1995 Nobel Prize in Literature
Seamus Heaney
"for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past."
Date
  • 5 October 1995 (1995-10-05) (announcement)
  • 10 December 1995
    (ceremony)
LocationStockholm, Sweden
Presented bySwedish Academy
First awarded1901
WebsiteOfficial website
← 1994 · Nobel Prize in Literature · 1996 →

The 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Irish poet Seamus Heaney (1939–2013) "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past."[1] He is the fourth Irish Nobel laureate after the playwright Samuel Beckett in 1969.[2][3]

Laureate

Main article: Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney's poetry is often down-to-earth where he paints the gray and damp Irish landscape. His poems are often connected with daily experiences, but they also derive motifs from history, all the way back to prehistoric times. Heaney's profound interest in the Celtic and the pre-Christian as well as in Catholic literary tradition has found expression in a number of essays and translations such as The Cure at Troy (1990) and Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (1999).[4] Among his best-known collections include Death of a Naturalist (1966), Wintering Out (1972), North (1975), Station Island (1984), The Haw Lantern (1987), and The Spirit Level (1996).[4][5]

Reactions

He was on holiday in Greece with his wife when the news broke. Neither journalists nor his own children could reach him until he arrived at Dublin Airport two days later, although an Irish television camera traced him to Kalamata. Asked how he felt to have his name added to the Irish Nobel pantheon of W. B. Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett, Heaney responded: "It's like being a little foothill at the bottom of a mountain range. You hope you just live up to it. It's extraordinary."[6] He and his wife Marie were immediately taken from the airport to Áras an Uachtaráin for champagne with President Mary Robinson.[6] He would refer to the prize discreetly as "the N thing" in personal exchanges with others.[7]

References

  1. ^ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1995 nobelprize.org
  2. ^ Seamus Heaney – Poetry Foundation poetryfoundation.org
  3. ^ William Grimes (6 October 1995). "Seamus Heaney, Poet, Wins the Nobel Prize". New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b Seamus Heaney – Facts nobelprize.org
  5. ^ Seamus Heaney britannica.com
  6. ^ a b Clarity, James F. (9 October 1995). "Laureate and Symbol, Heaney Returns Home". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Boland, Rosita (17 June 2017). "Michael Longley: 'Being 77 and three-quarters is the best time of my life'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 17 June 2017. 'Seamus once thanked me for the way I dealt with what he called 'the N Thing',' Longley says, making tea. 'The N thing?' I ask, halfway through my sardine sandwich. 'The Nobel', he says. 'That I kept it in proportion – the way most of the world didn't. But I have had to be very judicious answering questions about Seamus since he's been turned into a kind of saint'.

External links

Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Literature
1995 Nobel Prize laureates
Categories