THE INFLUENCE OF WORDSWORTH'S EMPIRICIST AESTHETIC ON SEAMUS HEANEY'S CRITICISM AND POETRY

This article attempts to show the importance of Wordsworth's influence on Seamus Heaney's criticism and poetry, most notably the influence of the empiricist aspect of Wordsworth's poetic, rather than that of the transcendentalist aspect that is foregrounded in writers such as M. H. Abrams. To do this, I have traced the development of this influence through The Movement poets, The Group, and the criticism of Philip Hobsbaum.