A quest for truth is always core to the purpose of a poet. Remembering Seamus Heaney
The poet Seamus Heaney was a master craftsman of the English language. He embodied the other important characteristics of craftsmanship: a granite-like integrity and a deep empathy for the world around him. A quest for truth is always core to the purpose of a poet, to seek that which others do not see and to express it in a way that we can all understand. We o!en ignore the importance of language: its ability to uplift us, or to shape the way we see and therefore act in the world. Heaney wrote:
‘What always will be to poetry’s credit, is the power to persuade that vulnerable part of our consciousness of its rightness in spite of the evidence of wrongness around it.’
As a poet Heaney wrote about life – his life experiences, and a very difficult present – compassionately. He would bring us into his world via the everyday; it could be the smallest detail of life, then he would expand into its broader context, always finding a truth at a universal level we could all resonate with. Whether that was describing how he folded freshly laundered aired sheets with his mother, or exploring the human consequences of Northern Ireland’s Troubles, it was all about ‘the mass and majesty of the world’.
Heaney demonstrated that people can be graceful under any circumstances, wherever they stand or go. Heaney was more than a poet: he was a man applying his craft to truth.
It is in truth that we find beautiful things, and it is in truth that we can operate authentically. One might have the head of an engineer, but one must always quest with the heart of a poet.
Tags: 14 practices to create enduring beauty, alan moore beauty, alansmlxl, authentic business, authentic business leadership, beautiful business, beautiful design, beautiful leadership, Beautifulbusiness, beauty in design, beauty in workplace environments, beauty is restorative, best books on creativity, best talks on leadership, best workshops for creativity UK, business adoption of design, business ethics, business innovation consulting, connection between optimism and creativity, craft based approach to leadership, crafting beautiful business, creative leadership, creativity and memory, creativity and personal growth, curiosity and creativity, definition of beauty, definitions of beauty, design engineering leadership, do design, do design alan moore, do design why beauty is key to everything, edumonia and creativity, enhancing creativity, examples sustainable leadership, executive sustainable entrepreneurship cambridge, future of work, global climate change leadership, human spirit and beauty, increase your creativity, joyful leadership, leadership circular economy, leadership in digital design, leadership manufacturing innovation, leadership to profit and success, link between intuition and creativity, making a beautiful you, Making and Becoming Beautiful Leaders, mentor entrepreneur programme, mentoring creativity, mentoring sustainable leadership, mentoring sustainable leadership books, Monocle the entrepreneurs, MSC research into wellbeing and creativity, natural beauty and wellbeing, open design leadership, optimism and creativity, pathways to better creativity research, poetry, poetry and japan, practices to create enduring beauty, relationship of identity and creativity, spoken word creative leadership, stories leadership motivation, sustainable leadership, teaching beauty in science, the case for beauty, the relationship between wellbeing and creativity, top 10, top 10 business ethics books, top 10 business podcasts, top 10 design books 2017, top 10 design leadership programmes, top 10 executive education leadership, top 10 leadership books 2017, training in design leadership, truth and beauty in design, why beauty is key to everything, why best CEO's read poetry, why poetry is key to life, writing integrity