For the poetry unit, I decided to study the works of the famous Irish poet, critic and recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature, Seamus Heaney. I chose Heaney because he is a rather contemporary author, most of his works were published in the mid to late 20th century and his poems were simple but beautiful. The voice he uses to tell his stories is fundamentally human. In my opinion, Heaney does not emphasize human perfection, but chooses to focus on the simple joys that life offers. This can be seen in several of his poems such as "Lover of Aran", in which he gives human characteristics to the beach and sea to illustrate human love and compassion, as well as in "Personal Helicon", where he emphasizes the beauty and simplicity of his childhood. He also wrote darker pieces like “Act of Union” and “Docker.” “Act of Union” owes its name to the document which placed all of England's conquests under the crown of Great Britain. The poem focuses on the political unrest between England and Ireland as it depicts an invasion of Irish soil. “Docker” speaks...