Skip to content

Don't be surprised if I demur, for, be advised
My passport's green.
No glass of ours was ever raised
To toast The Queen.

— Seamus Heaney An Open Letter (1983)

Another quote →

Notes from Wikiquote

Objecting to his inclusion in The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry.

More quotes by Seamus Heaney

I rhyme
To see myself, to set the darkness echoing.

Believe in miracles
and cures and healing wells.

I don't mean sound as decoration or elaboration, but the actual cadence that moves the thing along.

In one sense the efficacy of poetry is nil – no lyric has ever stopped a tank. In another sense it is unlimited.

History says don't hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme.

All Seamus Heaney quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Seamus Heaney (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.