Personal Helicon" by Seamus Heaney
I was discussing Seamus Heaney with a colleague the other day and she said "Personal Helicon" by Seamus Heaney was her favourite Heaney poem. It was published in his first book of poetry, "Death of a Naturalist," 1966.
The poem was dedicated to his friend, the poet, Michael Longley. The poem deals with the poet's youth and his fascination for wells:
As a child, they could not keep me from wells
And old pumps with buckets and windlasses.
I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky, the smells
Of waterweed, fungus and dank moss.
When he becomes an adult he reflects that it is 'beneath all adult dignity/To stare, big-eyed Narcissus into poem spring.'
Helicon is mountain in central Greece, and the ancient Greeks believed it was the home of Apollo and the Muses.
The poem was dedicated to his friend, the poet, Michael Longley. The poem deals with the poet's youth and his fascination for wells:
As a child, they could not keep me from wells
And old pumps with buckets and windlasses.
I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky, the smells
Of waterweed, fungus and dank moss.
When he becomes an adult he reflects that it is 'beneath all adult dignity/To stare, big-eyed Narcissus into poem spring.'
Helicon is mountain in central Greece, and the ancient Greeks believed it was the home of Apollo and the Muses.
Comments
Post a Comment