Books

London: Faber and Faber, 1975. 8vo., pale blue cloth with backstrip lettered in gilt; original matching dustwrapper (clipped), featuring a portrait of the poet by Edward McGuire, held at the collection within Ulster Museum, Belfast; pp. [vi], 5-73, [i]; front endpapers toned; a near-fine copy, otherwise, jacket faded at the backstrip (as is often found). First edition. Heaney's first work to deal with the subject of the troubles in Northern Ireland, with the first part concerning symbolism such as the Greek myth of Antaeus, the bog bodies of Northern Europe, Vikings, and other historical figures. The second part focuses on more recent Irish history, with dedicatory poems to Michael McLaverty and Seamus Deane. The collection was perhaps unsurprisingly Heaney's most controversial, and remains an account of the "Irish experience [which] was refracted through images drawn from different parts of Northern Europe� � [it] allowed Heaney to contemplate the violence on his home ground in relation to the Scandinavian and English invasions which had left such an indelible mark on Irish history.".

North is a collection of poems by Seamus Heaney, published in 1975. The book explores themes of identity, history, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland.