---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Tom Sleigh's poetry is hard-earned and…"
description: "\"Tom Sleigh's poetry is hard-earned and well founded. I great admire the way it refuses to cut emotional corners and yet achieves a sense of lyric absol..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/seamus-heaney-1711_absolution_tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-w_787411.png"
---

#  Tom Sleigh's poetry is hard-earned and well founded. I…

![“Tom Sleigh's poetry is hard-earned and well founded. I great admire the way it refuses to cut emotional corners and yet achieves a sense of lyric absolution.” quote by Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/seamus-heaney-1711_absolution_tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-w_787411.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/seamus-heaney-1711_absolution_tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-w_787411.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/seamus-heaney-1711_absolution_tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-w_787411.png)

> “Tom Sleigh's poetry is hard-earned and well founded. I great admire the way it refuses to cut emotional corners and yet achieves a sense of lyric absolution.”

[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.

Tom Sleigh's poems are deeply earned, emotionally honest, yet achieve lyrical transcendence.

**In simple terms:** His work is hard‑won, sincere, and beautiful.

Key Takeaway

Value effort and authenticity in art.

Themes

poetry authenticity emotional depth

Mood

respectful appreciative

Type

critical analytical

When to use this quote

- reading groups
- creative writing workshops
- personal reflection

Key Concepts

literature craft lyricism

Questions to Reflect On

- How does sincerity affect your connection to a poem?
- What makes a poem feel both raw and beautiful?

A Different Perspective

Some may find the style too intense; not everyone seeks emotional intensity.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Absolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolution/) [Emotional](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emotional/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/)

## Related quotes

> [I am charmed by concrete poetry (but it's very hard to do well, I think) and in general by the idea of mixing the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthea-harvey/i-am-charmed-by-concrete-poetry-but-it-s-very-hard-to-do-well-i-think/)

[Matthea Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthea-harvey/)

> [Writing poetry is the hard manual labor of the imagination.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ishmael-reed/writing-poetry-is-the-hard-manual-labor-of-the-imagination/)

[Ishmael Reed](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ishmael-reed/)

> [“Someties it is hard to criticize, one wants only to chronicle. The good and mediocre books come in from week to week, and I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randall-jarrell/someties-it-is-hard-to-criticize-one-wants-only-to-chronicle-the-good/)

[Randall Jarrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randall-jarrell/)

> [I hardly remember how I started to write poetry. It's hard to imagine what I thought poetry could do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-antin/i-hardly-remember-how-i-started-to-write-poetry-it-s-hard-to-imagine/)

[David Antin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-antin/)

> [There is no difference in who started to study first; the one who achieves accomplishment is first.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yip-man/there-is-no-difference-in-who-started-to-study-first-the-one-who/)

[Yip Man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yip-man/)

> [No one achieves anything in life easily no matter who you are and where you come from.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jackky-bhagnani/no-one-achieves-anything-in-life-easily-no-matter-who-you-are-and/)

[Jackky Bhagnani](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jackky-bhagnani/)

> [The only performance that makes it, that really makes it, that makes it all the way, is the one that achieves madness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mick-jagger/the-only-performance-that-makes-it-that-really-makes-it-that-makes-it/)

[Mick Jagger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mick-jagger/)

> [“Time is not measured by the passing of yaers but by what one does, what one feels, and what one achieves.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jawaharlal-nehru/time-is-not-measured-by-the-passing-of-yaers-but-by-what-one-does/)

[Jawaharlal Nehru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jawaharlal-nehru/)

> [Nothing is as difficult as to achieve results in this world if one is filled full of great tolerances and the milk of human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/corinne-roosevelt-robinson/nothing-is-as-difficult-as-to-achieve-results-in-this-world-if-one-is/)

[Corinne Roosevelt Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/corinne-roosevelt-robinson/)

> [It's not always about who achieves more in the result. Sometimes it's about who enjoys more in the process.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anmol-andore/it-s-not-always-about-who-achieves-more-in-the-result-sometimes-it-s/)

[Anmol Andore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anmol-andore/)

> [Impact investing has become a broad umbrella that includes all investing with a focus on both financial return and social impact, but in its…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacqueline-novogratz/impact-investing-has-become-a-broad-umbrella-that-includes-all/)

[Jacqueline Novogratz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacqueline-novogratz/)

> [The legitimacy of a war is not established by how it is organized but by what it achieves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-brooks/the-legitimacy-of-a-war-is-not-established-by-how-it-is-organized-but/)

[David Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-brooks/)

> [“Success does not determine who achieves it; it has no choice,try you can achieve it”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/uzoma-kelechi/success-does-not-determine-who-achieves-it-it-has-no-choice-try-you/)

[uzoma kelechi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/uzoma-kelechi/)

> [There is no greater glory that can befall a man that what he achieves with the speed of his feet or the strength of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/homer/there-is-no-greater-glory-that-can-befall-a-man-that-what-he-achieves/)

[Homer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/homer/)

> [Any time someone achieves success before they've earned it, it always comes back to haunt them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ron-white/any-time-someone-achieves-success-before-they-ve-earned-it-it-always/)

[Ron White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ron-white/)

## 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 Absolution quotes

> [I tell you, guilt dwells nowhere but in the eyes of the accuser. This men know even as they deny it, which is why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-scott-bakker/i-tell-you-guilt-dwells-nowhere-but-in-the-eyes-of-the-accuser-this/)

[R. Scott Bakker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-scott-bakker/)

> [It is by far the most elegant worship, hardly excepting the Greek mythology. What with incense, pictures, statues, altars, shrines, relics, and the real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/it-is-by-far-the-most-elegant-worship-hardly-excepting-the-greek/)

[Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/)

> [“There's a price for absolution on this planet, and it's called penance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/spider-robinson/there-s-a-price-for-absolution-on-this-planet-and-it-s-called-penance/)

[Spider Robinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/spider-robinson/)

> [“There's absolution and purity to fucking that strips people back to their primal core.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kitty-french/there-s-absolution-and-purity-to-fucking-that-strips-people-back-to/)

[Kitty French](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kitty-french/)

> [From sorrow to serenity, the truth is absolution, from sorrow to serenity, its on your head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/killswitch-engage/from-sorrow-to-serenity-the-truth-is-absolution-from-sorrow-to/)

[Killswitch Engage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/killswitch-engage/)

> [“Being alone will show you who you really are, and if you cannot get-on positively as the sole master of your space in that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/being-alone-will-show-you-who-you-really-are-and-if-you-cannot-get-on/)

[Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/)

> [Our own acts are isolated and one act does not buy absolution for another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-butler-yeats/our-own-acts-are-isolated-and-one-act-does-not-buy-absolution-for/)

[William Butler Yeats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-butler-yeats/)

> [“Time made apologies and absolution unnecessary. Time didn't really heal, it just made bad memories distant so that the brain couldn't recapture the lost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amulya-malladi/time-made-apologies-and-absolution-unnecessary-time-didn-t-really/)

[Amulya Malladi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amulya-malladi/)

> [“Pause your opinions, debating and absolute knowing for long enough to conceive gratitude.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bryant-mcgill/pause-your-opinions-debating-and-absolute-knowing-for-long-enough-to/)

[Bryant McGill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bryant-mcgill/)

> [“Psychoanalysis is confession without absolution.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-k-chesterton/psychoanalysis-is-confession-without-absolution/)

[G.K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-k-chesterton/)

> [“I find something repulsive about the idea of vicarious redemption. I would not throw my numberless sins onto a scapegoat and expect them to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-hitchens/i-find-something-repulsive-about-the-idea-of-vicarious-redemption-i/)

[Christopher Hitchens](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-hitchens/)

> [It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/it-is-the-confession-not-the-priest-that-gives-us-absolution/)

[Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/)

> [There is nothing absolute and final. If everything were ironclad, all the rules absolute and everything structured so no paradox or irony existed, you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/itzhak-bentov/there-is-nothing-absolute-and-final-if-everything-were-ironclad-all/)

Itzhak Bentov

> [The truth brings with it a great measure of absolution, always.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-d-laing/the-truth-brings-with-it-a-great-measure-of-absolution-always/)

[R. D. Laing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-d-laing/)

> [For one thing, the Catholic Church in particular has this one thing - confession - in which you could go, confess to a priest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jacoby/for-one-thing-the-catholic-church-in-particular-has-this-one-thing/)

[Susan Jacoby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jacoby/)

[Browse all 89 Absolution quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/absolution/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "Tom Sleigh's poetry is hard-earned and well founded. I great admire the way it refuses to cut emotional corners and yet achieves a sense of lyric absolution.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Seamus Heaney"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-well-founded-i-great-admire/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Absolution"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-well-founded-i-great-admire/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/seamus-heaney-1711_absolution_tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-w_787411.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/seamus-heaney-1711_absolution_tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-w_787411.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc6/seamus-heaney-1711_absolution_tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-w_787411.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Tom Sleigh's poetry is hard-earned and well founded. I great admire the way it refuses to cut emotional…” — 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": "Tom Sleigh's poetry is hard-earned and...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-well-founded-i-great-admire/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/tom-sleigh-s-poetry-is-hard-earned-and-well-founded-i-great-admire/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
