IT WAS a natural reaction for the poet who, when invited to sign the role of honour at a conferring ceremony in DCU yesterday, made to fish his own pen from his jacket pocket.
Seamus Heaney, poet, dramatist and educator, received a standing ovation as he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy by DCU president Brian MacCraith at a ceremony in St Patrick’s College, the highest award which the university can confer.
Mr MacCraith paid tribute to the Nobel laureate who he said embodied the “regeneration of spirit” which Ireland most needed at this time.
Mr MacCraith told Mr Heaney that, in every graduation since he took up office, he had quoted an excerpt from the address the poet gave on the occasion of his 70th birthday: “We should keep our feet on the ground to signify that nothing is beneath us but we also should also lift up our eyes to say nothing is beyond us.”
In his address Mr Heaney said it was an honour to join the 29 previous honorary conferees, among them Brian Friel, Mother Teresa, John Hume, John McGahern and President Mary McAleese. “The roll-call of those previously conferred with honorary doctorates by DCU is an impressive one. It includes several names destined to be historical, so to have my own name inscribed in that roll-book is a rare distinction,” he said.
Mr Heaney referred to the list of achievements read out by the president of St Patrick’s College, Dr Pauric Travers, saying he had “boasted for” him well.
Concluding his address, Mr Heaney read his three-part poem Alphabets because he said so much of our lives as teachers and students involved the shaping of letters, whether by handwriting or keyboard: “But it also involves looking up to letters, letters in the old sense of litterae humaniores . . . the humanities upon which culture and continuity ultimately depend...”
The occasion also marked the last day as chancellor for David Byrne who said in accepting the award, Mr Heaney was conferring a significant privilege on DCU.