This paper is trying to read the text with the current theory decolonialism. To this, The writer adopted the text Seamus Heaney's early poetry Death of a Naturalist. Seamus Heaney is known to be the most important poet since W. B. Yeats as a winner of Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. I assume that a growing interest among readers reflects this prevailing enthusiasm for his work. His method and idea owe more to decolonial attitude more than that of naturalist or romantist. This seems to be an attractive factor to draw a reader's attention. In fact, his poetry has the proper qualities to absorb the devotees of 'decolonialism' still dominant in dealing with the poetry. Decolonialism as a literary theory is becoming an influential textual strategy rather than remaining as one of the academic master discourse. So far, the established textual reading theories have been closely related to logocentrism, and they failed to be acknowledge as objective way of reading. For this reason, the decolonialism has an important implication in the sense that it subverts the colonial ideology within the context of colonized society, and at the same time, reconstructs counter-discourse to find out self-identity and decolonized space. Meanwhile, Heaney have been witnessed historical moments of the death of his mother land, Ireland as well as of the Irish people, as the history of Ireland manifests. In doing so, the Irish people broke the cycle of imperial situation. The consciousness of them became consciousness of the nation. By way of this historical experience of authentic decolonization, Heaney's aesthetics became, more and more, politicized against the crisis which the repressive force of imperialism caused to occur. Under this traumatic disasters of Ireland, Heaney's poetic quest makes him and practical struggle against the colonial power in a poetic way. The main subject of his poetry is to find out his Irish identity with the past tradition and its continuity. The subject is linked with the question to find out the Celtic identity between the past and the present which is dominated by colonialism. To regard this, this paper analyses Heaney's text focusing on the decolonialism expressed by his poetry. I try to examine the process of his poetic writings and its attitude against English colonialism. To do this, My major interest is in his Celtic myth and language employed in his poetry. And I attempt to search for the true Irishness which Heaney makes every effort to materialize the reality of Ireland in his poetry. To conclude, the decolonial discourse and its textual strategy has an tactics and also has an important implications that lay bare the dominant ideology hidden by the seemingly impersonal intention of colonialism.

• 강민건(동국대) | Kang, Min-Gun