Human Chain

Seamus Heaney

2010 • Faber & Faber

Interviewer: Do you ever feel confined by the personal mythologies that take over a life? […]
Heaney: Well, I’d go back to the image of the concentric ripples. They are always on the move and invisible to themselves. It’s the person looking at the pool from the bank who sees the process as a pattern. The public’s perception is just that, and you can never share it, even if you wanted to. And your own perception of yourself is always going to be very different. Imagine if you were an oyster. The public would see you as an infrangible nut, a kind of sea-raid shelter, but you would feel yourself all mother-of-pearly inwardness and vulnerability.

— Seamus Heaney

Poetry English Language

Human Chain

Seamus Heaney

2010 • Faber & Faber

Interviewer: Do you ever feel confined by the personal mythologies that take over a life? […]
Heaney: Well, I’d go back to the image of the concentric ripples. They are always on the move and invisible to themselves. It’s the person looking at the pool from the bank who sees the process as a pattern. The public’s perception is just that, and you can never share it, even if you wanted to. And your own perception of yourself is always going to be very different. Imagine if you were an oyster. The public would see you as an infrangible nut, a kind of sea-raid shelter, but you would feel yourself all mother-of-pearly inwardness and vulnerability.