I read Heaney for the first time more than 12 years ago now (thanks Mr. Masterman!) Death of a Naturalist was probably the second poem I can really remember thinking hard about. I wouldn't say I'm a poetry guy, but Heaney's command of sound and imagery gets me. Take Blackberry Picking, or The Gravel Walks; he can pull out feeling from the simplest of scenes. I'll add some thoughts here as I am reminded of particular pieces.

Digging
Mid-Term Break
Requiem for the Croppies
A Call ( )

A pesares da mala tradución, e unha escolma moi desigual, este volumen bilingüe non deixa de mostrarnos unha parte da obra dun poeta grandioso. O Nobel irlandés demostra esa máxima de Vázquez Montalbán de que incluso a política, as ideas, a ideoloxía e a crítica histórica poden ser materia poética.
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I picked this book to comply with the Literary Awards Mini Challenge from the 2013 Reading Challenge group to read a book by an author who has received the Nobel Prize in Literature. I went through the list and ended up with Seamus Heaney. He wrote in English and I haven't read a lot of poetry.

I didn't realize till after that I had already read a book by him:
[b:Beowulf: A New Verse Translation|52357|Beowulf A New Verse Translation|Unknown|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327878125s/52357.jpg|189503]
which I read in high school and the only thing I remember about it is that Beowulf refused to die in the end. I think I'll try give it another chance at some point.

Anyway, this book brings together many of the author's famous poems over the years. I unfortunately had numerous books out from the library so I read this faster than I initially planned to and was not able to take my time going through all the poems. Also, as I have mentioned in other reviews, English class was not my forte.

I liked many of his poems, particularly the translations of Greek poems since I love Greek mythology. I did also laugh that there were passages from the Aeneid translated since I have also translated parts when I took Latin in high school. Seamus Heaney did a better job than me not surprisingly. ( )

Seamus Heaney is certainly a great Irish poet and a great naturalist poet. I think he goes even beyond just those limits. His poetry, in my mind, embodies everything that makes the English language and English poetry so wonderful and unique. I really hope that when 20th century poetry is taught in 21st century schools that no curriculum skips past Heaney. ( )

Magnificent poems by one of my favorite writers. ( )