Nobel Prize Winning Poet Seamus Heaney Dies at 74

We awoke to the sad news this morning that Seamus Heaney has died. In the coming days we know there will be ample tributes and remembrances. For now, the RTE News in Ireland reports:

The world-renowned poet had been in hospital after suffering a short illness, a statement on behalf of the family said.

They said he died in hospital in Dublin this morning.

Mr Heaney was awarded numerous prizes over the years and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.

He was born to a farming family at Mossbawn near Bellaghy in Co Derry on 13 April, 1939.

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His poetry first came to public attention in the mid-1960s with his first major collection, Death Of A Naturalist, published in 1966.

As the Troubles in Northern Ireland took hold later that decade, his experiences were seen through the darkened mood of his work.

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The writer is survived by his wife Marie and children Christopher, Michael and Catherine Ann.

Over his long career Heaney contributed both poetry and translations to Poetry magazine. He will be sorely missed.