As I scanned the internet for a Seamus Heaney poem I memorized in high school whose name I’ve forgotten, my eye happened to fall upon the section of the search page titled “People Also Ask.” As I read the questions people have asked the internet about the great Irish poet, playwright, and translator (and Nobel Prize winner), it seemed to me that they created an unwitting kind of profile. Here they are:
What kind of person was Seamus Heaney? What happened to Seamus Heaney when he was 12 years old? What was Sheamus Heaney's most important poem? Why is Seamus Heaney so famous? What is the saddest poem by Seamus Heaney? Why did Seamus Heaney write so much about nature? Did Sheamus Heaney have a stroke? Did Seamus Heaney marry? Did Seamus Heaney teach at Harvard? Was Seamus Heaney a romantic? Was Seamus Heaney religious? Why did Seamus Heaney win the Nobel prize? What were Seamus Heaney's last words? What is the epitaph of Seamus Heaney?
I feel compelled to share the answer to this last one, it’s just too good. On his headstone, these words are written:
Walk on air against your better judgement.
-Eugenie Dalland