IF YOU GO
What: “Selected Poems and Preoccupations”
Where: Hendricks Chapel
When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
How much: Free

Seamus Heaney, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, will speak Tuesday for the first time in four years in the United States at Syracuse University.

During the lecture, “Selected Poems and Preoccupations,” at 7:30 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel, Heaney, the translator of the 12th-century epic poem “Beowulf,” will read from his other works and share anecdotes about his life as an internationally renowned Irish poet, translator and essayist. The lecture is co-sponsored by University Lectures and the Syracuse University Humanities Center.

“He is considered the next living legend among poets,” said Esther Gray, coordinator of University Lectures. “His name sort of transcends everything.”

It is the first time since his stroke in 2006 that Heaney is speaking in the United States, Gray said. Heaney will only be speaking in two or three other places, Gray said, and he will most likely draw an almost-full crowd of people from Central New York and elsewhere.

Heaney is expected to read from “District and Circle,” one of his more recent collections of poetry, published in 2006, said Gregg Lambert, director of SU Humanities Center.

In addition to his readings, Heaney’s lecture will primarily be autobiographical. Heaney will discuss Dennis O’Driscoll’s “Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney,” Lambert said. The book is a collection of Heaney’s interviews with reporters and other media throughout the course of his career. The book is the only comprehensive portrait of the poet, according to O’Driscoll’s website.

Heaney will also share his views about the culture differences he experienced between Ireland and the United States, Lambert said.

Sanford Sternlicht, an English professor who invited Heaney to speak to his “Reading Nation and Empire” class before the lecture, said the audience has the chance to hear one of the world’s greatest artists in performance.

“It’s one thing to read poetry, and it’s yet another to hear poetry,” Sternlicht said. “To hear the sound of the poem coming from the mouth of the poet is an experience we seldom have.”

Moriah Dohner, a freshman music performance major, said she is excited Heaney’s lecture will focus more on his life as a poet rather than his works because it gives her a chance to relate to his view of poetry.

For students who mainly know Heaney as the translator of “Beowulf,” Bruce Smith, an English and creative writing professor, said the lecture is a chance for the audience to gain an appreciation for Heaney and his style of poetry.

“He turns feelings into words,” Smith said. “He’s able to articulate some of our most subtle and difficult things that exist in the fringe of our thoughts and feelings.”

 

Published on April 12, 2010 at 12:00 pm