Heaney and Yeats: Embodying the Spirit of Irish Identity

Abstract

Modern Irish nation saw the rise of Two Nobel Laureates from its side who breathed air into Irish poetry and endeavoured to represent the true picture of the Irish people. They shed light upon the atrocities the Irish faced. Yeats yearned for the Irish prosperity and grandeur in a most outspoken manner as a sage even though he was a Protestant, belonging to a generation planted by the British to uproot Catholicism. He spoke against the British tyranny towards the Irish. Heaney, a Catholic following the footsteps of Yeats adopted a different dimension to explain such plights. He gave vent to domestic experiences, deriving poetic inspiration from his surroundings to bring a larger impact on Irish poetry. At the same time, he respects and acknowledges Yeats’ eminence and his influence. The current paper shall address the two Nobel Laureates from a comparative angle, particularly in light of their poetic contributions.