had been heighteners for generations. He grew up in the country and the countrysidewas a crucial focus point for his poetry, this is shown in the poemsThe early purges, The forge, Digging, Follower and Death of a naturalist.He grew up in a rural community which was real important to him aswell as village traditions, history and religion.Nature was important to him. This is illustrated in Death of anaturalist and Follower. He looked back to the farm for inspiration inhis writing when he writes nigh the farm in Digging and the follower.In Follower, Seamus writes about his father Patrick. Seamus had agreat deal of compliance and admires his father for his farming skillagain this is evident in Follower. Seamus and his father separated asSeamus gre w smarter and away from the farming life and towards poetryand literature.Heaney was Catholic and at school he became aware of the Catholic andProtestant problems in Ireland which later inspired him to write aboutpolitics and the problems in Ireland.Heaney wrote very realistic poems about life in the countryside andwanted to show what it was really like (rough and hard).This is clearin Death of a Naturalist and Early purges.When he was twelve he won a scholarship to St Coluns boarding schoolin Derring later he won another scholarship to Queens university wherehe studied English. When he was at university he started to writepoems and the increasing problems in Ireland became apparent to himand his poems examined these problems.In the early sixties he wrote his first volume Death of a naturalist.Analyzing iv Heaney PoemsI have chosen Death of a naturalist, Follower, Digging and The earlypurges because I think they represent the influences that Heaneyschildhood had on his poems.Death of a naturalist was one of Heaneys first poems and was thetitle of his first volume. The poem symbolizes the innocence ofchildhood because he uses simple and uncomplicated language. Theteacher in the poem is very prankish and explains sex and mating ina very toned down way she said, The daddy frog was called thebullfrog and how he croaked and how the mammy frog determined hundreds oflittle eggs and this was frogspawn.The early part of the poem is seen through the eyes of a child and as