Editing Seamus Heaney (section)

===1957–1969===
{{further|topic=his works during this period|Death of a Naturalist|Door into the Dark}}
[[File:SeamusHeaneyLowRes.jpg|thumb|upright|Seamus Heaney in 1970]]
{{Quote box |align=right |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=right
 |quote =<poem>
My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner's bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away

Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I've no spade to follow men like them.

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it.

</poem>
 |source =from "Digging", ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966)}}
Heaney studied English Language and Literature at [[Queen's University Belfast]] starting in 1957. While there, he found a copy of [[Ted Hughes]]'s ''Lupercal,'' which spurred him to write poetry. "Suddenly, the matter of contemporary poetry was the material of my own life," he said.<ref name="bbc_faces_of_the_week">{{Cite news |date=19 January 2007 |title=Faces of the week |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6279053.stm |access-date=9 April 2010 |publisher=BBC News}}</ref> He graduated in 1961 with a First Class Honours degree.<ref name="YourPlaceAndMine">{{Cite web |title=Your Place and Mine: Bellaghy – Seamus Heaney |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/londonderry/A803639.shtml |access-date=12 April 2019 |publisher=BBC}}</ref>

Heaney studied for a teacher certification at St Joseph's Teacher Training College in Belfast (now merged with [[St. Mary's University College (Belfast)|St Mary's, University College]]), and began teaching at St Thomas' Secondary Intermediate School in [[Ballymurphy, Belfast]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Heaney |first=Seamus |date=13 April 2002 |title=Sweet airs that delight |url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2002/apr/13/artsandhumanities.highereducation |access-date=1 June 2021 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> The headmaster of this school was the writer [[Michael McLaverty]] from [[County Monaghan]], who introduced Heaney to the poetry of [[Patrick Kavanagh]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography |url=http://www.britishcouncil.org/china-aboutuk-northernireland-literature-poetry-seamus.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009142735/http://www.britishcouncil.org/china-aboutuk-northernireland-literature-poetry-seamus.htm |archive-date=9 October 2012 |access-date=23 May 2010 |publisher=British Council}}</ref><ref name="assets.cambridge.org">[http://assets.cambridge.org/97805218/38825/frontmatter/9780521838825_frontmatter.pdf Ed. Bernard O'Donoghue ''The Cambridge Companion to Seamus Heaney'' (2009) Cambridge University Press pxiii] {{ISBN|978-0-521-54755-0}}. Retrieved 23 May 2010.</ref> With McLaverty's mentorship, Heaney first started to publish poetry in 1962. [[Sophia Hillan]] describes how McLaverty was like a foster father to the younger Belfast poet.<ref>Sophia Hillan, ''New Hibernia Review / Iris Éireannach Nua'', Vol. 9, No. 3 (Autumn, 2005), pp. 86–106. "Wintered into Wisdom: Michael McLaverty, Seamus Heaney, and the Northern Word-Hoard". University of St. Thomas (Center for Irish Studies)</ref> In the introduction to McLaverty's ''Collected Works,'' Heaney summarised the poet's contribution and influence: "His voice was modestly pitched, he never sought the limelight, yet for all that, his place in our literature is secure."<ref>McLaverty, Michael (2002) ''Collected Short Stories'', Blackstaff Press Ltd, p. xiii, {{ISBN|0-85640-727-5}}.</ref> Heaney's poem "Fosterage", in the sequence "Singing School", from ''[[North (poetry collection)|North]]'' (1975), is dedicated to him.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sophia Hillan |date=20 October 2017 |title=Michael McLaverty, Seamus Heaney and the writerly bond |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/michael-mclaverty-seamus-heaney-and-the-writerly-bond-1.3263062 |work=[[The Irish Times]]}}</ref>

In 1963 Heaney began lecturing at St Joseph's, and joined the [[Belfast Group]], a poets' workshop organized by [[Philip Hobsbaum]], then an English lecturer at Queen's University. Through this, Heaney met other Belfast poets, including [[Derek Mahon]] and [[Michael Longley]].<ref name="YourPlaceAndMine" />

Heaney met Marie Devlin, a native of [[Ardboe]], County Tyrone, while at St Joseph's in 1962; they married in August 1965<ref name="lifeofrhyme" /><ref name="YourPlaceAndMine" /> and would go on to have three children.<ref name="times-obit" /><ref name="guardian-obit" /> A school teacher and writer, Devlin published ''Over Nine Waves'' (1994), a collection of traditional Irish myths and legends. Heaney's first book, ''Eleven Poems,'' was published in November 1965 for the Queen's University Festival.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peter Badge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRD2K80JYpYC&pg=PA504 |title=Nobel Faces: A Gallery of Nobel Prize Winners |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2008 |isbn=978-3-527-40678-4 |page=504}}</ref> In 1966 their first son, Michael, was born. He earned a living at the time by writing for ''[[The Irish Times]]'', often on the subject of radio.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mick Heaney |date=22 January 2021 |title=Don't sweat the big stuff: Top earner Tubridy sticks to small talk |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/don-t-sweat-the-big-stuff-top-earner-tubridy-sticks-to-small-talk-1.4464278 |work=The Irish Times |quote=By way of full disclosure, I need to mention that Tubridy also makes several kind comments about my father, Seamus Heaney, throughout the week.}}</ref> A second son, Christopher, was born in 1968.

Heaney initially sought publication with [[Dolmen Press]] in Dublin for his first volume of work. While waiting to hear back, he was signed with [[Faber and Faber]] and published ''[[Death of a Naturalist]]'' in 1966, and Faber remained his publisher for the rest of his life. This collection was met with much critical acclaim and won several awards, including the Gregory Award for Young Writers and the Geoffrey Faber Prize.<ref name="assets.cambridge.org" /> The same year, he was appointed as a lecturer in Modern English Literature at [[Queen's University Belfast]]. In 1968, Heaney and [[Michael Longley]] undertook a reading tour called ''Room to Rhyme'', which increased awareness of the poet's work. The following year, he published his second major volume, ''[[Door into the Dark]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Andrew Motion |author-link=Andrew Motion |date=17 August 2014 |title=Door into the Dark opened the portals to a different future |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/17/door-into-the-dark-seamus-heaney-andrew-motion |work=The Guardian}}</ref>