The ‘Upward Waft’: The Influence of Frost and Eliot on Heaney’s Later Phase

Abstract

As Edna Longley has said, Seamus Heaney, like many other Irish poets, has always felt a strong pull towards the American dream.¹ For Heaney and several of his contemporaries, that pull has become quite literal, drawing them to prestigious US universities where they often enjoy fame and connection to many of America’s own leading literary figures. But while Heaney’s years at Harvard have no doubt influenced his poetry, there is a more elemental American influence on his work. Heaney’s career has been so greatly affected by the Troubles that it would be hard for him not to see America in a special light, as a former British colony that has distinctively found its own identity and literary tradition within the confines of the English language. One could make a considerable list of American influences on Heaney’s poetry, but I will confine my discussion to two especially important ones — T. S. Eliot and Robert Frost. Both have helped Heaney not only to address the conflicts of his beloved Northern Ireland, but ultimately to push his poetry beyond these into new realms.