Seamus Heaney

... Seamus Heaney is one of today's greatest living poets. His poems have the ability to reflect complex issues and themes, like politics, heritage, and conflict. The poems in Death of a Naturalist are centred on his personal search for his identity, and his feelings towards his family. While looking at these poems it becomes clear to the reader that Heaney's Irish heritage, are entwined with his identity, his views, and his family. These issues are fused together with the personal acceptance of becoming a poet and his experience of growing up. I will be looking at the first four poems in the Death of a Naturalist collection in particular the techniques that Heaney uses to present himself and his family, in order to create poignancy and engage those who are reading his work. In the poem "Digging" Heaney describes the deftness and dexterity in which his father performs his job as

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