The Spirit Level (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Seamus Heaney
- First Published: 1996
- Type of Work: Poetry
- Genres: Poetry
- Subjects: Language or languages, Politics, Nature, Poetry or poets, Nobel Prizes, Catholics or Catholic Church, Ireland or Irish people, Protestantism or Protestant churches
The poems in this volume strike out in many directions, and the author’s stylistic resourcefulness and agility are on full display. The collection is only partly brought together by its central theme; this is balance, and moderation—or the lack of moderation. At first glance, balance might appear a bit abstract, yet in Heaney’s hands the notion becomes an exciting and challenging theme of exploration. It is by no means a sanctimonious or static concept; it is tested, ironically mocked, and even rejected in the poem “Weighing In,” which is about the need to participate in...
[The entire page is 2273 words long]
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