Casualty : Summary
Casualty is a notable literary work by Seamus Heaney. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, to various questions of Casualty.
Summary
This poem is written by the poet remembering the death of his friend. He had a friend named Louis O’Neill who earned his living as a fisherman. But at one point he became unemployed and depended on government grants or unemployment benefits to survive. Beset by depression, he was heavily addicted to drugs and drinking. Because of this, he spent most of his life in bars and had no regard for social norms or rules.
During the Second World War, when he went out on the street in a drunken state, his body was completely dismembered by a bomb. Curfew was in force at that time. But it is a pity that the poet could not visit his friend’s funeral. And that is why he wrote this poem in memory of him describing the incident of his death and leaving his friend immortal.