EXISTENTIAL AND STOICAL IDEAS IN HEANEY`S POETRY

The literal opus of Seamus Heaney is imbued with problems that range from the essence of being a contemporary citizen of Northern Ireland, exposed to conflicts, fear, betrayals and murders to the centuries old convulsions related to religious, political, class, regional or tribal differences. Heaney’s poetry is strongly autobiographical even though it is clear that he is not confined to his own experience, but that he merely uses it as a base from which to explore the world. I will analyse Heaney’s poems taking into consideration something we can refer to as ˝a problematic northerness˝ at the same time emphasising the notion that poetry could be the power that can move things forward. Heaney expresses the hope that what still exists as a brutal conflict at the level of politics might be somehow resolved at the level of culture. I will also trace some elements of philosophical background. Thoughts in Heaney’s poetry result in existentialism which is at the same time based on the need of self-deprivation and even on the need of a secured after-life, as well as it is also imbued by the anxiety of surviving through the hardships of everyday existence. One way of dealing with such heaviness is certainly the stoic endurance. Heaney developed his philosophical attitude primarily under the strong influence of Socrates and Plato but we can also trace some main ethical features of the Stoic school of philosophy