Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996

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Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996

by Seamus Heaney

4.27 · rating details · 1,095 ratings · 66 reviews

As selected by the author, Opened Ground includes the essential work from Heaney's twelve previous books of poetry, as well as new sequences drawn from two of his landmark translations, The Cure at Troy and Sweeney Astray, and several previously uncollected poems. Heaney's voice is like no other--"by turns mythological and journalistic, rural and sophisticated, r...more

Paperback, 464 pages

Published October 25th 1999 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published 1998)

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Apr 21, 2009

Brad rated it

I made this five stars in defiance of Michelle. I am THE Five Star Slut. And proud of it. But no...this is a brilliant collection of poetry. Seriously.

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Apr 23, 2009

Anthony D Buckley rated it

Shelves: literature, ireland

People in Northern Ireland rather think that Seamus Heaney – “Famous Seamus”, they say with irony – belongs to them. They feel he is close to them, expressing their everyday concerns. Even when he ventures into abstruse territory, for example, translating Beowulf or Antigone, Ulster people sense that even these texts express concerns they share with him.

Gaelic football is a big preoccupation in the area he was brought up. So when I found myself there discussing football, it was no s...morePeople in Northern Ireland rather think that Seamus Heaney – “Famous Seamus”, they say with irony – belongs to them. They feel he is close to them, expressing their everyday concerns. Even when he ventures into abstruse territory, for example, translating Beowulf or Antigone, Ulster people sense that even these texts express concerns they share with him.

Gaelic football is a big preoccupation in the area he was brought up. So when I found myself there discussing football, it was no surprise that different teams claimed ownership over him, each explaining how he played football for their team and not for the others

A recurring theme in his poetry is his childhood in the flat farmlands of south Derry. It was a life of butter-churning, pig-killing, turf-digging, jamb-walls, funerals; of policemen and beggar-women; of taciturn farmers sending foolish youths on fools’ errands; a world where recreation revolved around Gaelic sport; one where the postman had to know the invisible boundaries of invisible townlands. Heaney writes much of his father who spent much of his life in silence, believing that “even to speak at all was an affectation”, and of his siblings, for example, playing at trains on the living room couch. It is the kind of world – fading now – that I got to know myself in other parts of rural Ulster, though in my case as an outsider. All the same, having been among such people, I find his poems startle me by being accurate.

It would be wrong to think Heaney sentimental. Nor is he a parochial poet. It’s just that he evokes more general truths by writing straightforwardly, with realism and apparent simplicity, about the people and the places he knows.

Ulster, however, is a complicated place. At the moment Heaney emerged as a writer, so did Ulster’s Troubles. Heaney therefore gave significant voice to a strand of decency found in Ulster political opinion. Few people in Ulster are blindly sectarian; but nor can they shake off old loyalties and this ambiguity is present in his writing. He gives voice to what everybody feels in war, the anger, the futility, the exasperation, the sense that what one does is what one also regrets. He sometimes gives vent to the hypocrisy and untruth that conflict brings. “Whatever you say, say nothing” is the title of a poem, but it became a catchphrase in Ulster, for it rang an important bell.

Heaney is a poet to his boots, passionate about language. Despite his subject matter and the seeming simplicity of his writing, his scholarship peeps through. He seems pleased to have had his ability recognized, but he does not appear to have sought recognition. I met him briefly once, and I thought him a kindly, decent man who just liked to write poetry. The book contains his speech of acceptance in Stockholm. It is a model of clear prose and humanity, and well worth reading.

The epithet “Famous Seamus” has a convoluted Ulster irony. It firmly chides him for winning a Nobel Prize, for in rural Ulster, one is supposed to be “modest”. But there is also affection in the accusation, for everybody knows that Heaney as a quiet, modest man who wears his celebrity very lightly. Indeed, one doubts if he wears it at all.
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Aug 31, 2009

Sparrow rated it

Shelves: poetry

It's the time of year when everything brings this poem into my head. I think Seamus Heaney has a brilliant ability to create momentum. Also, blackberry picking is one of my favorite things that I never do anymore.

Blackberry-Picking

Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Lik...more

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Jul 24, 2007

Cris rated it

Recommends it for: modern poets and those who enjoy Irish literature.

As if we needed any proof that Seamus Heaney's Nobel Prize in Literature was well-deserved--the (somewhat abridged) collection of his volumes of poetry from 1966-1996, contained in Opened Ground prove this. Heaney's collected poems illustrate a discovery of (Irish) heritage, an awakening from childhood into adulthood, and an astounding awareness of the "little" things in life. From the opening poem--the well-known "Digging"--we are immediately immersed in Heaney's world of ...moreAs if we needed any proof that Seamus Heaney's Nobel Prize in Literature was well-deserved--the (somewhat abridged) collection of his volumes of poetry from 1966-1996, contained in Opened Ground prove this. Heaney's collected poems illustrate a discovery of (Irish) heritage, an awakening from childhood into adulthood, and an astounding awareness of the "little" things in life. From the opening poem--the well-known "Digging"--we are immediately immersed in Heaney's world of ancestry, the burden of age, the struggle to maintain a balance between history and heritage, the future and modernism, and other "grand motifs" that Heaney somehow manages to condense into metonymic and representative figures and symbols, respectively.

This is also, in many ways, a collection about nature and the cycle of life. One of the most fascinating types of poems found here are Heaney's "bog people" poems, which describe the physical bodies found and excavated from the marshy land of Ireland. "The Tollund Man" exemplifies these such poems early on and Heaney returns to the local in his penultimate poem of the collection, "Tollund." Heaney's intense love of earthiness, of Ireland's "soft" terrain, of wells, water-pumps, slime, mud, and bogspawn also give us material that, quite possibly, could be enjoyed by ardent environmentalists and nature-lovers.

But this is not to say that Heaney's poems are meant for only one kind of person or another. On the contrary--they are meant for everybody.

Additionally, Heaney's organization is felt both within each volume and among them. There is no such thing as haphazard with Heaney--every piece feels interlocked with the others, each poem truly belongs, and every one is readable on various levels. Of course, much of the poet's work is also highly political, but this never seems to become some sort of eye-rolling "hidden agenda" of the collection. We are never distracted, negatively, by any one thing. Instead, we are asked, as readers, to compile, return to, and remember the various images, thoughts, and motifs offered here and often returned to.

Of interest to writers, too, is Heaney's address of the poet's burden: is he to respond to life as it is and report it in all its rawness and ugliness? Or is he to take events and sugarcoat them a bit? In Opened Ground it quickly becomes evident that Heaney struggles with and attempts to do both at times. In the end, however, it at least becomes apparent that Heaney's greatest loyalty lies with Artistic Vision, whether it means describing the deaths of mythic heroes of yesterday or the passing of family members before his very eyes.(less)

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Jul 08, 2008

Sarah Ryburn rated it

Shelves: poetry

should really be on my "always reading shelf." i love his poetry. it's grounded, almost smelling of the earth (of his native irish soil), and gritty without being graphic or turning too hard an edge. in an interview following the publication of his new translation of beowulf, heaney talks of the old anglo-saxon poet and the warrior culture evoked in the poem. he speaks about the heart of the poet grieved by the cruelty of the world, the loss of home, of safety, of companions- a grief n...more

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Oct 21, 2007

J. Mark rated it

Recommends it for: poets, poetry fans

Shelves: poetry

What does a Nobel Prize for poetry mean? Nothing unless it is accompanied by the kind of work Heaney has accomplished. Among my top 5 favorite poets ever, he may not appreciate my claim that he is a direct descendant of William Carlos Williams, but every poem has that same laser-like observation, that talent of looking into objects and scenes until they flower open into the world again. One could spend a life with this book.

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Sep 30, 2008

Matthew rated it

Shelves: literary

Poems mostly on the strange and ambiguous spaces of everyday life, which I often found a bit too vague to be very moving. The language, though, is unbelievable. I've never read anyone who had such an amazing ear for the jagged music of the English tongue, nor such an ability to craft the hard-edged cadences of Anglo-Saxon speech.

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Nov 11, 2011

Nathan rated it

Shelves: franklin-library

This is vintage Heaney, of course, and Heaney is one of those poets who can never be anyone other than who he is and whose voice is so a part of him and his words and themes that opening this book is like being rushed by a wave of Heaniness. The images of Ireland: cold, foggy, soggy, boggy, and peat-covered, are the meat of his art, even when the subject is not explicitly Irish. That aesthetic is the prevailing one throughout. Heaney has an eye for the quotidian as quotidian; he doesn't have to ...more

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Aug 19, 2011

Ike Sharpless rated it

Shelves: poetry, great-use-of-language, favorites, powerful-imagery, reviewed

I'm not usually a poetry guy, but wow - this collection has some of the most striking, powerful, evocative language I've ever come across. Heaney is second to none (Well, maybe second to Nabokov - but the two styles are quite different) in the sheer knock-you-over force of his imagery.

A favorite: Oysters

"Our shells clacked on the plates.
My tongue was a filling estuary,
My palate hung with starlight:
As I tasted the salty Pleiades
Orion dipped his...more

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Dec 12, 2009

Pat rated it

Shelves: poetry

It's on my read-over-and-over list along with Lord of the Rings, Great Expectations, Genesis, Song of Songs, King Lear (new to the list), and the dictionary.

If I could have a recording of someone saying all the Irish words and placenames, it would be complete.

Just released this year: a 13-CD set of Heaney reading his collected works. If you haven't heard him read:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKGmQcSFb...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNYBwF7lK...
...more

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Mar 16, 2011

Emily rated it

Shelves: poetry, favorites

Holly by Seamus Heaney

It rained when it should have snowed.
When we went to gather holly

the ditches were swimming, we were wet
to the knees, our hands were all jags

and water ran up our sleeves.
There should have been berries

but the sprigs we brought into the house
gleamed like smashed bottle-glass.

Now here I am, in a room that is decked
with the red-berried, waxy leafed stuff,

and I almost forg...more

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Aug 27, 2009

Maddy Schricker rated it

Though relatively new to poetry, I foresee Heaney remaining a favorite. He somehow has an uncanny penchant for turning his dark and swampy environments, superficially quite grotesque, into something appealing. Heaney has a profound passion for the sounds of words themselves, which is evident if you read his poems aloud. I most love the subtle intricacies of his storytelling and strong natural imagery, particularly "Death of a Naturalist" and, my personal favorite, "Personal Helico...more

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Nov 16, 2010

Julie rated it

Shelves: poetry, read-2010, best-of-2010

It is, of course, pointless to mark a volume of poetry as "read." I will be returning to this volume, to read those poems yet undiscovered, to reread those that have touched me. This volume explores thirty years of Heaney's work; I enjoyed selecting a few from each era to compare and contrast how his writing and themes changed over time. Heaney is a storyteller, a weaver, a conjurer.

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Jan 27, 2010

Stuart rated it

Very much love Seamus Heaney's work and this collection contains much of his very best. To be sure, there is plenty that I find obscure and difficult to penetrate (at least without a good teacher), but an equal number of poems with impeccable, compelling use of language that is completely accessible.

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Apr 24, 2011

Aileen rated it

I discovered this collection of poems by way of a friend, and I recall reading Thatcher and thinking "Holy Shit This Is Good". Heaney's poetry has been like an old friend to me. Whenever I revisit him, it feels like wonderful three course meal, complete with a robust round of desserts. He's good.

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Jan 31, 2009

Elizabeth rated it

Heaney's poetry feels much more real and earthy than I expect poetry to be. He can evoke an entire scene and mood in just a few words. Reading him makes me want to go to Ireland and see the strange, sad beauty that I imagine from his writing. When I do go to Ireland, I will definitely be bringing this book with me!

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Mar 17, 2007

Korri rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: poetry

Glanmore Revisited from Seeing Things

Scrabble

Bare flags. Pump water. Winter-evening cold.
Our backs might never warm up but our faces
Burned from teh hearth-blaze and the hot whiskeys.
It felt remembered even then, an old
Rightness half-imagined or foretold,
As green stickes hissed and spat into the ashes
And whatever rampaged out there couldn't reach us,
Firelit, shuttered, slated and stone-walled.

Year after year, our game...more

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Jan 31, 2009

Sarah rated it

The man's a genius. I wouldn't have understood a lot of the context had I not been taking a class focusing entirely on his life and work, but I'm so glad I did.

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Mar 10, 2011

RUSA CODES rated it

Shelves: notable-books-2000

This was one of the 2000 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/award...

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Apr 25, 2009

Gail Zachariah rated it

Shelves: nobel-readers-book-discussion-group

I'm not a reader of poetry books. I do like to read poems and there were some good ones in here but I have a hard time reading an entire book of poetry.

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Mar 02, 2011

Melissa marked it as to-read

Recommended in the 2011 Booklover's calendar, which says: "If you believe that poetry enhances life, this is a must read."

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Jul 23, 2010

Nadine added it

Didn't strictly read this, my sister loves Seamus Heaney and read out his poems to me before I came to love in London in 1992

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Jul 10, 2010

Denise rated it

Shelves: poetry

speechless - Heaney is masterful - i think I will always be reading selections out of here, altho I have not picked it up for awhile...

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Jan 01, 2012

Peter rated it

I've read all the poems in here now, but I'm certainly not finished with them. I think they're terrific, even the ones I don't get, although I like best some of the most straightforward narratives and metaphors he offers. The Nobel lecture given at the end is good too; I like the emphasis on the importance of poetry, and us, remembering the positive note, not just ironically, even as we acknowledge all the good reasons for pessimism. I like the reading, along those lines, of a part of Yeats's Me...more

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Oct 03, 2011

Laura rated it

Recommended to Laura by: Erin Hart

I've been dabbling around in this collection since Erin Hart read some of the poems in it in a presentation this spring at the Brainerd Library. ("What's in Your Writers Toolkit?") I was especially taken with "Digging". Last night I opened the collection at random and read p. 183-196 (Sweeney. Loved it. I'm not normally one to read long narrative poems but this was just very special and engaging and made me wonder about all the tales Heaney must have heard and collected befor...more

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Jul 27, 2011

Cecelia added it

I liked this but it was a pretty dense collection to take on

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Mar 01, 2011

Harold Taylor rated it

So far, Awesome. Heaney is rural Ireland with sophisticated poetics.

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Apr 02, 2009

Artifice Magazine rated it

Shelves: rebekah

A great "selected." Nice heft and a good selection.

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Sep 06, 2009

John Ellison rated it

A beautiful collection from a modern master.

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Mar 07, 2011

Tasha rated it

Laughter puddles and bog men come alive. So good.

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About Seamus Heaney

Seamus Justin Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer from County Derry, Ireland. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past." He currently lives in Dublin.

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