1995 Nobel Prize in Literature explained

1995 Nobel Prize in Literature
Subheader:Seamus Heaney
Presenter:Swedish Academy
Year:1901
Holder Label:1995 laureate
Date:
  • (announcement)
  • 10 December 1995
    (ceremony)
Location:Stockholm, Sweden
Previous:1994
Main:Nobel Prize in Literature
Next: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

See 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, 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 (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." 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]

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1995/summary/ The Nobel Prize in Literature 1995
  2. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/seamus-heaney Seamus Heaney – Poetry Foundation
  3. Web site: Seamus Heaney, Poet, Wins the Nobel Prize. New York Times. William Grimes. 6 October 1995. 21 May 2021.
  4. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1995/heaney/facts/ Seamus Heaney – Facts
  5. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Seamus-Heaney Seamus Heaney
  6. News: Laureate and Symbol, Heaney Returns Home. James F.. Clarity. The New York Times. 9 October 1995.
  7. News: Rosita. Boland. Michael Longley: 'Being 77 and three-quarters is the best time of my life'. The Irish Times. 17 June 2017. 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'..