- Seamus
- Heaney's
- new
- collection
- elicits
- continuities
- and
- solidarities,
- between
- husband
- and
- wife,
- child
- and
- parent,
- then
- and
- now,
- inside
- an
- intently
- remembered
- present
- -
- the
- stepping
- stones
- of
- the
- day,
- the
- weight
- and
- heft
- of
- what
- is
- passed
- from
- hand
- to
- hand,
- lifted
- and
- lowered.
- Human
- Chain
- also
- broaches
- larger
- questions
- of
- transmission,
- as
- lifelines
- to
- the
- inherited
- past.
- There
- are
- newly
- minted
- versions
- of
- anonymous
- early
- Irish
- lyrics,
- poems
- which
- stand
- at
- the
- crossroads
- of
- oral
- and
- written,
- and
- other
- 'hermit
- songs'
- which
- weigh
- equally
- in
- their
- balance
- the
- craft
- of
- scribe
- and
- the
- poet's
- early
- calling
- as
- scholar.
- A
- remarkable
- sequence
- entitled
- 'Route
- 110'
- plots
- the
- descent
- into
- the
- underworld
- in
- the
- Aeneid
- against
- single
- moments
- in
- the
- arc
- of
- a
- life,
- from
- a
- 1950s
- adolescence
- to
- the
- birth
- of
- the
- poet's
- first
- grandchild.
- Other
- poems
- display
- a
- Virgilian
- pietas
- for
- the
- dead
- -
- friends,
- neighbours
- and
- family
- -
- which
- is
- yet
- wholly
- and
- movingly
- vernacular.
Human
- Chain
- also
- adapts
- a
- poetic
- 'herbal'
- by
- the
- Breton
- poet
- Guillevic
- -
- lyrics
- as
- delicate
- as
- ferns,
- which
- puzzle
- briefly
- over
- the
- world
- of
- things
- which
- excludes
- human
- speech,
- while
- affirming
- the
- interconnectedness
- of
- phenomena,
- as
- of
- a
- self-sufficiency
- in
- which
- we
- too
- are
- included.
Human
- Chain
- is
- Seamus
- Heaney's
- twelfth
- collection
- of poems.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
