Seamus Heaney - 21st Century Heaney

21st Century Heaney

In his 2006 collection "District and Circle", Seamus Heaney returns again to his past, to Derry in the 1940s. But he also taps into an air of threat that seemed to greet the world in the new century. "Anything Can Happen", a translation from Horace, juxtaposes an ancient terror with the tragedy of the Twin Towers. While the title poem, a meditation on travelling on the London Underground, is also a reminder of bombings in that city.

2008 saw the publication of "Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney" by fellow poet Dennis O'Driscoll. On agreeing to do the book, Heaney commented that "the time had come to make a record". In 2009 the poet was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature in recognition of "the sheer scale" of his literary achievements.

District and Circle

Seamus Heaney talks to Myles Dungan about "District and Circle". He describes the striking of an anvil in a blacksmith's forge to announce the new millennium and writing at a time when there is a sense of menace in the world.

"Anahorish 1944"

Seamus Heaney talks about linking memories of the 1940s to the present and reads the poem "Anahorish 1944" about American troops in Derry.

Shock and Awe

After receiving the T.S. Eliot prize for "District and Circle", Seamus Heaney talks about writing a version of the two-thousand-year-old poem "Anything Can Happen", which was widely read following the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.

"Poetry Taught Me To Trust Derry As Well As Derrida"

Seamus Heaney and Dennis O'Driscoll give a public interview on the publication of "Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney". Heaney talks about what he has learned from poetry and the blessings of work, family and friends. He then reads "Miracle".

Heaney Wins The David Cohen Prize

Seamus Heaney is awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature in recognition of the "sheer scale" of his literary achievements.