Posted 28 August 2013
Seamus Heaney reads from his translations at opening of International Society of Anglo-Saxonists Conference
Updated: 30 August 2013
Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney, sadly passed away on 30 August 2013. The UCD community extends its sympathy to his wife Marie and family.
A colossus of literature and intellectual thinking, Seamus Heaney touched the lives of so many people. He was a listener, a thinker and most of all, a commentator on life through his extraordinary writing.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.
Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney, who has had a long and profound engagement with the literature of medieval England and Ireland, read a selection of his translations at the recent opening of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists Biennial Conference.
Beginning with extracts from his version of Beowulf, Heaney read a selection of his translations of Old English and Medieval Irish poetry as well as poems on medieval topics.
Seamus Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.
| Seamus Heaney reads from his translations (28 July) at the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists Conference 2013 |
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This is the first time that the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists Conference has come to Ireland.
According to Mary Clayton, Professor of Old and Middle English at the UCD School of English, Drama and Film, who is President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, Ireland appealed to the society because of its richness as a venue where visiting scholars from all over the world can be introduced to Irish monastic sites such as Glendalough, Kells and Clonmacnoise, and also view important early Irish manuscripts and other treasures.
“For the many scholars from North America, Australia and Japan who attended the conference, it is a rare opportunity to experience the material culture of the period on which they are working,” she said.
The International Symposium: International Society of Anglo-Saxonists Biennial Conference brought together experts from over 16 countries specialising in the history, literature, art and archaeology of England before 1100.
Co-hosted by University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, the conference explored comparisons, contrasts and connections between England and its neighbouring countries in a period before England's colonial expansion.
“So often conversations about the historical and cultural links between England and Ireland, and England and Scotland and Wales too, are all about conquest and its legacy, but looking back to this early period is a reminder of the complex relationships that already existed,” said Alice Jorgensen, Assistant Professor in English at Trinity College Dublin.
(Produced by UCD University Relations)
