We all have our own personal memories that are unique to each and every one of us. Memory is often a prevalent theme in poetry, and is seen strongly in the poems of Seamus Heaney and Paula Meehan. In the case of Heaney, his book of poetry Human Chain would be, unfortunately his last, thus understandably the past and his own private memories are recurring in these poems. His poems have a unique ability to unite his special memories with mutually shared histories of others, in an effort to unite us through his poetry. With topics like the transition from a young child leaving home in ‘The Conway Stewart’, there is something we can all identify with. Similarly, Paula Meehan’s poetry also shows how memory can unite our pasts and not just be a personal to one individual. She uses her own intimate experiences to demonstrate a larger scale issue. This is seen in her poem ‘Death of a field’ which uses nature to describe a memory, much like Heaney’s ‘Canopy’. Her use of memory with nature is further seen in ‘The Sycamores Contract with the citizens’, and how memory can be tied to certain things. She furthermore puts an interesting spin on childhood memories in her poem ‘At Dublin Zoo’. The poets also look at the way we remember national events, in the case of Seamus Heaney ‘Poem XI’ of the series ‘Route 110’ and Paula Meehan’s ‘Them Ducks died for Ireland’. In the following essay I will discuss how the two poets in question deal with the operation of memory in their poetry, how they tie memory with things like nature, family and national history. Furthermore I will look at the contrasts and similarities in their approaches and how their own memories can unite people to remember their own similar experiences, and bring together a vast variety of people.