I agree with the ideas that Harrison and Alyssa have presented, and think that Heaney’s turn to write about some of the matter during the Troubles is what helped him gain popularity. Because, as Alyssa pointed out Heaney was inherently tied to what was going on in Northern Ireland. The fact that he was a native of the area might have led people to read his poetry about the Troubles, even though he wasn’t present at the time, thinking he would have an “insider” prospective.
When writing about the struggles in Ireland, Yeats tended to keep a very neutral stance, where it took deeper analysis in order to really figure out what he meant or what side he took, such as in “Easter, 1916.” For Heaney I thought that the neutrality was still there but not to the extent that Yeats was able to maintain. As we discussed in class, one of the biggest criticisms was that Heaney was one sided in his portrayal of the Troubles. That instead of having a balanced portrayal between Protestants and Catholics, Heaney mainly focused on the Catholic side of the issue. Though there isn’t really anything wrong with that, since Heaney isn’t a historian, he’s a poet and he can portray issues as he pleases. So although it may seem like Heaney was neutral, I don’t think he was quite as neutral as Yeats was in matters of conflict.