The title, The Government of the Tongue , carries suggestions of both monastic discipline and untrammelled romanticism, and is meant to raise an old question about the rights and status of poetic utterance itself. Publisher: Faber & Faber Author(s): Seamus Heaney Number of pages: 208 Publication date: 1989 Dimensions: 196 x 127 x 16 Cover type: Paperback / softback