Publishing in London
London was the centre of Seamus Heaney’s publishing life. Chapter 1 considers his early work as it appeared in British publications in the early and mid-1960s, before his first volume, Death of a Naturalist, was published by Faber in 1966. Taking into account early reviews and essays, it focuses on his work in three publications: the New Statesman, the Listener, and Vogue, and it asserts the importance of relationships with key editors and fellow writers, notably Karl Miller and Polly Devlin. It includes analysis of images which accompanied Heaney’s work in these magazines, notably a portrait of the poet by Norman Parkinson, and it establishes critical principles for contextual readings of his poetry which are maintained throughout the book.