A vivid and original account of one of Ireland's greatest poets by an acclaimed Irish historian and literary biographer The most important Irish poet of the postwar era, Seamus Heaney rose to prominence as his native Northern Ireland descended into sectarian violence. A national figure at a time when nationality was deeply contested, Heaney also won international acclaim, culminating in the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. In On Seamus Heaney, leading Irish historian and literary critic R. F. Foster gives an incisive and eloquent account of the poet and his work against the background of a changing Ireland. Drawing on unpublished drafts and correspondence, Foster provides illuminating and personal interpretations of Heaney's work. Though a deeply charismatic figure, Heaney refused to don the mantle of public spokesperson, and Foster identifies a deliberate evasiveness and creative ambiguity in his poetry. In this, and in Heaney's evocation of a disappearing rural Ireland haunted by political violence, Foster finds parallels with the other towering figure of Irish poetry, W. B. Yeats. Foster also discusses Heaney's cosmopolitanism, his support for dissident poets abroad, and his increasing focus in his later work on death and spiritual transcendence. Above all, Foster examines how Heaney created an extraordinary connection with an exceptionally wide readership, giving him an authority and power unique among contemporary writers. Combining a vivid account of Heaney's life and a compelling reading of his entire oeuvre, On Seamus Heaney extends our understanding of the man as it enriches our appreciation of his poetry.

A vivid and original account of one of Ireland's greatest poets by an acclaimed Irish historian and literary biographer The most important Irish poet of the postwar era, Seamus Heaney rose to prominence as his native Northern Ireland descended into sectarian violence. A national figure at a time when nationality was deeply contested, Heaney also won international acclaim, culminating in the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. In On Seamus Heaney, leading Irish historian and literary critic R. F. Foster gives an incisive and eloquent account of the poet and his work against the background of a changing Ireland. Drawing on unpublished drafts and correspondence, Foster provides illuminating and personal interpretations of Heaney's work. Though a deeply charismatic figure, Heaney refused to don the mantle of public spokesperson, and Foster identifies a deliberate evasiveness and creative ambiguity in his poetry. In this, and in Heaney's evocation of a disappearing rural Ireland haunted by political violence, Foster finds parallels with the other towering figure of Irish poetry, W. B. Yeats. Foster also discusses Heaney's cosmopolitanism, his support for dissident poets abroad, and his increasing focus in his later work on death and spiritual transcendence. Above all, Foster examines how Heaney created an extraordinary connection with an exceptionally wide readership, giving him an authority and power unique among contemporary writers. Combining a vivid account of Heaney's life and a compelling reading of his entire oeuvre, On Seamus Heaney extends our understanding of the man as it enriches our appreciation of his poetry.

Discusses the reactions of seventeenth and eighteenth-century writers of Irish history to the unprecedented turbulence of the age. Ireland and the Irish, it is often argued, have been mired for centuries in mindsets which employ the past in order to trace and justify the enmities of the present. However, as Constructing the Past: Writing Irish History 1600-1800 seeks to underscore, the truth of such interactions with the Irish past is far more complex and dynamic. Spanning two hundred years of history, this book finds a relationship with the past which is as adaptive as it is rigid, as iconoclastic as it is reactionary. Beginning with an Introduction by Roy Foster, this innovative volume incorporates a wide range of perspectives on how history in Ireland has been written and perceived from the early-modern period onward. Drawing upon both key moments - including the Cromwellian invasion, the 1688 Revolution and 1798, to name a few - as well as forgotten incidents, each article discusses the ways in which the presentationof the past in Ireland has been forged by the circumstances of its writers and context of those memories. Drawing upon contributions by both highly accomplished and up-and-coming historians of Ireland, Britain and Europe, Constructing the Past seeks to illuminate how the Irish past has been constructed, torn down and again rebuilt by the Irish and historians of Ireland alike. STEPHEN PAUL FORREST serves as the Director of Operations forthe Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation; MARK WILLIAMS is currently reading for a Doctorate in Modern European History at Hertford College, Oxford.

How societies use the past is one of their most revealing traits. Using this insight "Ireland's Polemical Past" examines how the inhabitants of nineteenth and twentieth-century Ireland plundered their pasts for polemical reasons. The ten essays explore how revolutionaries, politicians, churchmen, artists, tourists and builders (among others) used the Irish past in creating and justifying their own position in contemporary society. The result is a varied portrait of the problems and tensions in nineteenth and early twentieth-century society that these people tried to solve by resorting to the Irish past for inspiration and justification to make their world work. This is a book that will appeal to those who have an interest in the making of modern Ireland as well as those concerned with writing about the Irish past at any level.

"It's All About Evil" Volume III, Understand the mechanism of evil within the World's Greatest Conspiracy (between ego and the evil). Destroy this evil, and destroy evil socialism and Russian PsychoPolitics and their American operators. They want the depression. Many unique discoveries. Chapters: Part I: Get What You Deserve, Not difficult for Psychopaths, AIDS epidemic, The Evil President; Part II: Danger of Secret, Friends, Marriage, Independence, Right Time and Place, Real Crazies v Accused Crazies, Father Our Corrector, Forgiveness, Responsibility, Values, Polarization, No True Love in Young Love, Never Have a Choice. Major discoveries: Word Idolization and Imagery Worship, Identity Transference, Become what you hate, Why Incorruptible, Words the medium of evil & mind control. S.O.S. S.O.S. MUST reading] Unique endless series 425 pages. Pre-designed Russian PsychoPolitics won. Is it too late? Where is Creator? Predicted in Volume I, first edition 1992]ego and buddy Satan. Take this final opportunity to expose it to We the People. Don't be in denial. Courageous author, Dr.Roy Foster, MentalGrowth.com, brings you many techniques and his personal discoveries to destroy evil socialism and its welfare bail-outs. The present growing socialism through Russian PsychoPolitics will always be suicidal and now has destroyed capitalism. Evil "words" have lied to now become over-powering in the final days. Volume II How to]Have Fun Destroying Evil And Liberal Socialism (lighter attitude) Volume III Get What You Deserve in Evil Liberal Socialism Soon]Volume IV The Great Conspiracies, in Evil Socialism (brainwashing) Soon] Volume V The Bio-Mechanism of Evil Half of America is already very angry and depressed while half is brainwashed by PsychoPolitics (brainwashing)

"It's All About Evil" will help you understand the mechanism of evil within the World's Greatest Conspiracy, between ego and evil which is in every person on this earth. It will show you the way to destroy evil, that which is in you and destroy evil liberal socialism. Many other unique discoveries. Chapters: Part I: Change Your Words, Change Your Life, Change the World, Words caused the failure of mankind, The Beginning, Tools to Help, Specific Programming, Absolute Truth; Part II: Consciousness Levels, Methods to be Free, The Life-Saver, Principle of Alien Identity, Techniques, Unwording, Identity Transference, Hypnotic State, Feelings, Needing. Major discoveries: Word Idolization and Imagery Worship, Identity Transference, Become what you hate, Why incorruptible, Words are the medium of evil and mind control.

"It's All About Evil" Volume III, Understand the mechanism of evil within the World's Greatest Conspiracy (between ego and the evil). Destroy this evil, and destroy evil socialism and Russian PsychoPolitics and their American operators. They want the depression. Many unique discoveries. Chapters: Part I: Get What You Deserve, Not difficult for Psychopaths, AIDS epidemic, The Evil President; Part II: Danger of Secret, Friends, Marriage, Independence, Right Time and Place, Real Crazies v Accused Crazies, Father Our Corrector, Forgiveness, Responsibility, Values, Polarization, No True Love in Young Love, Never Have a Choice. Major discoveries: Word Idolization and Imagery Worship, Identity Transference, Become what you hate, Why Incorruptible, Words the medium of evil & mind control. S.O.S. S.O.S. MUST reading] Unique endless series 425 pages. Pre-designed Russian PsychoPolitics won. Is it too late? Where is Creator? Predicted in Volume I, first edition 1992]ego and buddy Satan. Take this final opportunity to expose it to We the People. Don't be in denial. Courageous author, Dr.Roy Foster, MentalGrowth.com, brings you many techniques and his personal discoveries to destroy evil socialism and its welfare bail-outs. The present growing socialism through Russian PsychoPolitics will always be suicidal and now has destroyed capitalism. Evil "words" have lied to now become over-powering in the final days. Volume II How to]Have Fun Destroying Evil And Liberal Socialism (lighter attitude) Volume III Get What You Deserve in Evil Liberal Socialism Soon]Volume IV The Great Conspiracies, in Evil Socialism (brainwashing) Soon] Volume V The Bio-Mechanism of Evil Half of America is already very angry and depressed while half is brainwashed by PsychoPolitics (brainwashing)

"It's All About Evil" Volume I, Understand the mechanism of evil within the World's Greatest Conspiracy (between ego and the evil). Destroy this evil, even in you and destroy evil socialism and Russian PsychoPolitics and their American operators. They want the depression. Many unique discoveries. Chapters: Part I: Change Your Words, Change Your Life, Change the World, Words caused the failure of mankind, The Beginning, Tools to Help, Specific Programming, Absolute Truth; Part II: Consciousness Levels,Methods to be Free, The Life-Saver, Principle of Alien Identity, Techniques, Unwording, Identity Transference, Hypnotic State, Feelings, Needing. S.O.S. S.O.S. MUST reading The world is sinking into a living hell. Unique endless series 425 page books. Pre-designed Russian PsychoPolitics won. Is it too late? Where is Creator? Predicted in Volume I, first edition 1992 ego and buddy Satan. Friends can be fiends especially in authorities. Take this final opportunity to expose it to We the People. Do not be in denial. Courageous author, Dr.Roy Foster, MentalGrowth.com, brings you many techniques and his personal discoveries to destroy evil socialism and its welfare bail-outs. The present growing socialism through Russian PsychoPolitics will always be suicidal and now has destroyed capitalism. Evil "words" have lied to now become over-powering in the final days. Volume II How to Have Fun Destroying Evil And Liberal Socialism (lighter attitude) Volume III Get What You Deserve in Evil Liberal Socialism Soon Volume IV The Great Conspiracies, in Evil Socialism (brainwashing) Soon Volume V The Bio-Mechanism of Evil Half of America is already very angry and depressed while half is brainwashed by PsychoPolitics (brainwashing)