Seamus Heaney Blackberry-Picking Essay

From the beginning of the poem, the speaker tells of his naïve, consuming world of blackberries. Because the

With references to the death of dreams, hope and innocence, poetry is often written to evoke a personal and strongly associated response. The death of these intangible concepts can be difficult to grasp, thus stylistic features are harnessed to explore this subject matter more comprehensibly. Firstly, personification and metaphor is used to clarify how these concepts can die. In Seamus Heaney’s poem Blackberry Picking, the blackberries in this case are a conceit for the picker’s innocence, as he narrates how “the sweet flesh would turn sour”. Metaphor and personification is used by other poets; Gwen Harwood likens the subject’s dreams to a dead mouse and Angelou’s “caged bird stands on the grave of dreams”.

Death is something that at some point will come to each of us and has been explored in many forms of literature. “The Raven” and “Incident in a Rose Garden” are two poems that explore common beliefs and misconceptions about death. Though both poems differ in setting, tone, and mood there are surprising similarities in the literary tools they use and in the messages they attempt to convey. The setting and mood establish the tone and feel of a poem. In “The Raven” we are launched into a bleak and dreary winters night where a depressed narrator pines for his dead girlfriend.

It is also debatable that spring in addition to death, spring is being personified. In the seasons, spring is something longed for and vastly anticipated. In this instance the narrator states, “When Spring comes back with rustling shade/ and apple-blossoms fill the air-… I have a rendezvous with death”. (5-7). This is a great illustration in which the author uses juxtaposition, by placing death and spring side by side in order to sharply compare and contrast them. In turn this creates a sharp contrasts between the unpredicted, sudden end of a life, in a “disputable barricade,”(2) versus the much anticipated spring, which would symbolize happiness, life and prosperity. This initiates a train of thought from the reader, perhaps the end of life is not quite as foreboding to the author as we often expect. This is exemplified again when the author mentions his rendezvous with death, and the coming of spring, “When Spring brings back blue days and fair” (6).

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.

Firstly, in Blackberry Picking, Heaney uses the structure of the poem to tell us about human nature. For example, the slow familiar rhythm of the iambic pentameter creates a reflective tone where the voice in the poem looks back at past lessons learnt. This shows how we glamorize the past, even our bad experiences, and make them into stories so we can learn from them. Similarly, heaney uses half-rhyming couplets which soften to reduce the rigidity and create a calm and peaceful, summer scene. This also reflects the blurred, romantic memory of the situation that we apply to all our experience however gruesome. In addition, by using lists and multiple points of enjambment Heaney give the poem a childlike and excited tone. This conveys the image not only of children and their views on the world, but also how we consider the past and become children again. Finally, the long first stanza filled with the collection of the “sweet” fruit is destroyed quickly from the short, second stanza full of rot, decay and “rat-grey fungus”. This suggest that however much we gather and hoard our wealth will always deteriorate, often though death. This emphasise how horrible the human nature

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.

Another interesting feature of the poem is the constant use of imagery, specifically light and dark. The speaker consistently refers to death as “night” (Meyer, 247), and clearly refers to life as “day” (Meyer, 247) and “light” (Meyer, 247). The speaker uses words like “burn”(Meyer, 247), “bright”(Meyer, 247), “sun”(Meyer, 248), and “blaze” (Meyer, 248) in lines discussing life. While this is common imagery for life and death, its use in this poem does not feel trite. Instead it leaves one with the feeling of deaths inevitability, as night always follows day. This lends itself heavily to the tone as the speaker grapples with his father’s impending death. The only comfort the speaker seems to be able to find is in the life his father lead. The use of such dichotomous imagery puts the tone in perspective. There are only two

Second, Heaney uses figurative language like simile and metaphor to compare the speaker’s love to the blackberry picking process. Heaney uses

Of all the joys that nature has to offer, my favorite is berry picking. Whether it be strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, I love picking, and eating, them all. I enjoy watching berry canes and bushes grow and produce fruit, and I have many fond memories of this process. Because this poem reminds me of my Grandma, details every step of blackberry growth, and makes me appreciate nature more, I love the way this poem encourages me to appreciate the joy and simplicity of nature.

Most people want to live a happy life. As people grow up not everyone gets to live the way they dreamed. These people will just live in their memories. Seamus Heaney writes about youthful times of joy and despair in his poem Blackberry-Picking. The author's use of intense diction, deep symbolism, and vivid imagery expresses the speaker's previous view of optimism and avarice as a youth. Heaney uses many literary pathways like elocution help develop the poem.

The author explores the idea of death, and how people are afraid of it up until they’ve lived long enough to not be afraid of it any longer. It wasn’t hard for me to discern the significance of this poem. I don’t mean to boast about myself but rather to highlight the fact that this poem is written very simply, even though the poem is of a heavy topic. Because of this, I feel that the poem seems to give off a natural feeling when reading. I believe that because the poem is so casual, it only emphasizes its underlying meaning that death is a natural occurrence.

'Blackberry Picking' by Seamus Heany is a poem which explores many different meanings about greed, growing up, how we struggle in life

Weaving Maturity and Innocence Together; an Analysis of “Blackberry Picking” As people grow into adulthood, they experience a loss of innocence, a series of events that leads them to see the world in a different, darker lens. Seamus Heaney’s 1999 poem “Blackberry Picking” explores this idea. This poem uses mature diction combined with a childish rhyme scheme of AABB to explain how the sweetness of one’s youth becomes soured when they experience reality and how this process is inevitable in tainting their past.

A Blackberry-Picking is a poem about a person going to pick and eat blackberries. The poem starts off as a person lusting over the berries. Then you start to notice to get the berries the person have to work their way to them, getting scratched and their boots getting bleached. Once he/she arrives at the berries he/she starts to notice they are starting to ferment and turn sour. He/she knows this will keep happening but nevertheless he/she continues this cycle. In the poem Blackberry- Picking, by Seamus Heaney, portrays desire as sweet flesh that is longed for would turn sour once reality strikes by using terminology to emphasize the feeling and imagery used towards the berries or desire, Heaney also uses similes to further portray the passion and lusting towards desire; therefore portraying desire can have a sweet and warm feeling but it will always fade and turn sour and the cycle will continue to repeat itself.