About

About the images and scenes from the poems of Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney’s poems contain many vivid images and scenes, often based on his Bellaghy home townland but also many with a telling international reach. They range from Mid Term break through Keeping Going to “Anything Can Happen” which reflects on New York’s 9/11. The words to the poems cannot be fairly displayed on this website as the copyright of Faber and Faber etc. has to be respected and only "fair usage" can be made of the text from the poems. The paintings allowed me an opportunity to portray relatives and friends.

The website notes about the paintings are brief and assume some knowledge of the poems. Much more about the poems can be found in the works of critics and on the internet. You could also visit the HomePlace in Bellaghy or contact a local guide to find about more about the where and why of Seamus Heaney.

Who did the paintings

"A picture paints a thousand words we are told. In the case of Seamus Heaney, a word says a thousand pictures? Maybe that is a bit of a stretch but the point is that the poems are replete with many strong images and there are plenty more for me to paint."

Edward Cartin is a Chartered Accountant and was for many years Chief Executive of Qubis Ltd, Queen’s University’s technology investment company.

Following the RIPE exhibition in 2014 the Community Arts Partnership acquired one of the paintings to use in the promotion of their “Seamus Heaney Award for new writing.

Arts Care then staged a showing of the first eleven of my Heaney series in their Gallery in 2014. The series was later acquired by Crescent Capital for their collection. In August 2015 the series was loaned by Crescent for an exhibition "Art inspired by Seamus Heaney", in the Linen Hall library together with Mossbawn Sunlight loaned by Kathryn Baird and the recently completed Away at Mass. Heaney fans have since been acquiring prints.

Edward Cartin has shared background with Seamus Heaney having grown up on a farm in County Derry, then spent time as a boarder in St Columb's College, having the same English teacher there, Sean B Kelly (with his delight in the work of Gerard Manley Hopkins) and then Queens University Belfast; finally living there in south Belfast where Heaney resided while he worked in school, college and University there.

Edward Cartin also runs the Cartin.com website which describes the history of the surname Cartin, Carton, Cartan etc.

Home Page - to see thumbnails of the paintings