Anyone with gumption and a sharp mind will take the measure of two things: what's said and what's done.
Seamus HeaneyRead
The experimental poetry thing is not my thing. It's a programme of the avant-garde: basically a refusal of the kind of poetry I write.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses Seamus Heaney's rejection of experimental poetry and avant-garde styles in favor of traditional forms.
Seamus Heaney articulates his stance against experimental poetry, identifying it as a movement that he does not align with or appreciate. He highlights the avant-garde's tendency to subvert conventional poetry, suggesting that his own style is rooted in more traditional, established forms of poetic expression. This statement encapsulates the tension between different artistic movements and the personal preferences of an artist.
Themes
PoetryAvant-GardeTraditionalExpressionArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a literary debate about modern versus traditional poetry styles.
More from Seamus Heaney
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If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now and then, a stance.
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In my early teens, I acquired a kind of representative status: went on behalf of the family to wakes and funerals and so on. And I would be counted on as an adult contributor when it came to farm work - the hay in the summertime, for example.
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I think that water is immediately interesting. It's just, as an element, it is full of life. It is associated with origin; it is bright - it reflects you.
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