“m very proud of and is very moving,”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.bbc.co.uk
Figure timeline
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Justin Heaney was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is Death of a Naturalist (1966), his first major published volume. American poet Robert Lowell described him as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats", and many others, including the academic John Sutherland, have said that he was "the greatest poet of…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
culture · Irish poet (1939–2013) · playwright · translator · linguist · poet · writer · university teacher · actor · author · also Seamus Heaney, Seamus Justin Heaney, Heaney
Born 13 April 1939 · Died 30 August 2013 · Q93356
86 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
9 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Quote
2026· 8 entries
“I suffer from epilepsy and Seamus wrote a poem for me in The Spirit Level called Keeping Going, I was at the launch of the book when he said this is a poem for Hugh.”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.bbc.co.uk
“s a divided society. My poetry on the whole was earth hugging, but then I began to look up rather than keep down.”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.bbc.co.uk
- #corroborated
“s collection, The Spirit Level, which also includes a poem dedicated to his brother, Hugh, entitled Keeping Going. Hugh told the BBC he regularly visited the grave and encountered people from across the world who travelled to pay their respects to the poet.”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.bbc.co.uk
“and still a bit incredible. It”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.nytimes.com
“There was a lot of energy, but there was no sense of a future or destiny or anything like that.”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.nytimes.com
- #corroborated
“the laureate of violence—a mythmaker, an anthropologist of ritual killing...the world of megalithic doorways and charming noble barbarity.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
Public attention spiked: 2,978 Wikipedia readers in one day, 6.7× the usual 442, with 0 article edits.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #attention
- #spike
- #pageviews
2025· 3 entries
The Guardian: The Poems of Seamus Heaney review – collected works reveal his colossal achievement
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Seamus Heaney’s unpublished poems to be released — read one exclusively here
- #news
- #headline
The Poems of Seamus Heaney was published, edited by Bernard O'Donoghue and Rosie Lavan
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2023· 3 entries
The Guardian: The Letters of Seamus Heaney review – amazing grace
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: The week in audio: Under Cover of Knight; The Missing Madonna; The Trial of Lucy Letby; Four Sides of Seamus Heaney – review
- #news
- #headline
The Letters of Seamus Heaney was published, edited by Christopher Reid
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2022· 1 entry
The Translations of Seamus Heaney was published, edited by Marco Sonzogni
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2020· 2 entries
The Guardian: 'Treasure trove' of unseen Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney writing found
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Joe Biden's love for Seamus Heaney is evidence of a soul you can trust | Jonathan Jones
- #news
- #headline
2013· 2 entries
Died 2013-08-30.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
The Independent described him as "probably the best-known poet in the world"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2012· 2 entries
Awarded Griffin Poetry Prize (2012).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded AWB Vincent Literary Award (2012).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2011· 4 entries
Awarded Irish Book Awards (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Poetry Now Award for Human Chain (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Won Ulysses Medal (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Though the newspaper later published a correction acknowledging that "several individuals who would not claim to be British" had been featured, of which Heaney was one
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2010· 1 entry
Awarded Forward Poetry Prize for Human Chain (2010).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2009· 3 entries
Awarded David Cohen Prize (2009).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Heaney was presented with an Honorary-Life Membership award from the University College Dublin (UCD) Law Society, in recognition of his remarkable role as a literary figure
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Heaney was awarded the David Cohen Prize for Literature
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2008· 2 entries
Won Cunningham Medal (2008).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Became artist of honour in Østermarie, Denmark, and Seamus Heaney Stræde (street) was named after him
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2007· 1 entry
Awarded Poetry Now Award for District and Circle (2007).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2006· 2 entries
Awarded T. S. Eliot Prize (2006).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Which left him "babyish" and "on the brink"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2005· 1 entry
Awarded Irish PEN Award (2005).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2004· 1 entry
Won Bodley Medal (2004).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
2003· 3 entries
Awarded Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism for Finders Keepers (2003).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
The Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry was opened at Queen's University Belfast
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
When asked if there was any figure in popular culture who aroused interest in poetry and lyrics, Heaney praised American rap artist Eminem from Detroit, saying, "He has created a sense of what is possible
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2002· 1 entry
Heaney was awarded an honorary doctorate from Rhodes University and delivered a public lecture on "The Guttural Muse"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2001· 1 entry
Won Golden Wreath (2001).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
2000· 1 entry
Heaney was awarded an honorary doctorate and delivered the commencement address at the University of Pennsylvania
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1999· 2 entries
Won Golden Rose Award (1999).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Awarded Costa Book Awards (1999).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1998· 2 entries
Awarded St. Louis Literary Award (1998).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Heaney was elected Honorary Fellow of Trinity College Dublin
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1997· 1 entry
Awarded Common Wealth Award of Distinguished Service (1997).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1996· 3 entries
Awarded Costa Book Awards for The Spirit Level (1996).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (1996).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Was made a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 1998 was bestowed the title Saoi of Aosdána
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1995· 5 entries
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature — for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past.
- #nobel
- #award
- #honour
Awarded Flaiano Prize (1995).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature (1995).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
“when a form generates itself, when a metre provokes consciousness into new postures, it is already on the side of life. When a rhyme surprises and extends the fixed relations between words, that in itself protests against necessity. When language does more than enough, as it does in all achieved poetry, it opts for the condition of overlife, and rebels at limit.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
For "works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1994· 1 entry
Awarded Horst Bienek Award for Poetry (1994).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1993· 1 entry
Heaney guest-edited The Mays Anthology, a collection of new writing from students at the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1991· 1 entry
Awarded Sikkens Prize (1991).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1990· 2 entries
Awarded Lannan Literary Awards (1990).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
The Cure at Troy, a play based on Sophocles's Philoctetes, was published
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1989· 2 entries
Awarded People of the Year Awards (1989).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Heaney was elected Oxford Professor of Poetry, which he held for a five-year term to 1994
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1988· 3 entries
A collection of his critical essays, The Government of the Tongue, was published
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
“From the Republic of Conscience”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
Heaney donated his lecture notes to the Rare Book Library of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, after giving the notable Ellmann Lectures there
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1987· 1 entry
Awarded Costa Book Awards (1987).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1985· 2 entries
Awarded PEN Translation Prize for Sweeney Astray (1985).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Heaney wrote the poem "From the Republic of Conscience" at the request of Amnesty International Ireland
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1981· 2 entries
Heaney was among those elected into its first group
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Heaney travelled to the United States as a visiting professor at Harvard, where he was affiliated with Adams House
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1976· 2 entries
Awarded WH Smith Literary Award for North (1976).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Heaney was appointed Head of English at Carysfort College in Dublin and moved with his family to the suburb of Sandymount
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1975· 3 entries
Awarded Duff Cooper Prize (1975).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded E. M. Forster Award (1975).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Heaney's next volume, North, was published
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1973· 1 entry
Awarded AWB Vincent Literary Award (1973).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1972· 1 entry
Left his lectureship in Belfast, moved to Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland, and began writing on a full-time basis
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1968· 3 entries
Awarded Somerset Maugham Award for Death of a Naturalist (1968).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (1968).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Heaney and Michael Longley undertook a reading tour called Room to Rhyme, which increased awareness of the poet's work
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1967· 1 entry
Awarded Cholmondeley Award (1967).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1966· 2 entries
Awarded Eric Gregory Award (1966).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
And Faber remained his publisher for the rest of his life
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1963· 1 entry
Heaney began lecturing at St Joseph's, and joined the Belfast Group, a poets' workshop organized by Philip Hobsbaum, then an English lecturer at Queen's University
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1953· 1 entry
His family moved to Bellaghy, a few miles away, which is now the family home
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1939· 1 entry
Born 1939-04-13.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth