Seamus Blowin Heaney popularly known as Seamus Heaney is considered as one of the best author, lecturer and Irish poet. Heaney was honored with the Nobel Prize in the field of Literature in 1995.

Seamus Heaney was born in Northern Ireland on 13 April 1939 in the family of Margaret and Patrick Heaney. Seamus Heaney spent some time with his younger brother Christopher during his childhood. When he was a teenager, Heaney’s family shifted to Bellaghy. Heaney started his educational career from “Anahorish Primary School” before moving on to “Catholic mission boarding school” situated in a small town by the name Derry. Scholarships during his school days helped Seamus to join “St Columb's College”. Seamus Heaney’s family was struck by a tragedy when his brother Christopher was killed in a road mishap at the age of four. The incident had a profound impact on Seamus Heaney, who later expressed his greif in two poems entitled "The Blackbird of Glanmore" and "Mid-Term Break".

In 1961, Seamus Heaney graduated in English Language and Literature from the “Queen's University” in Belfast. While undergoing teacher’s training course at “St Joseph's Teacher Training College” in Belfast, he undertook teaching job at “St Thomas' secondary Intermediate School” in the same city. Michael MacLaverty was the school headmaster, who was also a renowned writer, inspired Heaney to read the collection of poems penned by Patrick Kavanagh. In 1962, Seamus Heaney after receiving inspiration from Patricks’s work started publishing his own poetry. Continuing his literary work Seamus Heaney accepted to work as a lecturer at “St Joseph's” in 1963. During this period he contributed many articles to the local magazines. An English lecturer at Queen’s University Philip Hobsbaum came across Heaney’s work and recognized the poetry talents present within him. Philip Hobsbaum introduced him to a local poet’s group active in Belfast; the association further helped the budding poet to perfect his skills.

In the year 1965, the twenty-six year old Seamus Heaney married Marie Delvi . Marie Devlin was a writer and a school teacher. In due course of time the couple had two sons, named Michael and Christopher. In the same year “Eleven Poems”, Heaney’s first book was published in November1965 for the Queen's University Festival. Soon one of his major publication titled “Death of a Naturalist” was released by “Faber and Faber” in 1966. This collection was highly appreciated and won several awards. After the success of “Death of a Naturalist” Seamus Heaney joined as a lecturer of Modern English Literature at “Queen's University Belfast”. Heaney, along with Michael Longley participated in a reading tour, named “Room to Rhyme” in 1968. His second major volume entitled “Door into the Dark” was released in 1969 the collection received mixed response from the critics. In 1972, Heaney shifted to Dublin and worked as a teacher at “Carysfort College”. The book entitled “Wintering Out” was released in 1972. In 1974, Seamus Heaney received an invitation from the “Arts Council” of the Republic of Ireland to join , an offer willingly accepted by him. His fourth major volume of poetry entitled “North” was released in 1975.

Heaney’s next two volumes entitled “Preoccupations: Selected Prose 1968-1978”and “Selected Poems 1965-1975” were released in 1980. Seamus Heaney resigned from his existing engagements to join “Harvard University” as a visiting professor in 1981. In 1982, He was given two honorary doctorates, from “Fordham University” in New York City and “Queen's University” Belfast. In 1987, Seamus Heaney’s next volume entitled “The Haw Lantern” was released. A collection of essays entitled “The Government of the Tongue” was released in 1988.

Heaney was elected as the “Professor of Poetry” at the prestigious “University of Oxford” in 1989. Seamus Heaney earned a Litt.D. from the esteemed “Bates College” in 1986. Heaney”s next book entitled “Seeing Things” was released in 1991. The most prominent of his achievement of Seamus Heaney occurred in 1995 when he was honored with the Nobel Prize for his outstanding contributions in the field of Literature. Seamus Heaney’s book entitled “The Spirit Level” earned the “Whitbread Book of the Year Award” in 1996. His next book “Beowulf: A New Translation” was a commercial and critical sucess. Heaney received an honorary doctorate from the prestigious “Rhodes University” in 2002. Heaney's volume of poetry entitled “District and Circle”, earned the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2006.

Seamus Heaney suffered a stroke in 2006, although he recovered from it, the ailment forced him to restrain his public engagements. In 2008 Seamus Heaney was honored as Artist of honor for his contributions to literature at Østermarie, Denmark.