Poetry of Wordsworth and Seamus Heaney to be Presented at the B.C. Library Tonight at 7

Trenton Olsen, a student at Utah State University, will present “The Country of the Mind: Landscape, Absence, and Recollection in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney and Wordsworth” on 7 April 2009 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Brigham City Library.

Olsen will discuss the extent of Wordsworth’s influence on Heaney and his writings, also touching on the form and technique each poet used in creating his works. Poems under discussion will include “Tintern Abbey” by Wordsworth and “Changes” by Seamus Heaney.

Copies of these poems may be picked up in advance at the library’s circulation desk. The Brigham City Library is located at 26 East Forest Street. For more information about this program please call Elizabeth, 435-723-5850.

Note about the speaker:

Trenton Olsen is currently working on his senior honors thesis "The Country of the Mind: Landscape, Absence, and Recollection in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney and Wordsworth" with Dr. Brian McCuskey. The project compares the poetry of the contemporary, Nobel Prize-winning, Irish poet Seamus Heaney to the famous Romantic writer William Wordsworth. While scholars have long been interested in Wordsworth's influence on Heaney, Trenton has demonstrated a stronger correspondence than has yet been indicated through a close reading of Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" and Heaney's "Changes." Heaney's poem, he argues, though largely overlooked by critics, engages most directly with Wordsworth's best-known piece. His analysis provides important insights into the similarities as well as the oft-neglected differences between these two prominent writers. Trenton will be presenting his research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in April and plans to submit his work for publication later in the year. His presentation will emphasize the poetic form and technique of the two writers and will be of general interest to all literature enthusiasts in attendance. Participants are encouraged to read the two poems in advance. There will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion.