Philip Hobsbaum, who was a mentor figure to a group of promising young Northern Irish poets that included Derek Mahon and Michael Longley, identified Heaney’s poetic potential when Heaney was at school in Belfast. This coterie of fellow poets was vital for the young Heaney, who honed his craft by submitting early poems to the rigorous criticism of Hobsbaum and the others. Heaney has commented that the greatest thing he gained from his association with this group was their advice to trust and articulate the formative experiences of his rural Derry childhood (“Seamus Heaney”: Poetry Foundation, 2013). Mahon and Longley attempted to do something similar, preferring to comment on the trauma and tragedy of contemporary Ireland from observation of ostensibly rural scenes. Critic Neil Astley has identified this adherence to simple personal experience as a defining feature of late 20th century poetry, which celebrates “human and spiritual values instead of mirroring cultural fragmentation” (Introduction to Staying Alive, 2002).

This period of poetry also featured a preference for taking as subject matter the natural world rather than mechanization, urban life, or popular culture. For instance, Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney’s English contemporary and friend, returned time and again to animals and nature as the sources of his poetic inspiration.