Topophilia of Space and Place in Seamus Heaney’s Death of a Naturalist and Other Poems

Abstract

Environment influences art to a great extent. Many theories in literature are inspired by the two-way relationship between literature and its context. Hence, it is impossible to see a piece of literary work devoid of its zeitgeist. Although one immediately thinks of cultural or historical criticism whenever the need to explore a literary piece of work from social perspective arrives, yet the same research can also be conducted via a more profound, aesthetic and substantially even factual and emotionally charged philosophy. Topophilia allows one to map one’s homeland exactly how it used to be with all its bloodshed and springs. In this case, Ireland is to be mapped out of Seamus Heaney’s consciousness expressed in his famous collection of poems Death of a Naturalist. This study aims to establish a backward link between the poet’s artistic output with his emotional bond he shares with his place. In Heaney’s case, his conscious absorption of Irish architecture, bogs, farm life, Gaelic traditions and Irish timeline act as a prism that refracts his truthful consciousness onto his poetry and through reverse-refraction one can easily predict the emotional geography of Ireland. Hence, the study focuses on mapping Ireland through Heaney’s consciousness in his poems.