Seamus Heaney Poetry

Learning Goal: To gain understanding of Seamus Heaney’s background Task: Take out your research notes on Seamus Heaney that you completed in the library. Share with your table then share with a different group.

Seamus Heaney Context What influenced him? List influences under the headings  Family/Landscape  Political

Childhood  Think of a childhood activity which you enjoyed. Consider why you enjoyed it.  When did your perception of it change? When did you realise that you no longer saw it through innocent childhood eyes?

Death of a Naturalist A poem about the journey into adulthood revolving around Heaney’s initial delight in collecting tadpoles, and then his developing disgust. Through the poem he looks at both sides of nature.  What do you think is the importance of the title?  Look at Youtube clip

Tone The opening lines encapsulates more than one tone about nature.  Festered  Rotted  Sweltered  Punishing  Smell  Bubbled gargled delicately  Gauze of sound  Spotted butterflies

Tone What do the previous examples convey about nature? Write a response, including at least 4 of the quotes.

How does Heaney show his fascination with nature?  Find examples from lines 8-14 Use these quotes to write a response.

Poetic Techniques

Voice  Describe the voice used in the poem?  Find quotes that convey its childlike quality. Eg. I would fill jamputfuls of the jellied… Miss Wallace…the daddy frog…the mammy frog Little eggs TASK: Why is the childlike voice significant?

 Alliteration Quote ‘Coarse croaking’ What impact does the harsh ‘c’ sound have?

 Onomatopoeia Quote ‘bubbles gargled delicately’ What feeling does this convey in contrast to the imagery of decay?

 Onomatopoeia Quote ‘Slap and Plop’ What type of sounds does this create? How does it link to the imagery?

 Similes ‘loose necks pulsed like sails ‘ ‘Some sat poised like mud grenades’ What do the similes convey about his perception of the frogs?

 Metaphor Quote ‘Their blunt heads farting’ What does the metaphor reveal about the frogs?

 Personification Quotes ‘The Great Slime Kings’ ‘Punishing sun’ How does this reveal his awareness of nature and fear of the frogs?

 Imagery  Alliteration  Assonance Quote ‘jampotfuls of the jellied/ specks’ nimble-/swimming tadpoles’ What impact does the imagery combined with alliteration and assonance have?

Stanza Two What is the significance of stanza two?  How has the tone changed?  How has his perception changed?  How is his disillusion and disappointment revealed after his initial pleasure? TASK: Write a response to stanza two – using the language to answer the questions above

Stanza Two How is the dark side of nature conveyed? Consider the language:  Rank  Angry frogs  Coarse croaking  Gross bellied  Before…. (Consider how this shows he’s changed)  Obscene threats  Gathered there for vengeance  Spawn would clutch it (power of his imagination)

Follower  Learning Goal: To consider the child – adult life journey through the imagery of the land

Parents and Grandparents  What adult did you look up to and follow around as a child?  How did you perceive your parents and grandparents when you were a child?  Have these perceptions changed?  Do you think they will change in the future?

 Structure What does it remind you of? How does it convey the cyclical nature of life?. 6 stanzas. Begins as a child. concludes as an adult

Find Quotes to show:  How did he view his father?  How did he view the traditions of farming the land?  How did he view himself in relation to his father and his ability to help? His shoulders globed like a full sail strung The sod rolled over without breaking I stumbled in his wake… All I ever did was follow

 Voice What type of voice? Why this choice? How does tense change? Why ‘My father worked…’ ‘I stumbled in his wake’ ‘I wanted to grow up and plough’ ‘But today/It is my father who keeps stumbling’ TASK: Use language from the poem to respond to the choice of voice and tense

Images  Links to the land  Links to the cycles of nature  Traditions  Strength of the horse ‘My father worked with a horse plough’ ‘The sod rolled over without breaking’ ‘…team turned around’ ‘Mapping the furrow’ How do each of these quotes link to the ideas listed on the left?

Mid Term Break  The subject of this poem is the death of Seamus Heaney’s younger brother, Christopher, who was killed by a car at the age of four. Its emotional power derives in large measure from the fact that Heaney is very understated with respect to his own emotional response. He chooses to focus more upon the reaction of his parents in order to show the shocking impact of the death of their little boy.

Limbo  Read over the poem.  In groups discuss what you think it is about

The poem leaves out quite a lot of information that the we as readers have to supply for ourselves:  1. What is limbo? The poem doesn’t define it. If we don’t know, we need to look it up. TASK: Discuss what you think ‘Limbo’ means and write down your ideas  2. Where is Ballyshannon? Again, the poem doesn’t tell us and leaves it up to us to find out if we don’t know. TASK: What hints are given about where it might be?

 Why is a mother who kills her illegitimate child described in sympathetic terms (she ducked him “tenderly”; her actions were “tearing her open”)? Find more examples What do the descriptions reveal about her?

Why is God powerless to reach limbo and do anything about the souls there?  In unofficial Catholic doctrine, infants’ limbo is specifically set aside for children who die without being baptized. They can’t enter heaven since they haven’t been baptized, but they do not deserve to go to hell through no fault of their own. Thus they are “left in limbo” (that’s the origin of the phrase).

 Even more significant to the ultimate “meaning” of this poem is Ballyshannon’s location. It lies in County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland, right next to British- controlled Northern Ireland. Interestingly, while County Donegal is in Ulster Province, it is one of three counties in that province that are not part of Northern Ireland. And Northern Ireland, of course, has been consigned to British rule while the rest of the country is an independent republic.  From what you know about Ireland and Catholicism, how is this significant?

 Who may the woman killing her infant represent?  Who may the infant himself represent?  Who may a powerless God represent?  Where do the poem’s sympathies seem to lie? TASK: Discuss in your group Write a response to these 4 questions

Language Heaney uses language effectively as the strength of the language carries the poem forward.

 The poem is in the tradition of the alliterative verse of Old English poetry that Heaney loves (he has even translated THE Old English poem of all Old English poems — Beowulf). Here, Heaney adapts the form for his purposes by using two (and occasionally three) strong accents per line instead of the traditional four, thus:alliterative verse  FISH-ermen at BALL-y-SHA-nnon NET-ted an IN-fant last NIGHT a-LONG with the SAL-mon. an ille-GI-timate SPAW-ning (or: an IL-le-GI-timate SPAW-ning)

 This pattern creates a sombre rhythm, sparse and pointed, almost martial, which happens, and is re-enforced, on a line by line basis. That rhythm comes through as an entity in itself; it has a life of its own. It is not just language: it’s poetry.  But note that to avoid creating a too- predictable (and thus boring ) pace, Heaney uses three strong accents instead of two in 6 of the 20 lines, including the first two and last two lines of the poem. Such variations can make things interesting to the ear.

 TASK: Write a response to Heaney’s use of stresses within his sentences and how it impacts the pacing.  Use examples and comment on the effect they have

Alliteration and Assonance  Also in the tradition of alliterative verse, Heaney uses alliteration (and assonance, for good measure) to make the language come alive.  Note the “sh” sound in the first line, along with the “er,”/ “men,” “ba”/”sha” pairings;  how the “t” sound of “at” leads to the second line’s “netted,” “infant,” and “night;”  the repetition of the “l” sound in “along,” “salmon,” and “illegitimate” in the third and fourth lines;  and the various shades of “ah” in “Ballyshannon,” “salmon,” “spawning,” “small,” “back,” “water,” and “shallows.”

 TASK: Consider Heaney’s use of assonance and alliteration, using the previous examples.  Write a paragraph in which you discuss the impact this has on creating meaning: harsh/soft sounds which develop tone, impact on pace etc

Sentence Length  Also note the length of Heaney’s sentences and how he mixes short and long ones to create tension.  The first two sentences set the scene; they are short (3 and 2 1/2 lines respectively). The third sentence is an emotional whopper, and it goes on for 6 1/2 lines.  Then the poem ends in a series of 4 short, emotionally charged sentences. Note how those last four sentences, relative to each other, are long, short, long, short (2, 1, 3, and 2 lines respectively).  That micro-level of variety keeps four short sentences next to one another from becoming boring

 The tension created by the sentences (short, short, long, short, short, short, short) suggest to me a build-up and release of emotion that leads to the phrase “tearing her open.” Having reached that painful image in a slow, long sentence, the poem then unpacks its emotional wallop in four quick “jabs” which are not so much a second release of emotion as a further increase of it. The last four sentences are fast, emotionally charged, even violent. There is no catharsis here, only further pain. They work so well because they follow that long third sentence and are in stark contrast to it.