Speech at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace
Seamus Heaney HomePlace, Sunday 27 May 2018
It is such a very great pleasure to be here today at the Séamus Heaney HomePlace. Like so many, I feel greatly privileged to have known Séamus and to have been so fortunate as to call him a friend.
Laoch i measc laochra litríochta ní amháin d’Éireann ach den domhain ab é Séamus. Tá muid faoi chomaoin aige dá shaothar, is dá shamhlaíocht. Chuaigh a chuid éachtaí litríochta go mór i bhfeidhm ar thírdhreach chultúrtha na hÉireann agus ar chúrsaí filíocha agus ar léirmhíniú litríochta an domhain.
[Séamus was one of the greatest Irish poets of the twentieth century and a man to whom we are indebted for his words, his achievements have left a profound imprint on not just Ireland’s cultural landscape but on world poetry and critical interpretation.]
It must surely be uplifting for all to come here to this place of celebration of the life and great legacy of Séamus Heaney, and it is so fitting that we stand in a space of re-imagination and regeneration – a former RUC police station that has been restored and re-invented as a place of shared culture, a place open to all and an environment that pays tribute to the creativity and life’s work of a poet Séamus Heaney whose generosity of presence, of spirit, and of words radiated through, not only the work, but his friendships.
Peace, habitation, leaving and returning, remembering the changes and the changes in remembering has run through Séamus Heaney’s work.
Séamus’ work has always instinctively responded, not only to nature but to the consequences involved in the interaction between a nature that continuously renews itself and a human life which, despite all its possibilities, is inevitably finite. But human life seeks to forge intimacies of place that help to carry one past the implications of the contradiction. HomePlace is a reminder of the gesture towards infinity that is art, of the human memories and encounters that can be released through that art, and indeed of the skill and talent of the human who crafts those works of art that will live on for generations to come.
When we visit the Attic Study, for instance, we encounter Séamus’ deep commitment to his work, and to the achievement of authenticity and integrity that gave that work such power and brilliance. It allows us to get a glimpse of the demands that producing a great poem places on the author, and some sense of the importance of those years of hard work and dedication to the crafting of something that is remarkable and enduring. We can also witness the constant amending and revising necessary as Séamus constantly strove to create that which was improved and better, to achieve all that was possible in his work. A visit will encourage all who come here to hone their talents so as to craft a better society one that will allow the flourishing of all human potential.
It is also uplifting to know that those many people who benefitted from knowing Séamus or from encountering his work and who indeed often influenced his work are represented here – their voices and testimonies reminding us of the great impact Séamus had on the lives of so many – an impact that will in so many cases echo and resonate across the years and miles that may separate them from that original but most profound encounter.
Throughout HomePlace, we are invited to truly remember Séamus and envision the world through the lens of his great genius. It is a wonderful to those who love books, and I am one of them, to have the privilege of seeing the books that influenced and impressed him, and, of course, the photographs that capture the light and the shade and the nuance of his life and the people who filled it, and the objects that add so much texture to the memory of Séamus and his work.
The beautiful line ‘Our shadows moved on the wall’ from Séamus’ poem ‘Keeping Going’ came to mind as soon as I entered this place. All around us is the memory, the shadows of Séamus as both the poet and the man. This is a place that invokes the spirit of Séamus - a place that echoes with his words and with the memories of those who knew and were influenced by him, a place set in the middle of the landscape that shaped his life and his work.
When Séamus died so unexpectedly in August 2013 the tributes flowed in from across the globe. He had been such an extraordinarily valued teacher, critic and colleague on both sides of the Atlantic, right through Europe, South America and Asia.
That huge volume of tributes spoke of the extraordinary influence of Séamus on our contemporary world, reminding us that he was a poet of international stature, a Nobel Laureate, but always an Irishman of who the Irish everywhere, now and in times to come, will always be proud.
If, here in HomePlace, we are reminded of the great reach and depth of Séamus’ achievement and impact in ways that are both uplifting and poignant, we must remind ourselves that Séamus was first and foremost a son of Bellaghy. It is here that Séamus found the beat to which his poetry moved and the inspiration for his great work. It is also here that Marie, Michael, Christopher and Catherine Anne have chosen to share the memory of Séamus with the many who loved and admired him, and with those who wish to learn more about the boy and man who would become one of the most gifted poets of our times.
Gabhaim buíochas leo as sin. Ba mhór an phléisiúir dom é teacht anseo inniu agus cuimhneamh, omós a thúirt do mo chara mór, Séamus Heaney.
[I thank them for that. It has been a great pleasure to come here today and remember my friend, Séamus Heaney.]
