have you heard of Seamus Heaney?

Correction - no, the original song was by another composer, goes back to 1939.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD2evtQP8ps

Did he write Strange Fruit? Never knew that.
Sung so well by Billie Holliday, and Nina Simone the song must have had a big influence on the Civil Rights movement in the 60's.

I was just saying the same thing annodomini when I saw you have already said it. I'm not that knowledgeable about poetry and the first time I read Mid Term Break was a year or so ago while on a course at City Lit. I believe it reflected an incident in Seamus Heaney's own childhood, which makes the last few lines especially heart-rending.

Thank you, nannymeya for starting this very worthwhile thread.

Judthepud2 . Weren't you lucky privileged to be taught by Seamus Heaney and to know him socially too. Isn't 'Mid Term Break' one of the most moving poems ever? He so well deserved his Nobel Prize.

A very special poet
Check out scaffolding often read at Irish weddings and mid term break
Read at funerals

Dd studied him at a level I think and he was often in the bar at her uni.

Oh, Jud... am I ever envious! Lucky you to have him as a tutor. I agree about him making the language accessible especially his translation of Beowulf.

Probably one of our most famous Irish poets. He was one of my tutors at Queen's University, Belfast. He was a lovely man, a real gentleman and not up himself at all. Have drunk a few pints with him in my time. He used to run some of his poetry ideas past us students for feedback. He was researching the Bog People at the time when writing Tolland Man and had us (his tutor group) enthused and fascinated.

He was a specialist in Yeats and Anglo Saxon poetry, and is well known for his translation of the famous Anglo Saxon poem, Beowolf.

I love his poetry, clever working of language but accessible too.

Well, have just done some further research and discovered Punishment and Strange Fruit, FABBY PIECES!! How genuine and heartfelt, bless his soul, wasn't aware he had dies, god bless. annodomini

Sadly no longer a 'gorgeous young man': he died in 2013, leaving a wonderful collection and variety of works. Thanks for drawing my attention to this thoughtful poem. I then was drawn to visit other web sites about prehistoric bodies found preserved in peat. nannymeya, I hope you follow this up with some of his other poems.

Despite all, I still do not like his poetry. For me Tollund Man is one of his more tolerable pieces, but none of his work gets anywhere near my anthology of my favourite poems.

Seamus Heaney? Only one of Ireland's greatest poets. Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, and a most worthy reciprient IMHO. Do Google his work further.

He is a famous poet and often studied for GCSE and A level