HEANEY, Seamus.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Verses for a Fordham Commencement. First edition, signed limited issue, number 64 of 226 copies signed by the author. This copy was acquired directly from the estate of Paul Sullivan, a long-time friend and patron of Heaney. Sullivan hosted Heaney for dinner twice a week while he was lecturing at Harvard in the 1980s and 1990s.This 46-stanza poem was read by Heaney for graduates of Fordham University, New York, on 23 May 1982. The verse is often humorous, containing a variety of contemporary cultural touchstones, including a reference to Kermit the Frog; perhaps by chance, the Muppets creator Jim Henson was on stage during the recital, having received an honorary doctorate alongside Heaney that same day.

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