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THE DEATH OF Seamus Heaney was a hard blow for his loved ones, and the nation as a whole, earlier this month.
Tributes flowed to the Nobel laureate poet from far beyond Irish shores, not least a front-page dedication from the New York Times.
Today, further tributes were paid to Heaney in the course of Oireachtas business, with one of the most striking coming – surprisingly or not – from the Taoiseach.
He – or his speechwriter – took the time to mould it in a verse-like form with some phrases, especially the opening, calling to mind Heaney’s much loved Mid-Term Break.
See what you think of it:
As Friday mornings go, it was busy.Those with young families out early buying the last of the books, lurid lunchboxes.
Everybody here making calls, lists, readying offices for the start of the new term.
All of us noticing the change in the light.
All day, word of his death broke radio schedules, consciousness, the heart of a nation.
It was bitter news.
There would be no-one now to keep the gap from Joyce’s salt strand to Molly Bloom’s rhododendrons and roses or the Fianna’s Binn Eadair.
From that day there would be no man marooned in his own loft, a birch planted 20 years ago,between him and the Irish Sea.
Searching, as he put it ‘for that one piece of language that fits exactly’.
And as he sought, he found.
It’s almost two years now since Seamus, Marie, Michael, Christopher and Catherine Ann gifted us those finds in the Heaney archive.
Again, the light was changing.
It was Advent, the winter solstice in fact.
On that day, we were given a gift, beyond precious metal, incense or ointment or all they signify.
A gift from one who could disarm kings, inspire presidents, heal hurts, break hearts, make cures at Troy and burials at Thebes and miracles out of all of us.
And out of all that we are and were and could be
At Anahorish or on a tube in London
Or watching our father dig
Or peeling potatoes with our mother
Or as a new family of Europeans, united through the unstrange word at the Fionn Uisce the Beacons at Bealtaine.
For him, it was only all and ever about memory and ‘the state of us’.So much has been written and said about Seamus Heaney in the last 26 days.
Oceans, continents of words.
In the media there was the particular eloquence of Theo Dorgan, Fintan O’Toole, Andrew O’Hagan.
In the church at his requiem mass, we held our breath.
The building itself seeming to catch itself and listen as Paul Muldoon shared his impeccable and devastating observations.
On heartbreak, general and particular.
On the matter of Seamus Heaney’s beauty.
On the matter of his being kind and decent.
And the greater business of his being the first and eternal champion of his daughter, Catherine Ann.
In that moment Paul Muldoon made them Everyfather, Everydaughter.
Because every father and daughter present or watching recognised in the story and its telling the power of something that was not just a life gift but a birth right.
Inevitably the politics of birthright was the backdrop to so much of Heaney’s work.
In the days since his death the lines about ‘hope and history’ have rhymed across the world as private and public figures reacted to the news.
But for me, it is what Seamus Heaney says about his translation of Dante’s Divine Comedy, that best sums up his very particular and considered view of the poetic and the political.
‘Poetry, let us say, whether it belongs to an old political dispensation or
aspires to express a new one, has to be a working model of inclusive
consciousness.It should not simplify.
Its projections and inventions
should be a match for the complex reality which surrounds it and out of
which it is generated.Across the world Seamus Heaney was and is seen not alone as Ireland’s better self but I believe its best-self possible.
A self alive to and with what he called “the potency of myth” .
In June he spoke to the Paris Revue de Belle-Lettres about “journeys to the underworld” not alone in Dante, but Virgil and Homer.
“The potency of the myth” was, he said, “a way of imagining something ongoing”
“Christian myth is so contentious and exhausted. I find that there were underworld journeys where the shades of the people you knew are met. I find it deeply, archetypally satisfactory. You don’t need to believe in an ‘afterlife’ but you get some kind of satisfaction… I find Virgil simply beautiful, the various encounters with the lost people.”
Today. I am certain he has met them.
For they are his people, as they are ours
Those links in the human chain.
Today, we miss and mourn and celebrate the incomparable Seamus Heaney.
We give thanks joyously, graciously, humbly for the gift of him in our national life.
He who was our voice, our hearth, our ‘home’.
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The Tribute itself is brilliant
This tribute was wrote by a gifted writer, Miriam O’Callaghan (Not RTE one) Miriam is his speech writer
You mean ‘written’, surely?
Wrote???
That’s a lovely tribute. It matters not a jot who wrote it, it’s what we’d all say if we had the words.
Does it really matter if Enda Kenny wrote it or not, it,s a great tribute to an inspirational man
It does matter, the author of it should be acknowledged and receive the well deserved praise.
Good work that. Having seen Enda’s speeches at the funerals ofhis mother and of his mate Shane McEntee (which surely were his own work), Id say he’s well capable of these heights when he really cares.
Now if only he’d apply those smarts to the mess he was elected to tackle.
No, I’m afraid you are incorrect. This tribute was wrote by a gifted writer, Miriam O’Callaghan (Not RTE one) Miriam is his speech writer and writes all of his speeches, including those at all public occasions.
Are you sure it was her what writed it?
Ah she don’t understand. He do wrote his own stuff. She don’t tell him what to say.
Great writing. I’d be surprised if Enda wrote it though ?
He perhaps took something from this
Something that beautiful could not come from his mind
Grow up, Leslie. Political leaders use scriptwriters. Sometimes teams of them. Personally I prefer those in power to be musing over the key issues of the day, rather than scribbling on a page trying to wax lyrical for the cameras. In any event, it’s up to the singer to pick the right song and do it justice, which is an art in itself.
Like the time he ripped off Obamas speech in College Green, that went down like a fart in a space suit!
Wonderful tribute.
Ignore the naysayers, it is the tribute to Seamus Heaney that matters most.
It matters not who wrote it, the tribute is wonderful and deserves a national airing. It would be nice that credit would be given to the real author for such a fine piece. I agree Enda’s skills lie elsewhere, but you never know – he’s been surprising us for 10 years or so now.
Where’s that Charlie
I’d love to give him the benefit of the doubt, but…no, don’t think so. Though people who know him say he’s quite different when he’s not in front of a camera.
Oh he’s different when the cameras not around. That’s for sure
Punching babies no doubt.
No I don’t think Dame Edna punches babies
I doubt very much Dear Leader wrote it….if it was Michael D. then I’d believe it. Kenny hasn’ t the mastery of the english language.
Michael does not write his own speeches either, a lady called Aziliz Gouez’s. Endas piece was wrote by another gifted writer, Miriam O’Callaghan (Not RTE one)
Jaysus Angela are you miram O’ Callaghan??
I would say that Enda knows that the initial letter of a proper noun should be written in the upper case.
Evocative tribute. Who knows who wrote it but under the circumstances only a fool would claim to have written it but hadn’t! I feel there’s more depth to Kenny than most give him credit for! This itself is one of the biggest lessons we all learn in life!
Miriam is an amazing speech-writer but I have seen Kenny ad-lib completely off script and deliver really good speeches too. He is very well read and interested in language. In the Dáil when an ex-member dies tributes are paid. Kenny’s speeches when tributes are being paid are invariably the best and seen that way by all sides. His speech on the death of the late President Hillery won plaudits, as did his speech on the 90th anniversary of the First Dáil. I don’t know if that speech above was by Miriam or Enda, possibly a mix of both. It has been a long time since we had a Taoiseach able to deliver speeches like that.
Who’s Miriam?
Miriam O’Callaghan (not the RTE one)…. apparently.
Not a hope kenny wrote that
Irrespective who wrote it, it was a wonderful tribute to a beautiful mind.
More lies from Kenny he never wrote that
Where is the lie my man? Spell it out? I can’t see it? Are you spoofing?
In fairness very few politicians write their own speeches, not even Obama, a so called gifted orator.
Jfks sorensen was the best hands down in my humble opinion
Aaron Sorkin writes a good Presidential speech.
Will someone take that phone from Angela and delete the journal app! ! For the love of chrrrri….
Kenny is only a plug, he could not construct a sentence unless it was a lie.
No doubt somebody else got well paid for it.
Yes that would be the standard practice in politics all over the world
More like Heaney wrote it and slipped it to Kenny to prevent his embarrassment. Endy doesn’t do debates and he sure don’t do de poetry.
Susan- if you’re going to write with such a snide slant, it would be best if you put: “Comment:” before it, rather than try to misrepresent it as objective journalism.
Egg, how is the article snide? Susan has done us a great service since we would be unlikely to have heard about this if it were not for this piece, I am assuming most of us don’t follow Enda’s usual inane Dail ramblings whereas this is quite something. Wonderful prose by someone with great knowledge of Heaney’s oeuvre, no matter who wrote it.
Podge- the tone of the piece wreaks of feigned astonishment and “it’s not like Enda could have done this himself”, smirk…smirk….The extent to which the Journal actively tries to present the Taoiseach as gormless is astonishing. If Micheal Martin or the Journal’s Gerry Adams had given that speech they would be carving key passages of it in marble on a statue of him in O’Connell St by now.
Egg, might be true, I just didn’t get that vibe – maybe I’m naive.
Love the bit about the statues on O’ Connell St. Something tells me the current lot in the Dail will be lucky to get headstones, not to mind Statues, when we reflect back on their legacy in the cold light of day 20 years hence.
Podge- in 20 years the current lot will be judged on what the country was like when they took over and what it was like when they left. Simple and as clinical as that. We should all be hoping so that there’s is a good story to tell.
This tribute was wrote by a gifted writer, Miriam O’Callaghan (Not RTE one) Miriam is his speech writer.
Angela you remind me of Fr Ted “The money was only resting in my account ” you said so many times lol
: ))))))
Who wrote this speech?? It’s beautiful. Maybe somebody could tell me. Thanks
Can u change the title to “Enda Kenny’s speech writers tribute…”
It clearly wasn’t him. This was written by someone comfortable with the English language.
Yeah. Just like JFK’s inauguration speech should be called Ted Sorenson’s. Grow up.
Enda Kenny has excellent speech writers!!!
Ya I know Angela already told me.
Michelle, Enda did not write this piece ;)
Four times!!!
At least Angela’s grammar was correct this time – fourth time lucky.
A few too many cherries :)
Or is that sherries?
Sherries maybe ;-)
I just nearly shed a tear, it wants to come.
The only thing that Kenny is writing is the budget and I hope he don’t put up fuel prices because its costing our family a fortune to run 3 cars.
Don’t you mean Brendan Howlin and Michael Noonan are writing it?
I’ve had two comments deleted from this section ? Why? Has the Journal.ie gone totalitarian?
We all know that Kenny is trying so hard to raise his popularity at this time with popular names like Seamus Heaney. God only knows who else he’ll come up before the GE. I’d have thought that instead of this carry on he’d have done the decent thing and RESIGN.
There is no question, it was his speech writer. Presumably the one who succeeded in making him sound human at his second attempt with the Magdalene survivors. I have no problem, by the way, with tributes being paid to Seamus Heaney, it just galls me that Kenny should receive praise for another person’s work.
He’s still a wankbag though
have your say