A POETIC CHOICE IN LAWRENCE: HEANEY & FROST
Seamus Heaney & Robert Frost
By Michael Quinlin
Robert Frost would appreciate knowing that the road less
traveled leads to Lawrence , which is where Ireland 's
esteemed poet Seamus Heaney plans to read tomorrow evening. Frost, New England 's favorite poet, spent his formative years in
this industrial city, where he got his education, worked in a woolen mill, and
learned to chisel the emotions, thoughts, and words of New Englanders into a
poetic form as beautiful and enduring as the landscape.
When he died in 1963 at 89, Frost had written nine books of
poetry, four of them winning Pulitzer Prizes. He received the Congressional
Medal from John F. Kennedy, and was the first poet invited to recite a poem at
a presidential inauguration, a magnificent gesture from a president "not
afraid of grace and beauty."
Frost's preference for Yankee individualism in lieu of the
homogeneity of modern times struck a chord with readers everywhere:
Two
roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I
took the one less traveled by,
And
that has made all the difference.
Now Heaney, Frost's worthy successor in the public eye -
where poets today rarely abide - is coming to pay homage to America 's great
poet.
Heaney, who won the 1995 Nobel Prize for literature and who
often cites Frost as an early influence, will appear at Lawrence High School as
guest speaker at the annual Robert Frost Festival.
Frost was the school's co-valedictorian, along with his
future wife Elinor White, and found early encouragement from teachers like
Katharine O'Keefe, a well-regarded writer of her day.
As chroniclers of their respective times, Frost and Heaney
share many traits. Both found inspiration in nature, forming an artistic
preoccupation with the growth of the soil and its effect on the soul.
Frost ran a farm in Derry, N.H., for a decade and spent his
later years on a farm in Ripton, Vt. Heaney was raised on a cattle farm in
Derry, Northern Ireland, where the fond memories of the natural world imbued
many of his poems. Each poet found solace and sanctuary in a "hushed
October morning," or the "earth dreaming its roots in flowers and
snow" while enjoying a rich intellectual life in academic circles.
Both poets ventured into the political realm in ways that
enhanced that often-dogmatic and pessimistic arena. Frost's inaugural poem for
President Kennedy forecast the courage and verve of the Camelot years:
There
is a call to life a little sterner,
And
braver for the earner, learner, yearner
Of
a power leading from its strength and pride,
Of
young ambition eager to be tried.
Heaney captured the same spirit of possibility in December
1995 when he recited his poem, "Doubletake," on the occasion of
President Clinton's visit to Belfast
to support the peace process in Heaney's native land. He wrote:
But
then, once in a lifetime,
The
longed for tidal wave of
Justice
can rise up,
And
hope and history rhyme.
Poetry is, of course, the road less traveled in today's
world of noise, speed, and sound bites. But the visit of a Nobel poet such as
Heaney validates the efforts of local educators to inspire children who might
not otherwise take up the world's oldest art form.
The Robert Frost Foundation of Lawrence, which is hosting
the reading, sponsors year-round writing workshops for children in the public
schools and last year received nearly 500 entries for its annual poetry
contest, according to executive director Mary Ellen Janeiro.
Poetry not only reveals "what you think about," as
sixth-grade poet Olivia Li explained, it also provides a context for
understanding the value of place so important to ethnic newcomers who have been
migrating to Lawrence for over 150 years.
Celebrating Frost's Lawrence
roots is part of a larger civic pride the city has rekindled after decades of
tough economic times. The city's upbeat mayor, Michael Sullivan, has a
blueprint for a revitalized Lawrence that calls for new schools, technology
parks, and cultural districts that knit together the city's business, literary,
and artistic heritage with its immigrant and native communities.
It would be fitting, some would say poetic justice, for
Frost's legacy to inspire a new Lawrence
full of grace and beauty.
Some would say that's a road worth taking.
Michael Quinlin is author of the book, Irish Boston.
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