Cursed to the trees, enchanted by the woods: Sweeney Astray

Anna Pilz; Tom Herron

Cursed to the trees, enchanted by the woods: Sweeney Astray

School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Drawing on Jane Bennett’s theory of “crossings and enchantment”, this essay considers interspecies transformations in Seamus Heaney’s Sweeney Astray (1983). As a bird-man, Mad King Sweeney discovers that the arboreal environment is a vibrantly interstitial space in which paganism and Christianity coexist. By negotiating this liminal space, he opens himself to forms of attachment and enchantment that radically ameliorate his accursed existence in the trees.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	87-99
Journal	Études Irlandaises
Volume	44
Issue number	1
Publication status	Published - 14 Nov 2019

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Seamus Heaney
Buile Suibhne
Sweeney Astray
Poetry
Enchantment
Trees

Access to Document

https://journals.openedition.org/etudesirlandaises/7136Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA)

Bird/man/poet: Sweeney in the Woods
Anna Pilz (Speaker)
10 Apr 2014 → 13 Apr 2014
Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Oral presentation

Cite this

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title = "Cursed to the trees, enchanted by the woods: Sweeney Astray",

abstract = "Drawing on Jane Bennett{\textquoteright}s theory of “crossings and enchantment”, this essay considers interspecies transformations in Seamus Heaney{\textquoteright}s Sweeney Astray (1983). As a bird-man, Mad King Sweeney discovers that the arboreal environment is a vibrantly interstitial space in which paganism and Christianity coexist. By negotiating this liminal space, he opens himself to forms of attachment and enchantment that radically ameliorate his accursed existence in the trees.",

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N2 - Drawing on Jane Bennett’s theory of “crossings and enchantment”, this essay considers interspecies transformations in Seamus Heaney’s Sweeney Astray (1983). As a bird-man, Mad King Sweeney discovers that the arboreal environment is a vibrantly interstitial space in which paganism and Christianity coexist. By negotiating this liminal space, he opens himself to forms of attachment and enchantment that radically ameliorate his accursed existence in the trees.

AB - Drawing on Jane Bennett’s theory of “crossings and enchantment”, this essay considers interspecies transformations in Seamus Heaney’s Sweeney Astray (1983). As a bird-man, Mad King Sweeney discovers that the arboreal environment is a vibrantly interstitial space in which paganism and Christianity coexist. By negotiating this liminal space, he opens himself to forms of attachment and enchantment that radically ameliorate his accursed existence in the trees.

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Cursed to the trees, enchanted by the woods: Sweeney Astray

Abstract

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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Activities

Bird/man/poet: Sweeney in the Woods

Cite this