Écrire l’histoire, lire l’histoire

This article offers a close reading of Seamus Heaney’s poem « For the Commander of the Eliza ». It examines the way in which Heaney incorporates historical material and quotations into the body of the poem, offering a multiple perspective on a historical event which occurred during the Famine. The article examines the nature of the text itself and debates the issue of genre (document / poem), suggesting that through the subversion of genre Heaney wishes to indicate that history is multiple and truth difficult to pin down