Seamus Justin Heaney was born in 1939 in County Derry in Northern Ireland. He grew up in the country, on a farm. He attended the local school and in 1951 went as a border to St Columb's College. In 1956 he went on a scholarship to Queen's University, Belfast and graduated with a first class degree in English Language and Literature in 1961. Seamus Heaney began to write in 1962, publishing first in Irish magazines. After a year as a …showed first 75 words of 428 total…

…showed last 75 words of 428 total…translation of 'Beowulf', which went on to win the Whitbread Book of the Year prize. His newest collection, 'Electric Light', was published in 2001.Heaney's biggest influences in his writing were Robert Frost and Ted Hughes. It was said that Heaney was "the most important Irish poet since Yeats". Seamus Heaney is one of the most popular poets in English today. Heaney is an accomplished poet and will without a doubt make his way through history.