<p>Praise for author Seamus Heaney <p/>"Perhaps the best descriptions of Seamus Heaney's extraordinarily rich and varied oeuvre come from the poet's own work. Mr. Heaney has created a remarkable series of poems that stay 'true to the impact of external reality' while at the same time remaining 'sensitive to the inner laws of the poet's being.'" --Michiko Kakutani, <i>The New York Times <p/></i>"Having just reread most of his poems, I find myself more, not less, interested, and convinced that I have only begun to plumb their bracing depths . . . The poems stay in the mind, which is the one essential feature of major poetry." --Jay Parini, <i>The Nation</i> <p/>"Heaney's commitment to the independence of his art, to the pursuit of shape and richness and abundant ambiguity, is also a profound commitment to the quality of public life . . . In a dark time, Heaney . . . has turned borders and dividing lines into rich frontiers." --Fintan O'Toole, <i>The New York Review of Books <p/></i>"Arguably the finest poet now writing in English." --James Shapiro, <i>The New York Times Book Review</i></p>