Seamus Heaney: Opened Ground - Selected Poems 1966-1996

What does it mean to dig into language, memory, and the earth itself? Seamus Heaney's Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996 presents the essential work of the Nobel Prize-winning poet whom Robert Lowell praised as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats." This comprehensive selection, chosen by Heaney himself, gathers the finest poems from his twelve previous books, revealing three decades of extraordinary achievement by one of the twentieth century's greatest poets. Heaney's poetry explores the Irish landscape and its troubled history, childhood memory and adult understanding, the craft of poetry and the weight of tradition, with a voice that is "by turns mythological and journalistic, rural and sophisticated, reminiscent and impatient, stern and yielding" (Helen Vendler). His work combines earthy physicality with lyrical beauty, creating verse of profound musicality and moral depth.

This one-volume testament includes essential poems from landmark collections such as Death of a Naturalist, North (with the celebrated Bog Poems), Field Work, Station Island, The Haw Lantern, and Seeing Things, as well as new sequences from his translations The Cure at Troy and Sweeney Astray, and previously uncollected poems. The book closes with Heaney's Nobel Lecture, "Crediting Poetry," a profound meditation on poetry's power and responsibility. Heaney's voice is unmistakable: he writes with precise observation and musical language, digging into the soil of Ireland, memory, and language itself to unearth truths about history, identity, craft, and the examined life.

For contemplative readers, Heaney's poetry offers profound meditation on place, memory, history, and the examined life. His work asks: What is the relationship between personal memory and collective history? How does language connect us to the earth and to the past? What is poetry's role in a troubled world? How do we honor tradition while forging our own path? Heaney's verse becomes a companion for mindful living—teaching attention to the physical world, respect for craft and tradition, courage to confront difficult history, and the conviction that poetry can credit and redeem human experience.

What You'll Discover
Heaney's essential poems from 1966-1996, selected by the poet himself
Work from twelve collections including the celebrated Bog Poems from North
Sequences from landmark translations The Cure at Troy and Sweeney Astray
Previously uncollected poems and Heaney's Nobel Lecture "Crediting Poetry"
Poems on Irish landscape and history, memory, craft, and the examined life
Contemplative insights into place, tradition, language, and moral responsibility
Nobel Prize winner praised as the most important Irish poet since Yeats

Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) was born in County Derry, Northern Ireland, and became one of the most celebrated poets of the twentieth century. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995 "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past." His poetry explores the Irish landscape, the Troubles, childhood on a farm, the craft of writing, and the relationship between personal experience and historical forces. He was also a distinguished translator (his Beowulf won the Whitbread Prize) and essayist. His work combines precise observation with musical language, earthy physicality with lyrical beauty, creating poetry that is both deeply rooted in Irish soil and universally resonant. He remains one of the most beloved and influential poets in the English language.

Perfect for: Readers of British and Irish poetry, students of Seamus Heaney and contemporary poetry, contemplative readers exploring place and memory, those interested in Irish history and landscape, anyone drawn to musical, earthy verse, readers of poetry about craft, tradition, and moral responsibility, students of Nobel Prize-winning literature, admirers of poetry that combines lyrical beauty with ethical depth and transforms personal experience into universal meditation.

Paperback edition. Heaney's essential selected poems 1966-1996—offering contemplative wisdom on place, memory, and craft through the musical, earthy voice of the Nobel Prize-winning poet praised as the most important Irish poet since Yeats.