A Close Reading of Political and Social Conflict in S. Heaney’s Poems The Tollund Man, Casualty, and Funeral Rites

Abstract

This study explores how Seamus Heaney’s poetry engages with the political and social conflicts of Northern Ireland, particularly during The Troubles (1960s to 1998), through a close reading of The Tollund Man, Casualty, and Funeral Rites. These poems, while rooted in specific historical circumstances, transcend their immediate context to reveal the emotional and cultural weight of living in a divided society. The Tollund Man draws on the image of an ancient bog body to connect the ritualized violence of the past with the political killings of the present, suggesting that cycles of sacrifice and revenge are woven into human history. Casualty offers a deeply personal account of loss, focusing on the poet’s relationship with a fisherman killed during the conflict; it becomes a meditation on moral choice, individual conscience, and the price of political loyalty. Funeral Rites examines how communal mourning is shaped and sometimes distorted by sectarian division, while also imagining the possibility of reconciliation through shared ritual and cultural memory. Taken together, these poems reveal Heaney’s ability to navigate the difficult balance between bearing witness to political violence and preserving the dignity of art. Through his fusion of myth, memory, and lived experience, Heaney transforms the raw facts of conflict into spaces for empathy, reflection, and the tentative hope of healing.