Seamus Heaney, Nobel Prize winning poet, dies in hospital aged 74

 
'Greatest poet of his generation': Seamus Heaney, died in hospital in Dublin today
PA
Louise Jury30 August 2013

One of the most brilliant and best-loved poets of the last century, Seamus Heaney, died in hospital in Dublin today. He was 74.

The Nobel Prize-winning writer had suffered a short illness, his family said in a statement.

Tributes poured in, from poets to politicians. Former poet laureate Andrew Motion said Heaney was “the greatest poet of his generation” and “ one of the most gracious men I’ve ever met”.

Judith Palmer, director of the Poetry Society, said: “There’s no question Heaney will be one of the enduring voices of the century.

“We’ve been very lucky, for so long, to have had a poet of such powers, whose work could speak so directly to people of all ages and backgrounds.”

William Sieghart, Forward Poetry Prize founder, said: “His poetry will be read in a hundred years. It sang in a way no one else’s did.”

Poet Michael Symmons Roberts said: “He was the most extraordinarily generous and humble man — and a genius.”

Publishers Faber and Faber, said: “His impact on literary culture is immeasurable. We could not have been prouder to publish his work over nearly 50 years.”

Heaney was born in 1939 in a large farming family in County Derry, Northern Ireland. He studied English at Queen’s University, Belfast, where he was first inspired to write after reading Ted Hughes.

His talent was recognised from his first major collection, Death of a Naturalist, in 1966, and he won all the major British honours, including the TS Eliot, Forward and Whitbread prizes. The late poet Robert Lowell called him “the most important Irish poet since WB Yeats”.

Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 for “works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth”, and made a Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 1996, but he turned down the laureateship in 1999.

He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford and Harvard, a playwright and translator. He withdrew briefly from public life after a stroke in 2006, but sorted manuscripts to donate to the National Library of Ireland in 2011.

His works evoked the landscape and troubles of his homeland. Northern Ireland deputy first minister Martin McGuinness was “deeply saddened” at his death. Heaney is survived by his wife, Marie, and three children.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in