An episode from 1/21/22: How does a great poet come into the world? What is their childhood like, their education? What was the first poetry they knew, and when did they realize they wanted to write poetry themselves? Tonight, we hear the Irish poet Seamus Heaney’s answers to these questions.

As usual, these remarks come from Dennis O’Driscoll’s book-length collection of interviews with Heaney, ⁠Stepping Stones: Interviews with Seamus Heaney⁠. You can listen to our other episodes on Heaney and his poetry here.

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Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to ⁠[email protected]⁠.