Act of union seamus heaney analysis

HEANEY HINTS
When you see the 3 poems, look for some links like these regarding the key concerns
of
Heaney.

Loss of childhood innocence
o
Death of a Naturalist
–
think of speaker’s initiation into adulthood.
The boy is
a naturalist in two senses
–
1. Because he is in tune with nature 2. Also a
naturalist because he is not yet tied down by the trappings of society.
Behaves as he wishes. Intuitive. Heaney’s pleasure in experiencing the
countryside in all its fac
ets.
o
Mid
-
Term Break
–
brother’s sudden death brings him into adult world. Sees
father’s despair.
o
Follower
–
speaker writing about
relationship with father. Admired father as
child but growing into adulthood lost enthusiasm. Father more of a nuisance
than
someone to be admired.

Conflicting emotions/Conflict
o
Regret
o
Sense of freedom
o
Think about how it is conflict that creates some of the poetry

Violence
o
Massacre in Requiem for Croppies
o
Bruise on brother killed by car
o
Cousin’s murder

Pain of victims
o
Suffe
ring of Tollund Man merges into suffering of people of Northern Ireland

History
o
Potato famine in Ireland in 1845
-
48
o
‘Requiem for the Croppies’
–
is a historical poem and refers to the climax of
the great rebellion of 1798
. The speaker sees a new beginning. The seeds in
the pockets of the dead rebels are like the germination of further revolutions
in the years to come.
o
Sense of commemoration of those who died in service of their country
o
Sense of inequality
–
farmers again
st government.
o
Social order
-
‘The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp.’
o
Way he merges past and present in some poems.
o
A sense of pagan origins of Ireland
o
Heaney suggesting seeds of present Ireland troubles sown in the past
o
Exploring his own
family history eg. Murder of his cousin.

Death
o
Is there a darkness or background of death in the poem?

Love
o
Love of wife
o
Of lost brother
o
Love of Ireland
o
Love of landscape

Bogs

Binding together of people and place
o
Wants people to get along
o
Wants to make
reader feel more secure

Rituals
o
Of death
o
Of families
o
Of countries/cultures/ancient times

Opened Ground
o
Wounds of landscape
o
Wounds of Irish history
o
Remember words come from ‘Act of Union’ poem
o
Uncovering emotions, events of past, personal concerns, honesty
TYPE OF POEM

Structure
o
Is it a ballad?
Sense of a folk story?
o
Tight, even stanzas
o
Free flowing
o
Sections
–
Heaney labelling I and II
o
Enjambment
o
Caesura
o
What variations between the three poems?

Pace
o
How is poem sped up? Slowed down?

Punctuation
o
Question marks
o
Exclamation marks
o
Full stops
o
Commas
o
Colons or semi
-
colons
o
What is their effect?
o
Does use of punctuation vary between the 3 poems?

Alliteration
–
matching consonants
–
actually specify them in your response

Assonance
–
think about vowel sou
nds that give rhythm

Onomatopoeia
–
harsh words, slippery words, loving words,

Sounds

Senses


Imagery
o
Of the countryside

Merging of Past with Present
o
Think of The Tollund Man where the murder of the four young men is linked
to sacrificial death of The T
ollund Man

Naming of Places

World of adult, world of child

Voice of poet
–
first person, third person
o
Is poet detached? Is he close up?

Feelings of speaker/poet
–
o
Does he feel guilt?
o
Horror
o
Shame
o
Fear of young child
o
Insecurity
o
Sense of alienation

Way
Heaney brings opposites together

Use of historical analogies