Abstract
SCAPEGOATS OF THE MARSH: A POLITICAL READING OF SEAMUS HEANEY’S BOG POEMS
Much has been written about the bloody Northern Irish Troubles in books of history and fiction. This historical civil war is still remembered as a traumatic era in Irish history, which is still fresh in the memories of those who have been abused, displaced and suffered the loss of loved ones. Irish writers endeavoured to denounce the Troubles and the absurdity of the violence and chaos as it deepened the chasm in the religious and social fabric in Northern Ireland. This study deals with Seamus Heaney’s ‘Bog Poems,’ and the way he addresses the predicament of sectarian violence in his native Northern Ireland through the preserved bog bodies of victims murdered barbarously in ancient tribal rituals in Iron Age times.
Keywords
Bog, Heaney, Irish, sectarianism, Troubles, victims, violence
