Meditating in Time of War: reflections of contemporary violence in the poetry of W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney

W.B.Yeats (1865-1939) and Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) achieved in their lifetimes an unofficial but profound identification as a national poet, speaking with authority about the traumatic upheavals which they witnessed in Irish life. Professor Roy Foster, who has written books about both poets, discusses the manner in which their work analysed violence, confronted  inherited antipathies, and  subtly negotiated the possibilities of reconciliation. In the light of their influence and achievement, W.H.Auden’s statement that ‘poetry makes nothing happen’ may need to be reconsidered.