Casualty

By Seamus Heaney

He would drink by himself 

And raise a weathered thumb 

Towards the high shelf, 

Calling another rum 

And blackcurrant, without 

Having to raise his voice, 

Or order a quick stout 

By a lifting of the eyes 

And a discreet dumb-show 

Of pulling off the top; 

At closing time would go 

In waders and peaked cap 

Into the showery dark, 

A dole-kept breadwinner 

But a natural for work. 

I loved his whole manner, 

Sure-footed but too sly, 

His deadpan sidling tact, 

His fisherman's quick eye 

And turned observant back. 

Casualty: Summary

The poem Casualty by Seamus Heaney was written in memorial of Louis O'Neill, who was killed during the conflicts surrounding the dark day in Irish history known as "Bloody Sunday," though he is unnamed in the actual text. It is separated into three sections of similar length and uses very sophisticated rhyme and rhythm though Heaney does not enforce it exactly, using slant and near rhymes when wanted and using them to draw attention to certain lines as is common in his other works. Heaney was an excellent craftsmen and it is no less apparent in this piece, making full use of enjambment and very concise language to convey his message.

The first two stanzas describe O'Neill drinking in a bar and the manner in which he does things. The reader gets a strong sense of the personality of both the narrator, and O'Neill mostly through comparison of the two as Heaney switches between himself, O'Neill, and their relationship. Throughout the piece, Heaney sets up opposition, by switching from descriptive narratives of past dealings with O'Neill to graphic facts about the bombing or descriptions of the tension present in Ireland as he did with the reference to the graffiti in stanza three, which compares the death toll to soccer score, "PARAS THIRTEEN, the walls said, / BOGSIDE NIL."

Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney

• Seamus Heaney was born in April 13, 1939 at Mossbawn and raised in Northern Ireland.

• He is an Irish poet, playwright, translator and lecturer.

• He is one of the most popular poets writing in English today, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995.

• He enrolled at Queen's College in Belfast and took a first in English in 1961. 

• In 1963, he became a lecturer in English, at St. Joseph's College.

• Quickly, he began to write and joined a poetry workshop and published his work in university magazines.

• Most of his poetry deals with its culture and landscape.

• Northern Ireland has been the theatre of a civil war, and Heaney's poetry recalls the desolation and loss this conflict has entailed.