Comparison of Robert Frost's and Seamus Heaney’s poetry, Essay

Both poets, Frost and Heaney wrote in the pastoral tradition, drawing on the natural landscape of Bellaghy, Co Derry and Frost and the farmland of New England, Massachusetts. Respectively Frost is an influence on Heaney evident in the ‘sound of sense’ and Heaney borrowed the Frostian voice of rural vernacular with his use of unadorned language and natural speech rhythms, giving both poets work a conversational intimacy. Likewise, both poets used the everyday quotidian to illuminate universal truths and to extrapolate deeper meanings from ordinary. Similarly they used interactions with the natural world to produce profound revelations about the past, mortality, human loss, childhood, the creative process, journeys and self-discovery.

First element that Heaney uses is diction, it is simple but effective. Diction is word choice, or the style of speaking that a writer, speaker, or character uses. For instance at the end of the poem he says “Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests. / I’ll dig with it” (Heaney 29-31). The diction he uses is simple but it is effective in proving his point of view that he won’t dig with a shovel but instead he’ll use a pen.

The two poems “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Acquainted with the Night” written by Robert Frost are very similar to each other because of the simplistic form of language used and the uses of metaphors. When we first read the poem, it looks like an ordinary poem but once we go in depth and understand the meaning, it becomes so much more. Both of the poem has a very dark, gloomy and lonely setting with a really mysterious tone. There are different metaphors used in each poem to symbolize death; “Sleep” in “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” and “Night” in “Acquainted with the Night.” The characters in the two poem are both in a journey and has come

The Use of Literary Devices in Robert Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

“In the Loop” by Bob Hicok and “Mid-Term Break” by Seamus Heaney are comparable in terms of their symbolic titles, speaker’s perspective, and tragic themes. These two poems diverge only in their physical structure, as neither has rhyme nor meter.

Robert Frost takes our imagination to a journey through wintertime with 
his two poems "Desert Places" and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening". These two poems reflect the beautiful scenery that is present in the snow covered woods and awakens us to new feelings. Even though these poems both have winter settings they contain very different tones. One has a feeling of depressing loneliness and the other a feeling of welcome solitude. They show how the same setting can have totally different impacts on a person depending on 
their mindset at the time. These poems are both made up of simple stanzas and diction but they are not straightforward poems.

Heaney’s attitude towards death is presented in different perspectives within Funeral Rites. A pun, based on a homonym, embedded within the title itself, suggests one’s right to have a funeral : for there to be an occasion for family and friends to mourn one’s death whilst celebrating their life. In Funeral Rites, Heaney demonstrates the beautiful serenity associated with death, while also highlighting the tragic aspect of death and dying. Funeral Rites is composed of three parts (the first of which I am going to focus on in this essay), with Heaney focusing on different attitudes towards death and dying within each section. For example, in the first section, Heaney concentrates on funerals in the past, as established by use of the past tense. The transition to present tense in the second section is confirmed by the strong adverb ‘Now’, and future tense in the third section highlights the change in customs within the change in time period. With Funeral Rites’ distinct structure, Heaney is indicating his nostalgia for the past, as well as highlighting his outlook on the situation in Ireland.

In “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”, Frost describes a thick patch of woods that are a long way from anything. He does not go into great detail describing them, leaving that to the reader’s imagination. He merely describes them as “lovely, dark and deep.” This lack of detail is to help us focus not so much on all the things that are there, as the things that aren’t. He mentions that the horse must be thinking that this is strange to stop here, with no barn near. The only thing that is nearby is nature. The lake is frozen and the trees and ground are covered with snow. During a snowstorm, sound does not travel very well. It is very muddled and muted. The only sounds that are mentioned in the poem are the bells on the horse’s harness and the wind. So, the rider is stopping to smell the roses. He is taking a break from the world around

Using diction, Heaney further demonstrates the speaker's transition from optimistic to pessimistic as time goes on. In the beginning of the poem, Heaney has a entirely different diction than he concludes with. Choosing such words as "glossy"(4), "sweet"(5), and "tinkling"(13), Heaney gives a sense of cheer and happiness as the reader follows along to the speaker's reminiscing, as express that the speaker has a past of joy and innocence. Heaney creating this diction is highly important in the poem as Heaney drastically changes diction in the second stanza representing the speaker's transition into depressing adulthood. Now using words like "glutting"(19), "stinking"(20), and "rot"(23), Heany provides insight on how the speaker, like many of

As the speaker casually calls their parents, a setting of calm expectations is established. While greeting the speaker, the mother’s decision to “run out and get” (1) the father highlights the lack of urgency that is present. The mother is calm and fetches the father in an expected and relaxed fashion, further establishing the calm expectations of the ongoing call. The mother additionally states that “the weather here’s so good” (2). Heaney’s use of the word “good” reflects the setting of the mother and father’s home; the atmosphere of where they live is pleasant and unperturbed. The “weather” serves as a projection of the father’s own state, implying that the father is in good health and that death is not yet looming over him. The last spoken words in the poem reveal that the father was conducting “a bit of weeding” (3). The word “weeding” highlights the capability of the

This poignant dichotomy is seen explicitly in two poems in Seamus Heaney’s Field Work. One poem, “The Strand at Lough Beg” is written for “Heaney’s cousin Colum McCartney (ambushed and shot in a sectarian killing)” and is rich with pastoral scenery, dark tones, and religious imagery (Vendler 60). Another poem, “A Postcard from North Antrim” is about “his friend the social worker Sean Armstrong (shot by a ‘pointblank teatime bullet’)” (Vendler 60). These two elegies, both with a strong presence of Heaney’s personal voice, are imbued with a sort of ambiguity as Heaney struggles with the death of two people who were both very close to him. In both poems, Heaney “tries to converse with and question the dead” in an attempt to rationalize, or at least display his sentiments on the untimely deaths (Parker 159). It is interesting to watch Heaney oscillate in imagery, tone and diction as he progresses through both poems. This wavering can be seen as a result of Heaney’s background.

The frogs are ‘poised like mud grenades’ which brings out images of guns and strength, The other central theme is childhood and growing up. The poet is describing his happy attitude towards nature and frogspawn was ‘best of all.’ Heaney’s school teacher Miss Walls constantly uses childish language, like ‘mommy’ and ‘daddy frogs’ to convey his innocence at that age. In the

I have been asked before you today to discuss my opinion on the poetry of Seamus Heaney, and although this style of learning wouldn’t be what you’d be used to, I’m hoping you will all benefit from what I have to say and leave here with a clear understanding of Heaney’s brilliance, questioning the meaning behind what he has written.

Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” was written in 1922 then later published in 1923. In the poem, the speaker expresses his feelings and thoughts of the woods during the darkest night of the year. The speaker and his horse makes a random stop in a certain area of the woods. The speaker seemed very interested in the scenery of that part of the woods. Although the speaker wants to stay, he has to keep his promise and continue on. Frost uses personification, imagery, and alliteration to express the feelings and moods from the snowy night in the woods.

Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) was an Irish poet and playwright. His poem “Punishment” was first published in 1975 in a collection of poems called “North.” Heaney wrote this poem and collection of poems after discovering several bog bodies which dated back to the 1500s. The particular women he is describing in the poem, Windeby, is thought to have died of unnatural causes. Heaney compares the circumstances to that of the IRA against the British in Ulster. Heaney talks about the injustice and brutality of the crimes committed to