Let Go, Let Fly, Forget | Guided Tour of Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again
'Let Go, Let Fly, Forget'
Photo Credit: Marc O'Sullivan
“And that moment when the bird sings very close
To the music of what happens.”
Join us on a high-flying immersive walking tour at Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again, where we will be exploring the poet’s enduring love of birds, and the rich symbolism they bring to his work.
Fluttering through his poetry we will discover how Heaney personified birds: from the gossip of starlings to the big voiced sedge warbler; the elusive jacksnipe and the tremulous hawk, their wingbeats carry us to feelings of love, grief, wonder and compassion. Heaney used birds to express our connection with nature, evoke creative freedom, symbolise peace and justice, as well as to provide access to the spiritual world.
Whether soaring over remembered landscapes or quietly perched in reflective moments, these feathered companions reveal how deeply Heaney interacted with the natural world, how he
“preached love to the birds,
They listened, fluttered, throttled up
Into the blue like a flock of words.”
