Seamus Heaney and Medieval Poetry
Title Details

208 Pages

23.4 x 15.6 cm

Imprint: D.S.Brewer

Seamus Heaney and Medieval Poetry

by Conor McCarthy

  • Description
  • Reviews
First examination of the use made by Seamus Heaney of medieval poetry in his translations and adaptations, including the acclaimed Beowulf.

A remarkable survey of Heaney's work and its debt to medieval poetry. [...]McCarthy has presented a compelling analysis of Heaney's use of medieval poetry. THE MEDIEVAL REVIEW

Seamus Heaney's engagement with medieval literature constitutes a significant body of work by a major poet that extends across four decades, including a landmark translation of Beowulf. This book, the first to look exclusively at this engagement, examines both Heaney's direct translations and his adaptation of medieval material in his original poems. Each of the four chapters focuses substantially on a single major text: Sweeney Astray (1983), Station Island [1984], Beowulf [1999] and The Testament of Cresseid [2004]. The discussion examines Heaney's translation practice in relation to source texts from a variety of languages [Irish, Italian, Old English, and Middle Scots] from across themedieval period, and also in relation to Heaney's own broader body of work. It suggests that Heaney's translations and adaptations give a contemporary voice to medieval texts, bringing the past to bear upon contemporary concernsboth personal and political.

CONOR MCCARTHY gained his PhD from Trinity College Dublin.
"All medievalists will, no doubt, appreciate the main theses of this fine, well-researched, and well-crafted (both inside and out) book." EOLAS
"Conor McCarthy's brilliantly erudite and refreshingly unpretentious book, Seamus Heaney and Medieval Poetry, teaches us to read Heaney's Beowulf not as distinct from the rest of his work, but thoroughly integrated within it. Heaney, McCarthy shows, has practised a lifelong habit of translating from, adapting, alluding to and transfusing medieval poetry in his own work." TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT

Paperback

9781843842064

October 2009

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Ebook (EPDF)

9781846156052

February 2008

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£19.99 / $24.95

Title Details

208 Pages

2.34 x 1.56 cm

Imprint: D.S.Brewer