Reader

Seamus Heaney

1939-2013

Seamus Heaney was born in County Derry in Northern Ireland. Death of a Naturalist, his first collection of poems, appeared in 1966, and was followed by poetry, criticism and translations which established him as the leading poet of his generation.
In 1995 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and twice won the Whitbread Book of the Year, for The Spirit Level (1996) and Beowulf (1999).
Human Chain, his last volume of poems, was awarded the 2010 Forward Prize for Best Collection. He died in 2013.
His translation of Virgil’s Aeneid Book VI was published posthumously in 2016 to critical acclaim.

Readings

W.B. Yeats: 'O Do Not Love Too Long' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'Meru' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'The Song of Wandering Aengus' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'No Second Troy' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'The Fisherman' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'What Then?' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'Long-Legged Fly' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'The Folly of Being Comforted' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'September 1913' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'The Circus Animal's Desertion' read by Seamus Heaney
Select reading
W.B. Yeats: 'O Do Not Love Too Long' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'Meru' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'The Song of Wandering Aengus' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'No Second Troy' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'The Fisherman' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'What Then?' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'Long-Legged Fly' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'The Folly of Being Comforted' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'September 1913' read by Seamus Heaney
W.B. Yeats: 'The Circus Animal's Desertion' read by Seamus Heaney
© Copyright 2025 The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation. A charity registered in England and Wales number 1145062.