How has Seamus Heaney's childhood affected his poetry?

... How has Seamus Heaney's childhood affected his poetry? Seamus Heaney was born in the North of Ireland in 1939 on a farm with his mother and father and nine other siblings. Generally Heaney's poems are influenced by animals through his childhood experience, specifically within 'The Early Purges' and 'An Advancement of Learning'. Heaney grew up near Belfast, during the time of 'The Troubles', the Irish civil war. Although Heaney left at the height of the war, it is obvious his work reflects his experiences of that time. For an example 'The Early Purges' illustrates this. "Where they consider death unnatural". Growing into an environment where Heaney will appreciate that death does exist, the extract interprets killing to be artificial. Many of Heaney's early poems dealt with experiences of childhood and a frequent theme is how these experiences affect us. One poem that deals with a childhood experience is "The Early Purges".

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