AESTHETIC AND COGNITIVE VALUES OF SEAMUS HEANEY’S WINTERING OUT: A FRYEAN APPROACH TO SELECTED POEMS

Abstract

Purpose of the study: This study investigates the relevance of the aesthetic values to the cognitive values in the poetry of the Anglo-Irish poet Seamus Heaney 1939-2013. It examines “The Tollund Man,” “Servant Boy,” “Gifts of Rain” and “Limbo” from his poetry collection Wintering Out (1972), and focuses on their treatment of rebirth imagery and archetypes aiming to address their aesthetic and conceptual features. Methodology: The study approaches the poetry of Seamus Heaney using Northrop Frye’s critical archetypal approach to literature. It is based on examining the mythical aspects and archetypes of the literary text as a way to highlight its value, whether the aesthetic which is concerned with the artistic side of literature or the cognitive which is related to its epistemological value. Main Findings: The study concludes with the assumption that Heaney’s poetry, which is part of the modern poetic tradition, occasionally resorts to mythology as a way of intensifying its both aesthetic and cognitive values. The reason lies in the beauty mythology adds to the poetic creation, and the focus it sheds on the thematic features of the work. Applications of this study: This study proposes a creative-critical model that can help the scholars of literature, particularly those who study the cognitive value of literature and the literary archetypal theory to employ while dealing with literary texts that utilize mythical archetypes so as to distinguish their aesthetic and cognitive features. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study proposes an application of Frye’s theories to Heaney’s poetry which former scholarship on Heaney, and to the best of my knowledge, hasn’t examined. Besides, Frye’s archetypal theory is applied in a creative way seeking to examine the mythical aspects of Heaney’s poetry aiming to emphasize aspects that are not only cognitive and thematic but also cultural and aesthetic.