Seamus Heaney - 2504 Words

You have been asked to read a collection of Seamus Heaney’s poems to a 5th year class. Select 4 poems you would read and explain why. Seamus Heaney is widely recognised as one of the major poets of the twentieth century. Heaney s Poems are based on real life experiences, which can be related to in only so many ways, because of the differences in the likes of lifestyle and culture. Heaney’s poetry appeals to students as much of it deals with issues of childhood in a manner that is mature and accessible. The poems I have chosen to read to a fifth year class are ‘The Forge’, ‘The Underground’, â€Å"Mossbawn: Sunlight† and ‘A Call’. The three themes that seem to be recurring throughout Heaney’s work are, Love, Time and Isolation and I†¦show more content†¦We live in a world that moves very quickly and where nothing is permanent and in this poem I would put emphasis on how quickly their relationship changes when it goes from â€Å"we† in the opening line-showing they are together to â€Å"you† and â€Å"me† in line three, showing how fast Heaney’s wife is growing away from him. I would also stress that in the final two stanzas it is â€Å"I† that occurs three times, I would make sure the listeners are aware that the â€Å"I† is â€Å"all attention†-an â€Å"I† that is nervous and expectant. I should speak in an exciting tone with energy in my voice at the beginning of this poem as the movement in stanzas one and two is full of frantic, frenetic. For stanza three, I would change my tone to one of darkness as the panic is gone and Heaney is â€Å"mooning around†, in no hurry to go home. When reading this poem, I would put emphasis on the present participles throughout. These intensify the poem and they give the experience more immediacy. I would stress the dynamic verbs, â€Å"running†, â€Å"speeding† and â€Å"gaining† when reading the first stanza. The tense from the second to third stanza changes to the present, ...and now I come....At this par t of the poem, it is slowly becoming evident that Heaney is reminiscing and that remembering these experiences are painful to him so I would read the line quite slowly withShow MoreRelatedThe Poetry Of Seamus Heaney1191 Words   |  5 PagesSeamus Heaney is one of the most famous living poets of our age. He was born in April 1939 in Castledawson, Ireland and died on the 30th of August 2013. He grew up in his family farm house in County Derry being the eldest sibling of 9 in the family. His father, Patrick Heaney focused on a cattle-dealers way of life, whereas his mother, Margaret McCann obtained connections with the modern world. The poet believed he grasped significant tension and contrast through his parentage between speech andRead MoreSeamus Heaney – ‘at a Potato Digging’3379 Words   |  14 PagesSeamus Heaney – ‘At a Potato Digging’ †¢ Context †¢ †¢ The poem deals with two different potato harvests. One is the harvest from the present day that goes successfully and which delivers a rich crop. The second potato harvest looks back to the famine of 1845 when the crop failed and many people starved. Whilst the famine is no longer a threat, its ongoing fear remains and this can be seen in the use of religious language throughout the poem. For example, the bowed heads of the potato pickers suggestRead MoreFollower and Digging by Seamus Heaney Essay2330 Words   |  10 PagesDigging by Seamus Heaney In his poems ‘Follower and Digging’ Heaney is thinking about his father. 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The first two words of Follower by Seamus Heaney are My father which Read MoreMid Term Break By Seamus Heaney1168 Words   |  5 PagesMid-term break by Seamus Heaney is an emotional poem that expresses a family’s grief and bereft of their 4 year old child being hit by a car and being killed. The narrator of the poem is taken to be Seamus Heaney himself, and expresses his emotional trauma that has come about due to the accident and the way he perceives his parents dealing with the grief. The poem follows no rhyming schemes, but uses enjambment to affect the rhythm of the poem and to highlight points. The use of strong imagery andRead MoreMid Term Break By Seamus Heaney1598 Words   |  7 PagesSeamus Heaney is a poet born in Northern Ireland, County Derry, in 1939. His birth thus aligned with the beginnings of the second world war and he was exposed to conflict and sectarian violence, division between Catholics and Protestants, from a young age. Themes of nationalism, patrio tism and British imperialism are often featured in his works. This is the case in Requiem for the Croppies, a poem published on the 50th anniversary of the Easter uprising of 1916 which alludes to the 1798 Vinegar HillRead MoreBlackberry Picking- Seamus Heaney Analysis1340 Words   |  6 PagesBlackberry Picking- Seamus Heaney Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet who was born in Mossbawn farmhouse and spent fourteen years of his childhood there. Many of his poems are based on personal experience; ‘Mid-term Break’, for example, was based on the death of his younger brother; and are laid out in settings akin to those he is familiar to. His poem, ‘Blackberry Picking’, is set on a farm and explores the simple luxury of picking fresh, ripe blackberries, his inspiration quite possibly being his ownRead MoreEssay on Analysis of Blackberry Picking by Seamus Heaney959 Words   |  4 PagesAnalysis of Blackberry Picking by Seamus Heaney Once the reader can passes up the surface meaning of the poem Blackberry-Picking, by Seamus Heaney, past the emotional switch from sheer joy to utter disappointment, past the childhood memories, the underlying meaning can be quite disturbing. Hidden deep within the happy-go-lucky rifts of childhood is a disturbing tale of greed and murder. Seamus Heaney, through clever diction, ghastly imagery, misguided metaphors and abruptly changing forms, ingeniouslyRead MoreA Comparison of Death of a Naturalist and Digging by Seamus Heaney1517 Words   |  7 PagesA Comparison of Death of a Naturalist and Digging by Seamus Heaney The poems Death of a Naturalist and Digging have many similarities, and contrasts. Some of the reoccurring themes in the two poems include memories of childhood and changes in the life of the writer. There are contrasts too, in Death of a Naturalist; the writer is concentrating on himself and his own experiences in life, rather than the experiences of others. In Digging, the opposite is true,Read More Comparing Digging and Follower by Seamus Heaney Essays1864 Words   |  8 Pagesby Seamus Heaney and then compare the poems, explaining both their differences and similarities. The first poem I am going to examine is digging by Seamus Heaney. I will first comment on the title of the poem. Digging has both a metaphorical and literal meaning to it. The literal meaning is that his father and his grandfather are farmers. The poem talks about the men Digging and working, so this explains the literal meaning of the poem. The metaphorical meaning is that Seamus Heaney