Poet Seamus Heaney dies at 74

Noble laureate and leading Irish poet Seamus Heaney died here Friday after a short illness, BBC reported. He was 74.

"The death has taken place of Seamus Heaney," said a statement issued by his family Friday, BBC reported. The poet and playwright died Friday morning at Blackrock Hospital here, it added.

Seamus Heaney, acclaimed by many as the best Irish poet since W.B. Yeats, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past".

Over his long career he was awarded numerous prizes and received many honours for his work. Some of his notable works include "Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996", "Beowulf" (translation), "District and Circle" and "The Spirit Level".

He recently suffered from ill health.