*****

The Translations of Seamus Heaney, Faber & Faber, 2022, £30.00 hardback.  ISBN: 9780571342525. Reviewed by Sam Milne

This volume collects all the translations of Seamus Heaney. It comprises one hundred and one texts from fourteen languages, an extensive and very useful Introduction by the editor Marco Sonzogni, an extensive Commentary (arranged by decade) providing information on the source texts, a publication history of the translations, and an account of each poem’s background. Heaney’s model throughout, we are informed, was Robert Lowell’s Imitations (and he began translating at the outset of his poetic career, continuing right to the end) and Heaney’s achievement I think is equal to that of Derek Mahon’s Adaptations, a volume also influenced by Lowell (see my review of Adaptations in the March 1, 2023 issue of The High Window). The volume is synoptic, providing a window into Heaney’s personal poetic preferences.

Any…