‘My Father's Shade Appearing’: Reflections on Patrick Heaney
Seamus Heaney's father at their Bellaghy home, Bobbie Hanvey Photographic Archives, MS.2001.039, John J. Burns Library, Boston College
"This is how Death would summon Everyman."
In Crossings, written after his father’s death, Heaney states that he cannot face water crossings ‘without my father’s shade appearing to me.
This Halloween, we will examine how the presence of Heaney's father haunts his work and how Heaney reflects and takes stock of their relationship. Join us at Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again on Saturday 31st October at 2pm where we shall explore this spectral theme from Heaney's earliest works where he foresees the aging of his father, his father gifting him a harvest bow as a sign of affection, to his memories of him after his passing.
