The Politics of Metaphor in Heaney's Sweeney Astray
View / Open Files
Authors
O'Donoghue, Josie
Publication Date
2017-11Journal Title
Irish University Review
ISSN
0021-1427
Volume
47
Issue
supplement
Pages
450-469
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
O'Donoghue, J. (2017). The Politics of Metaphor in Heaney's Sweeney Astray. Irish University Review, 47 (supplement), 450-469. https://doi.org/10.3366/iur.2017.0303
Abstract
Seamus Heaney began translating the Middle Irish romance Buile Suibhne in 1972, but his ‘version from the Irish’, Sweeney Astray, wasn't published until 1983. This article explores Heaney's adaptation of metaphors from J.G. O'Keeffe's dual-language edition of Buile Suibhne, both in the notebook draft of 1972 and in the later published Sweeney Astray, and contends that the metaphorical make-up of each endeavour mirrors Heaney's documented ambivalence as to whether his Sweeney represents a retreat from current Northern Irish politics or a subtle commentary on it. I argue that what Heaney called ‘the anxiety of those times’ is ultimately reflected in the metaphorical texture of Sweeney Astray.
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.3366/iur.2017.0303
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/266375
Rights
Licence:
http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved