The "Unspoken" Theory

Seamus Heaney, Nobel Prize winner, is most famous for his poems while his prose, which contains his poetic views, is eye-catching as well. This thesis focuses on his poetics and concludes the "unspoken" theory from his works and interviews. The "unspoken" theory includes the poetic viewpoints that poets should keep reticent about politics in their works, observe the outside world from an infant’s sight and hide their feelings or intention under the cover of the poetic words. Besides, there is also writing technique in the theory, namely, writing through an infant’s view and hiding emotion and intention in poems. To illustrate this theory, the thesis not only analyzes its foundations and aesthetic effects, but also studies how it is practiced in Heaney’s poems. Moreover, the theory is also put together with Heaney’s other poetic views so as to offer a comparatively full view of the "unspoken" theory of Heaney.