Degree Year
2015
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
English
Advisor(s)
Natasha Tessone
Keywords
Seamus Heaney, Old English, North, Northern Ireland, Poetry
Abstract
As an Irish poet writing during the twentieth century, Seamus Heaney is constantly aware of the politics and problems of operating in the English language. My project locates Heaney in a context of writers and theorists who are similarly interested in the politics of language-ownership and the logistics of communication and expression in a major language. I argue that Heaney’s North presents a unique solution to these common language questions, and that the poet’s focus on etymologies and language history makes his escape into linguistic nonaffiliation more feasible than other, more abstract attempts at a borderless, liberated language.
Repository Citation
Creedon-Carey, Una A., "“The Whole Vexed Question”: Seamus Heaney, Old English and Language Troubles" (2015). Honors Papers. 257.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/257
