Seamus Heaney: A Commemorative Reading
Thursday 10th April, 8pm
Ulster Hall, Belfast
Seamus Heaney: A Commemorative Reading
with Carol Ann Duffy, Peter McDonald, Don Paterson and Paula Meehan
Close to what would have been Seamus Heaney’s seventieth-fifth birthday, Belfast’s Poet Laureate Sinead Morrissey, our host for the night, states in her opening remarks that Heaney was “owned by us, owned by rural Derry, owned by Belfast and Queen’s, owned by Ireland as a nation,” particular South Dublin, his home for many years. Perhaps it is trite to say Heaney was a poet of the people, but it is nevertheless true. With around 800 people filling the Ulster Hall, not only for a chance to hear some of the biggest names in poetry today, but to share in recognising and applauding Heaney as one of the true greats, the statement can hardly be disputed. Morrissey recognises exactly this, saying that the mass of people bears testament to “the important and vibrancy of poetry in Belfast today.”
Appropriately, in celebrating a poet who was always close to nature, the stage is festooned with plants and small trees. Carol Ann Duffy is first to read, whereas many would have expected her to close the proceedings. But on occasions such as this, there are no headliners, only a common cause. She opens with Heaney’s ‘The Blackbird of Glanmore’, setting a structure for the night. A illustration of his influence is given, Duffy proclaiming: “I know I would not have been a writer without his grieving presence in my lifetime”. Duffy markedly reinforces this point by then reading one of her best known poems, ’Prayer’.
A charming introduction is giving to “The Countries”, lamenting over the Post Office’s request to remove the names of countries from address, as only the postcode is really required. Duffy goes on to recall that as a child, she would write out a long address, ending with “the World, the Galaxy, the Universe,” and then “near God,” to appease her Catholic parents.
Peter McDonald recalls buying Heaney’s Field Work for the first time in Belfast, the week it came out, reading nothing else for weeks afterwards, and being filled with delight and wonder, before giving the audience a small taste of ‘Glanmore’s Sonnets”. Indeed, sonnets are to feature dominantly throughout the night, with the line-up recognising Heaney as the modern master of the form.
Heaney was also the master of conveying the experience of driving a motor car, according to McDonald, and goes on to lament his own skills, before reading ‘Reversing Around a Corner’, with the attention-grabbing opening line, “Plato could have handled it”. Virgil crops up again (after Duffy’s reading of ‘Virgil’s Bees’), with McDonald recognising Virgil’s heavy influence on Heaney, both poets feeding his own writing. McDonald states that he is “indebted to Heaney”; his closing poems, ‘In Heaven’ and ‘Two Salmon’ are fine examples of the effect all of tonight’s poets are under.
Don Paterson’s set is entirely made up of new works, much to the enjoyment of us in the audience, who are left clamouring for his next collection. Patterson justifies this choice by associating Heaney with new work: “When I get stuck, I read a few of this to get started again.” By tonight’s evidence, Patterson has been reading an awful lot. He warns us that the content of the poems are grim, but makes up for it with some jaunty introductions. ‘Mercies’ is announced by claiming that “everyone has a dead dog”. ‘Dundee’, a mocking ode to his hometown, serves as comic relief, Paterson boldly declaring “Dundee is a dump”, before commenting in the poem on his departure from the city, setting sail “to that fine country, ‘The Fuck Away’”
Further new pieces include a remarkable sequence of couplets inspired by rhw ork of photographer Francesca Woodman, exploring themes of transient human presence and persistence objects and rooms; and ‘The Big Listener’, snidely dedicated to Tony Blair.
Professor Paula Meehan deviates from the structure slightly, by opening with one of her own, ‘Dharmakāya’, a word meaning truth body in the Buddhist tradition. She couples this with an Irish saying, i mbéal na ndaoine, ‘in the mouth of the people’. The inference is that Heaney’s poetry is a truth, and with so many people reading it and listening to it be spoken tonight, that truth will be spoken again and again, passing into our common tongue.
Meehan reads excitedly, her words rushed out in something close to lyrical frenzy; her body clearly rocks and sways to the lines. Perhaps the emotion of the occasion touches her, as Meehan reminisces meeting Heaney many times in Dublin, not only at the big events, but also at the readings “where only two or three would turn up”. She remembers him as always encouraging; Meehan recalls Heaney being accosted once by RTE cameras, asking him for any advice to give to students sitting their leaving certs, back at the start of the Irish recession. His instructions were simple but clear: “Be kind to each other”.
After reading ‘Home’, Meehan says it is “very hard to imagine a place called home without the living voice of Seamus”, a view commonly held, certainly in the immediate aftermath of his passing. In her set, Carol Ann Duffy referred to a theory she has, that “all poets are basically writing the same poem, picking up their needle and thread and adding to a long, long tapestry.” In this is indeed the case, then it is a wonderful tapestry to behold, and tonight, it was richly added onto; long may it continue to be weaved.
Setlist:
Ulster Hall, Belfast
Seamus Heaney: A Commemorative Reading
with Carol Ann Duffy, Peter McDonald, Don Paterson and Paula Meehan
Close to what would have been Seamus Heaney’s seventieth-fifth birthday, Belfast’s Poet Laureate Sinead Morrissey, our host for the night, states in her opening remarks that Heaney was “owned by us, owned by rural Derry, owned by Belfast and Queen’s, owned by Ireland as a nation,” particular South Dublin, his home for many years. Perhaps it is trite to say Heaney was a poet of the people, but it is nevertheless true. With around 800 people filling the Ulster Hall, not only for a chance to hear some of the biggest names in poetry today, but to share in recognising and applauding Heaney as one of the true greats, the statement can hardly be disputed. Morrissey recognises exactly this, saying that the mass of people bears testament to “the important and vibrancy of poetry in Belfast today.”
Appropriately, in celebrating a poet who was always close to nature, the stage is festooned with plants and small trees. Carol Ann Duffy is first to read, whereas many would have expected her to close the proceedings. But on occasions such as this, there are no headliners, only a common cause. She opens with Heaney’s ‘The Blackbird of Glanmore’, setting a structure for the night. A illustration of his influence is given, Duffy proclaiming: “I know I would not have been a writer without his grieving presence in my lifetime”. Duffy markedly reinforces this point by then reading one of her best known poems, ’Prayer’.
A charming introduction is giving to “The Countries”, lamenting over the Post Office’s request to remove the names of countries from address, as only the postcode is really required. Duffy goes on to recall that as a child, she would write out a long address, ending with “the World, the Galaxy, the Universe,” and then “near God,” to appease her Catholic parents.
Peter McDonald recalls buying Heaney’s Field Work for the first time in Belfast, the week it came out, reading nothing else for weeks afterwards, and being filled with delight and wonder, before giving the audience a small taste of ‘Glanmore’s Sonnets”. Indeed, sonnets are to feature dominantly throughout the night, with the line-up recognising Heaney as the modern master of the form.
Heaney was also the master of conveying the experience of driving a motor car, according to McDonald, and goes on to lament his own skills, before reading ‘Reversing Around a Corner’, with the attention-grabbing opening line, “Plato could have handled it”. Virgil crops up again (after Duffy’s reading of ‘Virgil’s Bees’), with McDonald recognising Virgil’s heavy influence on Heaney, both poets feeding his own writing. McDonald states that he is “indebted to Heaney”; his closing poems, ‘In Heaven’ and ‘Two Salmon’ are fine examples of the effect all of tonight’s poets are under.
Don Paterson’s set is entirely made up of new works, much to the enjoyment of us in the audience, who are left clamouring for his next collection. Patterson justifies this choice by associating Heaney with new work: “When I get stuck, I read a few of this to get started again.” By tonight’s evidence, Patterson has been reading an awful lot. He warns us that the content of the poems are grim, but makes up for it with some jaunty introductions. ‘Mercies’ is announced by claiming that “everyone has a dead dog”. ‘Dundee’, a mocking ode to his hometown, serves as comic relief, Paterson boldly declaring “Dundee is a dump”, before commenting in the poem on his departure from the city, setting sail “to that fine country, ‘The Fuck Away’”
Further new pieces include a remarkable sequence of couplets inspired by rhw ork of photographer Francesca Woodman, exploring themes of transient human presence and persistence objects and rooms; and ‘The Big Listener’, snidely dedicated to Tony Blair.
Professor Paula Meehan deviates from the structure slightly, by opening with one of her own, ‘Dharmakāya’, a word meaning truth body in the Buddhist tradition. She couples this with an Irish saying, i mbéal na ndaoine, ‘in the mouth of the people’. The inference is that Heaney’s poetry is a truth, and with so many people reading it and listening to it be spoken tonight, that truth will be spoken again and again, passing into our common tongue.
Meehan reads excitedly, her words rushed out in something close to lyrical frenzy; her body clearly rocks and sways to the lines. Perhaps the emotion of the occasion touches her, as Meehan reminisces meeting Heaney many times in Dublin, not only at the big events, but also at the readings “where only two or three would turn up”. She remembers him as always encouraging; Meehan recalls Heaney being accosted once by RTE cameras, asking him for any advice to give to students sitting their leaving certs, back at the start of the Irish recession. His instructions were simple but clear: “Be kind to each other”.
After reading ‘Home’, Meehan says it is “very hard to imagine a place called home without the living voice of Seamus”, a view commonly held, certainly in the immediate aftermath of his passing. In her set, Carol Ann Duffy referred to a theory she has, that “all poets are basically writing the same poem, picking up their needle and thread and adding to a long, long tapestry.” In this is indeed the case, then it is a wonderful tapestry to behold, and tonight, it was richly added onto; long may it continue to be weaved.
Setlist:
|
Carol Ann Duffy
The Blackbird of Glanmore (SH) Prayer Water Virgil’s Bees Invisible Ink The Countries Liverpool Peter McDonald Glanmore Sonnets: IV (SH) Reversing Around a Corner Work, 1956 At Castlereagh Church In Heaven Two Salmon |
Don Paterson
The Spoonbait (SH) Wormwood A Threshold Mercies A Vow Dundee A Wave Francesca Woodman The Big Listener The Air Paula Meehan Dharmakāya Viking Dublin: Trail Pieces (SH) Home A Remembrance of my Grandfather, Wattie, Who Taught Me to Read and Write Death of a Field Sinead Morrissey The Rainstick (SH) |
