Bread Quote by Seamus Heaney
“Poetry is what we do to break bread with the dead.”
About This Quote
Source Poetry Collection: "Opened Ground", 1998
Poetry connects the living with those who have passed, serving as a shared meal that nourishes memory and continuity.
In simple terms: Poetry links us with the dead.
Key Takeaway
Write or read poetry to honor ancestors.
Themes
memory
heritage
art
Mood
reflective
nostalgic
Type
literary
spiritual
When to use this quote
- literature classes
- family gatherings
- memorial events
Key Concepts
cultural continuity
ritual
remembrance
Questions to Reflect On
- How does poetry preserve history?
- What rituals connect you to past generations?
A Different Perspective
Not everyone finds poetry accessible.
![“We break bread with the hungry[78] and share our home with them[79] for the sake of Christ’s love, which belongs to the hungry as much as it does to us. If the hungry do not come to faith, the guilt falls on those who denied them bread. To bring bread to the hungry is preparing the way for the…” quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bd2/dietrich-bonhoeffer-303_bread_we-break-bread-with-the-hungry-78-and-sh_2546115.jpg)
![“One of the very first poems I wrote was Docker That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic and one of the sturdiest was Requiem for the Croppies, written 50 years after 1916 [the year of the Easter Rising]. Being responsible and what it means, what it demands, have indeed preoccupied me maybe too…” quote by Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/5fb/seamus-heaney-1711_being-responsible_one-of-the-very-first-poems-i-wrote-was_181491.jpg)
![“Anything Can Happen is also, incidentally, a poem that arose from teaching. I'd talked about the Horace Ode (I, 34) [on which the poem is based] in a lecture I gave at Harvard in the fall of 2000 entitled Bright Boltsand remembered it after the Twin Towers attack.” quote by Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/2e6/seamus-heaney-1711_anything-can-happen_anything-can-happen-is-also-incidentally_181651.jpg)
