"Our Love and Terror": Topophrenia in Seamus Heaney's Bog Poems

Seamus Heaney's bog poems are widely regarded as some of his most powerful works. As a central symbol of Heaney's poetry, the bog reflects both his deep connection to his homeland and his introspection on the conflicts prevalent in contemporary Northern Ireland. By employing Robert Tally's concept of topophrenia, this article intends to examine the underlying motives behind Heaney's writing of bog and his ambivalent feelings towards his homeland during tumultuous times. Like his contemporaries, Heaney is inevitably expected to engage artistically with the evolving political landscape of Northern Ireland. Therefore, how to negotiate the relationship that he has with his own place becomes an important consideration in his poetry. This constant and uneasy awareness of place ultimately leads Heaney to the metaphor of bog. By constructing the bog as an "Irish myth", Heaney endeavours to establish a "national consciousness" capable of transcending cultural and political conflicts.