ABSTRACT
The Irish poet is particularly attracted to Aeneas's descent to the underworld described in Book vi of Virgil's epic which he uses as a paradigm to deal artistically with the deaths of his friends and relatives, while challenging traditional epic poetry. In perfect compliance with the necessity to speak of real things, throughout the collection the golden bough is progressively deprived of its mythical aura. The hypothesis is substantiated if one takes into account the meaning that the appropriation of the golden bough has for Heaney: being able to pull off the golden bough represents for the poet the possibility to express with his own words what he sees when he sees things. Heaney suppresses the enthusiasm with which Anchises moved by a pressing urge to speak addresses Aeneas. Like pius Aeneas, pius Seamus' finally realizes what the goal of his journey is, and has a glimpse of the future glory of his progeny.
