A few days ago I read a glowing review of an Instagram poet, whose name I’ll not mention, which contrasted her writing to Seamus Heaney’s. In short, the reviewer complained that Heaney’s writing was too complicated, used too many words, and took too long to read. Yeah, I thought, but he never wasted one!
Needing an antidote to that vapid assessment, I found John Ronan’s essay on Heaney’s “Digging.” I feel much better now.
And here’s a recording of the poem.
O at the Edges 
I was not exposed to the sickness, but I appreciated the antidote. Thanks, Bob.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It only took reading one Heaney poem to recover. Too many words, indeed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good grief alive. It’s hardly believable is it: “Too complicated” & “too many words”? Why do people bother reading poetry if the author has to give them a road map & hold their hand through the poem? This is why history has practically forgotten the best poems of Robert Browning, nobody wants to try, but they want all the benefit of being a reader.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Baffling, isn’t it? If it doesn’t make me think, I don’t want to read it. Where’s the wonder, the magic, in being told what to think, how to feel? Argh!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Might as well but guided brackets in between the lines. i mean i am all for transparency outside the poetry, i don’t want everything to be a mystery, but poetry has to make you scratch your head once in a while, or marvel at the ingenuity of a line & give some pause as to how that may have come to the poet. Simplicity isn’t a bad thing, but when poetry readers are complaining about complexity then there is a serious problem, as i see it.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I agree that not everything must be a mystery, and that simplicity isn’t a bad thing. Hell, simplicity can be quite complex, as you know. But yeah, there is a problem when readers don’t want to, well, read.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Moreover, Heaney isn’t really a complex poet in the way i assume this reviewer thinks. The difficulty with Heaney comes from his cultural references to distinctly Irish things, which we may not get, but good grief, get a dictionary out or Google is probably in your pockets. Look for the references, learn something. i do know a great many people who say they never look up words they don’t know. That is beyond me. Every time i read anything i have a dictionary open next to me.
You are quite right that simplicity can be complex, just look what Dylan Thomas does with the sparest amount of words. He really doesn’t have an immense vocabulary but boy does he baffle.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Yeah, I’d never considered Heaney a complex poet. And same here, I have to look up words I don’t know.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The cyber generation,
caught in an internet slipstream,
skimming the google
of no true research,
is lost to the well stream
of deep thought.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It sometimes seems that way, but I’m acquainted with many young poets who are engaged with literature, which is reassuring.
LikeLike
Well, without clues as to the poet of comparison, I’ll just enjoy your rebuttal – a great essay on a great poet. (And that voice! Thanks for the link.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
A memorable poem, in spite of its “complexity.” 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for this, Robert–the wonderful essay and the reading. I agree with others above. This poem certainly isn’t difficult to understand–and too many words? Too long to read? Yikes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
His poems are definitely meant to be read aloud!
LikeLiked by 1 person
The advent of “Instapoetry” has certainly widened the high culture/low culture divide within poetry. I don’t want to say that “Instapoetry” isn’t poetry, but I will say that I think their agenda is so different from the lit. poets (e.g. Heaney) that you really can’t compare the two . Personally, I don’t care for the “Instapoets”, but I don’t mind them either. I think they lack substance, but I also think their accessibility opens the door to a much broader audience of potential poetry readers who (who knows?) might end up reading Heaney somewhere down the line.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think “Instapoetry” is likely more about the quest for “fame” via social media, and I don’t see many similarities between that type of writing and Heaney’s (and whoever you might mention here). But like you, I hope that it acts as a gateway to more readers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed, with the “Instapoets” it seems like celebrity status tends to take precedence over one’s duty as a poet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I attended one of Heaney’s last readings prior to his death, and he ended the night with “Postscript”, one of my favorites. https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/postscript-8/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Another great poem. Thank you for sharing, Anthony.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Heaney is rich, but I think he can use simplicity as effectively as anything “complicated” in his work. Anyway, the other comments pretty much nail it.
LikeLike
Yep!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My first exposure to Seamus Heaney. Now I want to read more. Thanks again Robert for bringing new writers to my life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are in for a treat!
LikeLike