Seamus Heaney Reading Highlight of Anglo-Saxon Conference
Posted on: 15 August 2013
Seamus Heaney read a selection of his translations of Old English and medieval Irish poetry to mark the opening of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists Biennial Conference in Dublin recently.
Co-hosted by the School of English, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin the conference was themed “Insular Cultures” and focused on the connections between Britain and Ireland in the early Middle Ages. Related topics, such as continental influence on insular cultures and relations with Scandinavia, were also discussed by experts from 16 countries specialising in the history, literature, art and archaeology of England before 1100.
A highlight of the conference was a reading in the National Museum of Ireland by Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney who has had a long and profound engagement with the literature of medieval England and Ireland. Beginning with extracts from his version of Beowulf, Seamus Heaney read a selection of his translations of Old English and medieval Irish poetry as well as poems on medieval topics.
UCD Professor Mary Clayton, President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, Seamus Heaney and Assistant Professor in English in Trinity College Dublin Alice Jorgensen
Speaking about the conference, Alice Jorgensen, Assistant Professor in English in Trinity College Dublin, commented: “The conference explored comparisons, contrasts and connections between England and its neighbouring countries in a period before England’s colonial expansion. So often conversations about the historical and cultural links between England and Ireland, and England and Scotland and Wales too, are all about conquest and its legacy, but looking back to this early period is a reminder of the complex relationships that already existed.”
“This conference also highlighted the need to get beyond the national categories imposed by recent political history and ask better questions that cross those boundaries and give us a truer picture of how people have lived in these islands and what they’ve achieved.”
UCD Professor Mary Clayton, President of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists, added: “Dublin and Ireland was proud to host ISAS 2013. This is the first time that the conference has come to Ireland. The location appealed to the society because of its richness as a venue where visiting scholars from all over the world can be introduced to Irish monastic sites such as Glendalough, Kells and Clonmacnoise, and also view important early Irish manuscripts and other treasures.
“For the many scholars from North America, Australia and Japan who attended the conference, it was a rare opportunity to experience the material culture of the period on which they are working. Having the conference here also offers us a very significant opportunity to highlight the importance of the connections between Britain and Ireland in the early Middle Ages, a period when Ireland exerted an enormous cultural and religious influence on Britain.”