St. Francis radically changed the way we see beauty and ourselves in relationship to beauty.
Tag Archives: Seamus Heaney
St. Francis: Made for Beauty
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "As Kingfishers Catch Fire", "Francis Meets a Leper", "Saint Francis and the Birds", "St. Clare Dies at Her Mirror", "St. Francis and the Sow, Bonaventure, Clare, Dante, David Citino, Duns Scotus, Galway Kinnell, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Life of a Saint: After Giotto, Marilyn Nelson, Murray Bodo, Paradiso, Plato, St. Francis, Thomas of Celano Comments closed
A Blacksmith Poem for Labor Day
A Seamus Heaney blacksmith poem for Labor Day.
Heaney and the Good Friday Agreement
Looking back at Northern Ireland’ Good Friday agreement, Clinton has cited a Seamus Heaney poem. There’s good reason for this.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Cure at Troy", Bill Clinton, Good Friday agreement, Ireland, Irish Troubles, Joe Biden, Northern Ireland, Philoctetes Comments closed
The Decision to Stay or to Leave
To leave Ukraine or stay in it: these poems grapple with such a dilemma.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Prospective Immigrants Please Note", "Casualty", "City", Adrienne Rich, C.P. Cavafy, refugees, Ukraine invasion Comments closed
Yeats, Not Heaney, for Dark Times
For social and political barometers, try Heaney for optimism, Yeats for pessimism.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Cure of Troy", "The House of the Stare", Donald Trump, Election 2020, GOP, Joe Biden, William Butler Yeats Comments closed
Heaney and Biden, Two Great Souls
Joe Biden’s fondness for Seamus Heaney indicates a man who is “patient, reasonable, and full of unmistakable human compassion.”
Seamus Heaney’s Healing Vision
Seamus Heaney’s “Cure at Troy” points toward a country’s possibility for healing, a powerful vision as America emerges from the Trump presidency and a contentious election.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Cure at Troy, Election 2020, Joe Biden, Philoctetes, Sophocles, truth and reconciliation Comments closed
Hope for a Great Sea-Change
The Seamus Heaney poem that Biden quotes in a new ad is itself taken from Heaney’s verse translation of Sophocles’s “Philoctetes.” It’s perfect for the current moment.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Cure of Troy", 2020 election, Joe Biden, Martha Nussbaum, Philoctetes, Sophocles Comments closed
A Herculean Task: Purging Old Files
I’ve spent the last couple of days going through my father’s files (and throwing most of them away). I feel like Heracles cleaning out the Augean stables, as described by Seamus Heaney.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "at last we killed the roaches", Augean stables, Herzog, Lucille Clifton, Saul Bellow, Scott Bates Comments closed
