1995年诺贝尔文学奖获得者英国诗人希尼在诺贝尔宴会上的演讲

Seamus Heaney's speech at the Nobel Banquet
1995年获诺贝尔文学奖得主英国诗人希尼在诺贝尔宴会上的演讲
December 10, 1995 
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, Seamus Heaney has been described as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats".

Seamus Heaney:

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today's ceremonies and tonight's banquet have been mighty and memorable events. Nobody who has shared in them will ever forget them, but for the laureates these celebrations have had a unique importance. Each of us has participated in a ritual, a rite of passage, a public drama which has been commensurate with the inner experience of winning a Nobel Prize. The slightly incredible condition we have lived in since the news of the prizes was announced a couple of weeks ago has now been rendered credible. The mysterious powers represented by the words Nobel Foundation and Swedish Academy have manifested themselves in friendly human form. For me, it has been a great joy and a great reassurance to come to Stockholm and to meet at every turn people of such grace, such intelligence and such good will. Which is another way of saying that the whole week has not only been ceremonially impressive: it has also felt emotionally true, and it is that sense of something personally trustworthy at the centre of the great event that I finally value most, and cherish and give you thanks for. It has helped more than anything else to bring home to me the reality of the great honour I have received. Oscar Wilde once said that the only way to survive temptation was to yield to it. So here and now, I happily and gratefully yield to the temptation to believe that I am indeed the winner of a Nobel Prize. Thank you very much.
From Les Prix Nobel 1995.
 

谢默斯·希尼（Seamus Heaney， 1939－ ）爱尔兰诗人。生于爱尔兰北部德里郡毛斯邦县一个虔信天主教、世代务农的家庭。希尼自小接受正规的英国教育，1961年以第一名的优异成绩毕业于贝尔法斯特女王大学英文系。毕业后当过一年中学教师，同时大量阅读爱尔兰和英国的现代诗歌，从中寻找将英国文学传统和德里郡乡间生活经历结合起来的途径。1966年，以诗集《一位自然主义者之死》一举成名。1966年到1972年，希尼在母校任现代文学讲师，亲历了北爱尔兰天主教徒为争取公民权举行示威而引起的暴乱。

1969年，第二本诗集《通向黑暗之门》的发表，标志着诗人开始向爱尔兰民族历史黑暗的土壤深处开掘。1972年发表的诗集《在外过冬》，则是诗人基于爱尔兰的宗教政治冲突，寻求足以表现民族苦难境遇的意象和象征的结果。迫于政治压力， 1972年，希尼携妻移居都柏林。此后发表的重要诗集有《北方》（1975）、《野外作业》（1979）、《苦路岛》（1984）、《山楂灯》（1987）、《幻觉》（1991）及《诗选》（1980）等。希尼的诗作纯朴自然，奔流着祖辈们的血液，散发着土地的芳香。他以一种带有现代文明的眼光，冷静地挖掘品味着爱尔兰民族精神。他虽有学院派的背景，却绝无学院派的那种孤芳自赏的情调。

希尼不仅是诗人，还是一位诗学专家。自1982年以来，他一直担任美国哈佛大学修辞学的客座教授，1992至1994年还担任过牛津大学的诗学教授。先后发表诗学散文集《专心致志》（1980）、《写作的场所》（1989）、《舌头的管辖》（1988）、《诗歌的纠正》（1995）等。

1995年，由于他的诗“具有抒情诗般的美和伦理深度，使日常生活中的奇迹和活生生的往事得以升华”，希尼荣获诺贝尔文学奖。

《一位自然主义者之死》、《通向黑暗之门》、《在外过冬》、《北方》、《野外作业》、《苦路岛》、《山楂灯》、《幻觉》、《诗选》、《专心致志》、《写作的场所》、《舌头的管辖》、《诗歌的纠正》等。