Diction In Blackberry-Picking By Seamus Heaney

In the play “A Raisin In The Sun” Hansberry uses abstract diction and dialogue to support the argument of when life doesn’t seem to give you an answer, create one. The play is a very powerful play with many life lessons and truths about our state in the 1950’s, it also shows our growth from then to now, I will show you how this play supports the argument when life doesn’t seem to give you an answer, create one. The characters in the play start to give up around the middle, as it seems they have else they can do and no way for them to make more money to move to a better house, I think Hansberry is saying that despite all your setbacks and downfall that you must continue to reach for the stars. In the play, Hansberry uses abstract diction,

In this part of the passage, Ray Bradbury (the author) uses imagery, diction, and figurative language to foreshadow the ending of “The Veldt.” He uses these to foreshadow the ending of the story by showing that something had been killed recently and that everything had seemed a bit too real because of all the odors.

In Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Blackberries,” a youthful speaker seems to be living past the boundaries of city life and exhibits qualities of rural living. The poem tells of the speaker’s adventure of picking blackberries from a thicket and encountering the duality of urban society. Readers of “Blackberries” might at first be puzzled by the speaker’s youthful memory of picking berries, but a closer analysis of the poem allows readers to recognize that the speaker’s internal conflict originates from strict societal boundaries and the loss of his childhood innocence.

Two of the poems written by Seamus Heaney, “Digging” and “Blackberry Picking”, contain recurring themes while both discussing entirely different scenes. The first poem, “Digging”, talks about Heaney’s memories of hearing his father digging in the potato garden outside the house. The second poem, “Blackberry-Picking”, carries a similar solemn tone, while describing another memory of Heaney’s of his experience with picking blackberries. These poems by Heaney share similar themes of reflection of his past experiences in which he dissects important life lessons from everyday events such as the passage of time and the uncertainty of life.

There is a conflict between practicality and sentimentality conveyed through the use of both literal and figurative language by poet Mary Oliver in “The Black Walnut Tree.” There is an alternation from a debate between mother and daughter rationalizing reasons of selling the black walnut tree- that sits in the family’s backyard- in order to pay off their mortgage, to the symbolic viewing and characterization of the tree as a reflection of the family’s history and what value it holds to further generations. Despite the “whip-crack of the mortgage” experienced every month, cutting down the black walnut tree would be a heinous deception on the family’s heritage.

Dark words and phrases are initially sprinkled throughout the poem giving it a sense of despondence. For example, Oliver uses the phrase, “the dark burred/ faintly belching/ bogs” which describes the swamp as dark and grim (6-8). The imagery of the swamp is very dark because it symbolizes the hardships that people may have during their lifetimes. Crossing the swamp is a very difficult task, and Oliver compares it to the challenges of life. Therefore, she states “My bones/ knock together at the pale/ joints” (13-15). This once again demonstrates the difficulty of crossing the swamp as Oliver faces many physical challenges including the pain of her old bones. The author transitions from these dark and negative images to illustrations of hope and growth in the next few lines. For example, she describes “a poor/ dry stick given/ one more chance by the whims/ of swamp water” to take root and grow (28-30). This demonstrates how people may face tremendously difficult obstacles to overcome in their lifetimes similar to a dry stick having difficulty taking root. However, these challenges allow people to attain success. Without struggle, there would be no achievement in life. It is the hardships in life that truly allow people to appreciate success once it is achieved. Oliver concludes the fabulous piece with more uplifting and positive imagery of a

In Geary Hobson’s poem “Deer Hunting”, very different types of diction are used. “Deer Hunting I” has a “redneck” and arrogant diction. “Deer Hunting II” has a peaceful and appreciative diction. Hobson uses contrasting dictions because he wants to emphasize that the way the men hunt in “Deer Hunting I” is disrespectful to nature. “Deer Hunting I” and “Deer Hunting II” are different and alike in several ways.

fair”, you can tell this is the voice of a child. There is also a

In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne often demonstrates the frailty of humans. Nature is often described as beautiful, while the Puritan society and human nature are viewed in a harsh light. Hawthorne illustrates that human nature is flawed and judgmental through use of figurative language, critical diction, and symbolism.

Written in 1980, Galway Kinnell's Blackberry Eating is a poem which creates a strong metaphoric relationship between the tangible objects of blackberries, and the intangible objects of words. The speaker of the poem feels a strong attraction to the sensory characteristics (the touch, taste, and look) of blackberries. The attraction he feels at the beginning of the poem exclusively for blackberries is paralleled in the end by his appetite and attraction to words. The rush the speaker gets out of blackberry eating is paralleled to the enjoyment he finds in thinking about certain words; words which call up the same sensory images the blackberries embody.

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.

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, ingeniously tells the tale that is understood and rarely spoken aloud.

is the idea of the bone as stone, with the mind as a catapult. This

In the poem “After Apple-Picking”, Robert Frost has cleverly disguised many symbols and allusions to enhance the meaning of the poem. One must understand the parallel to understand the central theme of the poem. The apple mentioned in the poem could be connected to the forbidden fruit from the Garden of Eden. It essentially is the beginning of everything earthly and heavenly, therefore repelling death. To understand the complete meaning of Frost’s poem one needs to be aware that for something to be dead, it must have once had life. Life and death are common themes in poetry, but this poem focuses on what is in between, life’s missed experiences and the regret that the speaker is left with.

Blackberry picking by Seamus Heaney is about time, gluttony, limitations of life, and to some extent, the struggles of life. Heaney writes retrospectively about his life, with hindsight, about how he as a child, would go blackberry picking during a particular time of year.