The Haw Lantern

The Haw Lantern

First edition
Author	Seamus Heaney
Language	English
Publisher	Faber and Faber
Publication date	1987
Media type	Print
Pages	64 pp
ISBN	9780571232871
Preceded by	Station Island
Followed by	Seeing Things

The Haw Lantern (1987) is a collection of poems written by Irish poet Seamus Heaney, the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. Several of the poems—including the sonnet cycle "Clearances"—explore themes of mortality and loss inspired by the death of his mother, Margaret Kathleen Heaney (the "M.K.H." referenced in the dedication to "Clearances"), who died in 1984.

Several critics have remarked that the poems contained in The Haw Lantern are among Heaney's most abstract, and here he seems to lack the poetic precision and incisive attention to detail that he displayed in previous collections Wintering Out and North.

The title of the collection refers to the haw fruit. The fruit is an important symbol of defiance against winter, a symbol of, the dignity of the Northern Irish in the face of violence and trouble, and offering a small piece of light and hope in the darkness. The image of the lantern evoked by the title is a reference to the traditional account of the Greek cynic philosopher Diogenes of Sinope. According to the story, Diogenes carried a lantern through the streets in search of an honest man in the light. The implication is that there is little hope of finding an honest man, especially in the dire political situation in Northern Ireland at that time.

Contents

• Alphabets
• Terminus
• From the Frontier of Writing
• The Haw Lantern
• The Stone Grinder
• A Daylight Art
• Parable Island
• From the Republic of Conscience
• Hailstones
• Two Quick Notes
• The Stone Verdict
• From the Land of the Unspoken
• A Ship of Death
• The Spoonbait
• In Memoriam: Robert Fitzgerald
• The Old Team
• Clearances: In Memoriam M.K.H.
• Clearances 1
• Clearances 2
• Clearances 3
• Clearances 4
• Clearances 5
• Clearances 6
• Clearances 7
• Clearances 8
• The Milk Factory
• The Summer of Lost Rachel
• The Wishing Tree
• A Postcard from Iceland
• A Peacock's Feather
• Grotus and Coventina
• Holding Course
• The Song of the Bullets
• Wolfe Tone
• A Shooting Script
• From the Canton of Expectation
• The Mud Vision
• The Disappearing Island
• The Riddle

See also

• Seamus Heaney Collected Poems