---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I rhyme… to see myself, to set the…"
description: "\"I rhyme… to see myself, to set the darkness echoing.\" — Seamus Heaney"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/581/seamus-heaney-1711_darkness_i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darknes_2946400.png"
---

#  I rhyme… to see myself, to set the darkness echoing.

![“I rhyme… to see myself, to set the darkness echoing.” quote by Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/581/seamus-heaney-1711_darkness_i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darknes_2946400.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/581/seamus-heaney-1711_darkness_i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darknes_2946400.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/581/seamus-heaney-1711_darkness_i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darknes_2946400.png)

> “I rhyme… to see myself, to set the darkness echoing.”

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

The poet uses rhyme to explore self‑identity and echo inner darkness.

**In simple terms:** Rhyme reveals self and darkness.

Key Takeaway

Use poetry for introspection.

Themes

poetry self‑exploration darkness

Mood

reflective melancholic

Type

analysis inspiration

When to use this quote

- journaling
- artistic expression

Key Concepts

creative writing mental health therapy

Questions to Reflect On

- What does darkness represent for you?
- How does rhyme aid self‑discovery?

A Different Perspective

May be intense.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Darkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/)

## Related quotes

> [The Sun and the science are the same; when they set down, the darkness comes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/the-sun-and-the-science-are-the-same-when-they-set-down-the-darkness/)

[Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/)

> [“Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/though-my-soul-may-set-in-darkness-it-will-rise-in-perfect-light-i-2/)

[Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/)

> [Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light. I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-williams/though-my-soul-may-set-in-darkness-it-will-rise-in-perfect-light-i/)

Sarah Williams

> [It has as much to do with the energy released by linguistic fission and fusion, with the buoyancy generated by cadence and tone and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/it-has-as-much-to-do-with-the-energy-released-by-linguistic-fission/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [It's difficult to learn poems off by heart that don't rhyme.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/it-s-difficult-to-learn-poems-off-by-heart-that-don-t-rhyme/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [History says, Don’t hope On this side of the grave, But then, once in a lifetime The longed-for tidal wave Of justice can rise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/history-says-don-t-hope-on-this-side-of-the-grave-but-then-once-in-a/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [A poet who makes use of a worse word instead of a better, because the former fits the rhyme or the measure, though it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-walpole/a-poet-who-makes-use-of-a-worse-word-instead-of-a-better-because-the/)

[Horace Walpole](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-walpole/)

> [Who cares whether this is a poem or rhyme, I will love you until the end of time...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijeet/who-cares-whether-this-is-a-poem-or-rhyme-i-will-love-you-until-the/)

[Abhijeet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijeet/)

> [“First Snow The snow began here this morning and all day continued, its white rhetoric everywhere calling us back to why, how, whence such beauty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-oliver/first-snow-the-snow-began-here-this-morning-and-all-day-continued-its/)

[mary oliver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-oliver/)

> [“Loneliness of heart In the still of the night my heart doth cry out, who can hear it for time is far spent. In…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-i-ghostwriter/loneliness-of-heart-in-the-still-of-the-night-my-heart-doth-cry-out/)

M.I. Ghostwriter

> [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/)

[anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/)

> [People say, 'Grimm, you've been shot like 50. So why don't you just rhyme like 50? Then, you could get the money like 50,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mf-grimm/people-say-grimm-you-ve-been-shot-like-50-so-why-don-t-you-just-rhyme/)

[MF Grimm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mf-grimm/)

> [Def Jam on my heels, should I sign to it? Million dollar advance for me to rhyme fluent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-ross/def-jam-on-my-heels-should-i-sign-to-it-million-dollar-advance-for-me/)

[Rick Ross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-ross/)

> [Call me the rap assassinator / rhymes rugged and built like Schwarzenegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raekwon/call-me-the-rap-assassinator-rhymes-rugged-and-built-like/)

[Raekwon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raekwon/)

> [“I hate the way you talk to me And the way you cut your hair I hate the way you drive my car I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-levithan/i-hate-the-way-you-talk-to-me-and-the-way-you-cut-your-hair-i-hate/)

[David Levithan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-levithan/)

## More by Seamus Heaney

> [You had to come back to learn how to lose yourself, to be pilot and stray-witch, Hansel and Gretel in one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-had-to-come-back-to-learn-how-to-lose-yourself-to-be-pilot-and/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/if-self-is-a-location-so-is-love-bearings-taken-markings-cardinal/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [I'm very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination - poets in particular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-m-very-conscious-that-people-dear-to-me-are-alive-in-my-imagination/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-started-i-felt-safe-enough-but/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [You can have Irish identity in the north and also have your Irish passport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-can-have-irish-identity-in-the-north-and-also-have-your-irish/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [The external reality and inner dynamic of happenings in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1974 were symptomatic of change, violent change admittedly, but change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-external-reality-and-inner-dynamic-of-happenings-in-northern/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [Hope for a great sea-change timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/hope-for-a-great-sea-change-timid-to-rebuke-and-too-petty-to-forgive/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [One of the very first poems I wrote was Docker That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic and one of the sturdiest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/one-of-the-very-first-poems-i-wrote-was-docker-that-fist-would-drop-a/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/anything-can-happen-is-also-incidentally-a-poem-that-arose-from/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/poetry-is-always-slightly-mysterious-and-you-wonder-what-is-your/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure The bastion of sensation. Do not waver Into language. Do not waver in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/sink-every-impulse-like-a-bolt-secure-the-bastion-of-sensation-do-not/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [Two buckets were easier carried than one. / I grew up in between.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/two-buckets-were-easier-carried-than-one-i-grew-up-in-between/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-suppose-i-m-saying-that-defiance-is-actually-part-of-the-lyric-job/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [“It is said that once upon a time St. Kevin was kneeling with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/it-is-said-that-once-upon-a-time-st-kevin-was-kneeling-with-his-arms/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

> [My father and mother had no sense of entitlement for their children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/my-father-and-mother-had-no-sense-of-entitlement-for-their-children/)

[Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

[Explore all 214 Seamus Heaney quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/)

## More Darkness quotes

> [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/)

[Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/)

> [“Wait here, wait here!" he cried and jumped up and began to run for help toward a cluster of lights he saw in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flannery-o-connor/wait-here-wait-here-he-cried-and-jumped-up-and-began-to-run-for-help/)

[Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flannery-o-connor/)

> [Strange - is it not? That of the myriads who Before us passed the door of Darkness through, Not one returns to tell us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace/strange-is-it-not-that-of-the-myriads-who-before-us-passed-the-door/)

[Horace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace/)

> [When you're scared - and I mean really scared, not just hearing a noise in the night, or standing toe to toe with someone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-gordon-smith/when-you-re-scared-and-i-mean-really-scared-not-just-hearing-a-noise/)

[Alexander Gordon Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-gordon-smith/)

> [Clear moments are so short. There is much more darkness. More ocean than terra firma. More shadow than form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/clear-moments-are-so-short-there-is-much-more-darkness-more-ocean/)

[Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/)

> [I even see the cinema itself as a woman, with its alternation of light and darkness, of appearing and disappearing images](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/federico-fellini/i-even-see-the-cinema-itself-as-a-woman-with-its-alternation-of-light/)

[Federico Fellini](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/federico-fellini/)

> [I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-lamott/i-guess-he-ll-have-to-figure-out-someday-that-he-is-supposed-to-have/)

[Anne Lamott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-lamott/)

> [“I promise to respect and protect your aloneness, knowing that everything created must have its period of darkness: child and bulb, poem and personality.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-morrow-lindbergh/i-promise-to-respect-and-protect-your-aloneness-knowing-that/)

[anne morrow lindbergh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-morrow-lindbergh/)

> [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/)

[Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/)

> [“Even in darkness your lips taste of sunshine”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francesca-lia-block/even-in-darkness-your-lips-taste-of-sunshine/)

[Francesca Lia Block](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francesca-lia-block/)

> [“Defy me not for gleam can only shine in my existence" said Darkness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/defy-me-not-for-gleam-can-only-shine-in-my-existence-said-darkness/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [“What does he look like? The question was soft- tentative. I knew who he meant. I interlaced my fingers through Rhysand's and squeezed tightly.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-j-maas/what-does-he-look-like-the-question-was-soft-tentative-i-knew-who-he/)

[Sarah J. Maas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-j-maas/)

> [The dream of coming back is becoming a reality. A lot of the uncertainty about the future has been cleared up. A lot of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-tagliabue/the-dream-of-coming-back-is-becoming-a-reality-a-lot-of-the/)

[Paul Tagliabue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-tagliabue/)

> [“Life is like coffee, the darker it gets, the more it energizes.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ankita-singhal/life-is-like-coffee-the-darker-it-gets-the-more-it-energizes/)

[Ankita Singhal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ankita-singhal/)

> [Twinking tears in a sea of black. Soft light in a world of darkness. Tiny wishes in a place of dreams. Do you see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-gentile/twinking-tears-in-a-sea-of-black-soft-light-in-a-world-of-darkness/)

Nicole Gentile

[Browse all 8,219 Darkness quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/darkness/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "I rhyme… to see myself, to set the darkness echoing.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Seamus Heaney"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darkness-echoing/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Darkness"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darkness-echoing/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/581/seamus-heaney-1711_darkness_i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darknes_2946400.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/581/seamus-heaney-1711_darkness_i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darknes_2946400.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/581/seamus-heaney-1711_darkness_i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darknes_2946400.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“I rhyme… to see myself, to set the darkness echoing.” — Seamus Heaney",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Seamus Heaney",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "I rhyme… to see myself, to...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darkness-echoing/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-rhyme-to-see-myself-to-set-the-darkness-echoing/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
