Contrasting the point of most of the imagery is someway connected to water; in the fourth stanza tree imagery is used. The windeby girls’ skin is compared to a tree without bark as Seamus Heaney wrote ‘ she was a barked sapling’. This metaphor emphasizes the time she has been down under the peatlands as she almost has been pealed away and died again jus like a tree that looses its bark. This all comes back to the emphasis of time. Enjambment also carries on the imagery onto the third and fourth line of this stanza as the words ‘dug up’, ‘oak-bone’ and ‘brain-firkin’ are used. ‘Oak-bone’ and ‘Brain-firkin’ are compound words that show kenning in this poem. Kenning is an old English poetic device that compresses two elements of a similie into a single image, just as Seamus Heaney has done. The use of kenning expresses and shows his Nordic desire to link the past to the present. These compound words are also metaphors and are a clear example of where Seamus Heaney links the past to the present.
The next stanza to an extent is bog imagery as lines one and two are referring to her decomposed body. Decomposition is implied as the poem says ‘her shaved head / like a stubble of black corn’, but also her loss of hair shows her loss of beauty, as during the time of the windeby girl hair was a symbol of beauty and this also shows Seamus Heaneys’ links between the past and the present. The third line in this stanza also shows decomposition as the word ‘soiled’ is used and that represents the peatlands. Not only does the third line ‘her blindfold a soiled bandage’ show that but it also gives us the idea she was hanged, I came to that conclusion as people usually put blind folds on those who are hung as it is very unpleasant to see somebody’s face as they are executed, a bag or a blindfold is generally used. However you maybe thinking but how can you also tell she was hung? Well, I took into consideration of the first stanza where Seamus Heaney described the rope and how he imaged it pulled. The final line of this stanza is a very clear contrast as the poem says ‘her noose a ring’, because the ‘her noose’ part of the line represents the slipknot of how she was hung but the ‘a ring’ represents a wedding ring, this contrast could be called a love hate one making it a oxymoron. This also gives us the idea of why she was hung, love leading to adultery.
The sixth stanza further mores my point as it talks about her love throughout her life and what she did. You see this as the poem says ‘to store / the memories of love.’ The use of the full stop shows the end of one life she had and onto her sinful life ad the next line says ‘Little adulteress’ it proves she committed that sin and what seems to us a young age wasn’t in the day of the windeby girl. As their lifespan on average was thirty so she had lived half her life however to us forty is now our halfway point. This also shows the use of time and links between histories. However the last line of the stanza says ‘before they punish you’ it shows she must have done something wrong and just like today people get punished for their actions. This could also be used to show the links in time because today people don’t get hung for adultery but in the time of the windeby girl you would have.
Moving on to the seventh stanza it begins with the idea once again of hair being connected to beauty as the first line says ‘you were flaxen-haired,’ the idea of beauty is the main theme in this stanza as the words ‘undernourished’ ‘tar-black face was beautiful’ are used however they are all examples of her beauty leaving her. Once again the kenning is used in ‘tar-black’, however this also emphasizes the peatlands as they usually turn their victims skin black. The last line is also shows like at the beginning Seamus Heaney’s relationship with the windeby girl as it says ‘My poor scapegoat’.
However the next stanza takes a different approach rather than beauty, as it carries on the idea of the relationship between Seamus Heaney and the windeby girl as the poem says ‘ I almost love you’, this gives us the impression that he sympathizes with her but also at the same time thinks she got what was coming to her, you see this through the ‘almost’. On the hand the next line go into a deeper meaning and is a biblical illusion. The line says ‘the stones of silence’, this is referred to as a biblical illusion as it complies with the story in John Chapter 8 Verses 1 – 12. This passage describes a story of how a women was stoned to death because she committed adultery, just as the windeby girl did. However ‘stones of silence’ could also be a piece of evidence to show the connections between the past and the present as today we would not stone someone to death for committing adultery well at least not in this continent. It shows how far we have come from the time of the windeby girl and how much more tolerant we have become towards committing crimes. The following line also complies with the idea of time and Seamus Heaney’s relationship with the windeby girl, as the poem states ‘I am the artful voyeur’ by putting this line into the poem we get an idea of how Seamus Heaney’s feelings are pulled into the poem making it all the more a powerful but emotional poem. Seamus Heaney is referred to as a peeping tom almost but as the line implies this it also indicates to me that he is looking deep within himself and looking at all the wrong things he has done in order to understand and only begin to imagine how the people at the time of the windeby girl must have felt watching her be killed and there is nothing you can do but stand there helpless. You see this in more detail when stanza 10 is commented on. This expresses Seamus Heaney’s own guilt showing me that he also abides by moral responsibilities.
Moving onto the ninth stanza, it starts off with a half rhyme in the first two lines ‘of your brain’s exposed / and darkened combs,’ this is used to emphasize the decaying of her body but also the digging up of it as well. The poem continues to expand on this idea in the next two lines, ‘your muscles’ webbing / and all your numbered bones:’ Agriculture imagery is shown through the line ‘your muscles’ webbing’, but a different meaning is being highlighted in the next line. ‘And all your numbered bones:’ is another biblical allusion from the psalms used in the Catholic Church. The psalms read ‘They have pierced my hands and feet, they have numbered all my bones.’ This not only proves my point but also links to rebirth and time, as Jesus Christ was killed but arose from the dead when his body was buried in a tomb, just as the windeby girls’ body was buried in the peatlands and arose once again when she was dug up. All these stanzas that I have mentioned have all been about the past and about the windeby girls body, however the poem now takes a turning when it comes to the past tense.
The tenth Stanza however is the first official present stanza we come across. It starts off with a link to eighth stanza as I already mentioned, ‘I who have stood dumb’ refers back to the line ‘I am the artful voyeur’ as they both show how Seamus Heaney could have done something to help but he never therefore he feels as guilty as the people who committed the windeby girl to her fate. Line two and three in this stanza takes a different approach towards reflecting time as the poems says ‘when your betraying sisters, / cauled in tar’ this is considered to time as this illustrates the time when Catholic girls that befriended the British soldiers during the early 1970’s were tarred and feathered as a punishment, condemned by the IRA. Also by using the word ‘cauled’ it is referring towards birthing imagery as cauled is an extra membrane which is meant to be considered lucky, however you weren’t so lucky if you was going to be tarred and feathered were you? ‘Wept by the railings’ is the next line, which we can see the use of present tense. Illustrating my point of how this is the first official present stanza of the poem.
The last stanza raps the poem up in Seamus Heaney’s deciding comment on whether he agrees or disagrees of the IRA’s actions towards the windeby girl and people during the 1970’s. But to contrast coming to a decision whether he agrees or not is something in which Seamus Heaney doesn’t do as he uses the words ‘civilized outrage’, which is an oxymoron to emphasize his point how he doesn’t condemn or condones the IRA actions as he is outraged at them but also sympathizes at the thought of punishment. But are we still like the Stone Age when it comes to drastic actions? We still punish women if they step out of what is considered as appropriate actions inside our society.
Although the poem ‘Punishment’ is one of Seamus Heaney’s very successful ones it is not the only one. The other poem I mentioned at the being was ‘Bog Queen’ this isn’t another poem about the windeby girl but is still to do with the bog bodies and the peatlands.
This poem contains many geographical references of Denmark and Ireland, purely because the Bog Queen was that of a Danish Viking but was found in the peatlands, Ireland, this links Jutland and Ireland. These references will be commented on whilst I analyze this poem. Well, to begin I think you should realise that this poem is spoke in a different way to the other poem, this one is a monologue of the bog queen. However the ‘Bog Queen’ and ‘Punishment’ poems are alike in the way that they both feature enjambment, but on the other hand this enjambment emphasizes the idea of flowing like a glacier running down a mountain, this two is connected to the geographical reference. This Bog Queen is seen as almost a Kathleen ni Houlihan that is a kind of mother Ireland. This amazing bog body was the first documented body ever taken from the bog. It was discovered on the moira Estate about 20 miles south of Belfast in 1718. This poem too shows Seamus Heaney’s desire to link the bog bodies to his own time and has written ‘Bog Queen’ in an old-fashioned way of quatrains which link the past.
To start off we immediately notice that Seamus Heaney is writing in the way of the Bog Queen as the pronoun ‘I’ is used when the poem says on the very first line ‘I lay waiting’. The next line in this stanza includes the geographical reference I was talking about previously as the second line mentions the word ‘demesne’. Religion is expressed throughout the remaining lines of the stanza as the text says things such as ‘Heathery levels’ and ‘glass-toothed stone.’ This is referring to purgatory, which is a time where souls wait whilst they are being sent either to heaven or hell. Repetition which is used when the word ‘Between’ is repeated during the second and third lines is to emphasize that the souls are trapped with no where to go but to wait, just as the Bog Queen has to wait while she is being discovered as she has lived one life before she died and purgatory is almost like the peatlands, just a temporary place to wait before you move on to your next life. This all ties in with the theme of time being used throughout Seamus Heaney’s poems.
The second stanza also carries on the idea of time, but also introduces the readers to her body. The stanza begins with ‘My body was Braille’ this metaphor implies the imagery of being blind by using the word ‘Braille’. In comparison to this it also shows us that Seamus Heaney has literally changed her body into text. The passing of time is shown through the text when it says ‘dawn suns groped over my head / And cooled at my feet’ as it shows she has experienced many times when the sun has arose and set over and over again, just as the Vikings are hundreds and hundreds of years old. The word ‘groped’ is very onomatopoeic; this also emphasizes the fact of time.
Moving on to the third stanza, the passing of time is also shown here as well. ‘The seeps of winter’ show that the Bog Queen is use to the winters creeping around time and time again, and the slow oozing of time. This personification of her body and winter also adds to the idea of the land eating her body, just as the words ‘Digested me’ and ‘illiterate roots’ do. Another interesting point that is expressed through the line ‘illiterate roots’ line is that the plants cannot understand her or read her thoughts and feelings this once again links to when Seamus Heaney refers her body to text.
The next stanza also contains personification during the 1st line, ‘Pondered and
died’ as the line personifies the idea of the plants. It also provides evidence for
Seamus Heaney’s desire to connect the bog bodies time to his own as it shows
time passing by through the use of plants dieing and being reborn. This also
creates sympathy towards the Bog Queen as it highlights the fact that no one
understands her, just as the ‘illiterate roots’ did. The imagery of plants is
continued on line 3 as ‘stomach and socket’ is written and this very thoughtful
alliteration emphasizes the idea of plants growing in her body, once again a link
of time in this poem. The next line is also connected to the Bog Queen not being
understood and the emphasis of time as for the second time the words ‘I lay
waiting’ occurs, this emphasizes time in two ways, the use of the word waiting
shows the passing of time but also because it is used at the beginning of the
poem. This affects the reader, as this simple sentence is quite catchy and easy to
point out during the poem making people think back to the beginning showing
time.
Following this point the next stanza begins with ‘On the gravel bottom’ this
connects to the previous line. By the use of the word ‘bottom’ and ‘waiting’ it gives
me the idea of being lost and forgotten under all the layers of the peat once again
showing the image of time. The next line also expresses this image as the text
says ‘My brain darkening,’ because it emphasizes the idea of the peatlands
tanning her body over a long period of time. The emphasis of the idea of death is
taken off the next line as it says ‘A jar of spawn’ which is birthing imagery but
while using such a clever feature to express life it also expresses death due to
the way Seamus Heaney puts the brain into context as death so when the brain is
referred to as ‘jar of spawn’ it is sort of ironic as it expresses both death and life,
the two main features of time. ‘Fermenting underground’ is the next line in this
brilliant poem, this indicates to me the idea of decomposition, which links to the
‘seeps of winter’ line in stanza 3, as they both share this idea.
However the next stanza, just like the previous poem ‘Punishment’ contains the
Natural ingredient ‘amber’ as it is mentioned on the first line of this stanza. But the word before this is ‘Baltic’ which is a geographical reference. ‘Baltic amber’ is a tree sap that crystallizes just like the ‘amber beads’ in ‘Punishment’. Although to me that this line shows time it also gives me some background information about the Bog Queen, as amber is a very rich, semi-precious stone that would have been very expensive during her time. The metaphor ‘Bruised berries under my nails,’ is used next, to describe the effect of the peat upon the body, by comparing the black colour of her body to bruised berries not only shows the colour and effect but also it illustrates the natural things which grow around the peatlands and all the things it swallows. ‘The vital hoard reducing’ I believe is linked to the previous stanza about ‘Fermenting’. I also think that the use of the word ‘vital’ supports my thought of how the Bog Queen’s life was to the people around her at the time and how she was looked up to, at least this is what Seamus Heaney is implying to the reader through his careful use of language. The line following this is very important in the way history is linked towards this poem as it creates the idea and proof that the Seamus Heaney believed or knew that the IRA was sexually connected towards the young Catholic girls I previously talked about as he wrote ‘In the crock of the pelvis’ this metaphorical language makes the light shine through the clouds as the meaning to me creeps threw as I know the background information of what Seamus Heaney believed about the IRA.
In comparison to the fact that this poem is called ‘Bog Queen’ the next stanza starts off with ‘My diadem grew carious’, the word ‘diadem’ carries the meaning of three things, the Bog Queens authority, her crown of her head and also the crown she wore. However, the word ‘carious’ means to decay but can also mean crumbled bone, this emphasizes the time part of this poem. The image of the Queens authority is also continued over to the next line by enjambment; the line ‘Gemstones dropped’ carries the meaning of her very precious and expensive stones falling out of her crown and being lost forever just as she thought she would be over time however she wasn’t lost over time she was discovered. ‘Like the bearings of history’ is the way Seamus Heaney ties off this stanza and this definitely shows time as it means the bearings of history and history is time.
The opening up of stanza eight includes a term of geographical reference, ‘black glacier’, this is the way in which enjambment tries to emphasize as it lets each line to run over, just as a glacier runs down a mountain. Geographical reference is used once again in line three of this stanza, when the text says ‘Phoenician stickwork’ it also highlights some facts about how important this women was as Phoenician stickwork was from the east Mediterranean and was made by Arabs, this would have been very valuable and expensive especially to ship over to Ireland or you could interpret that she traveled also showing she had money as many people during her time found it awfully hard to travel if they wasn’t very very rich. The next line once again refers to the Bog Queen is a sexual way as the word ‘breasts’’ is used.
Similar points are expressed during the next stanza, geographical reference is once again used throughout as the stanza states ‘moraines’ which is a debris caused by a glacier, this supports my point about how important enjambment is to this poem to give the effect of the glacier. A narrow inlet of sea between high cliffs is known as a fjord, this is mentioned in line three as the line says ‘Like the nuzzle of fjords’. Just as the previous stanza ended on a sexual note so does this one, ‘At my thighs’.
On the other hand, stanza ten begins with ‘The soaked fledge, the heavy / Swaddle of hides’ this illustrates the idea of how her head has animal hides rapped around it, proving once again Seamus Heaney expresses the time connection between the Bog Queen and himself, as this action would of occurred over a long period of time, but not only does this quote express time but it also indicates her authority just as ‘Diadem’ did in stanza seven as these animal hides could also be taken into account as a headdress once again showing importance and money. The remaining two lines also include animal and bird imagery as the words ‘hibernated’ and ‘nest’ are used in order to put across the idea of time passing.
Moving onto the next stanza the image of authority is brought over once again as a short sentence is used for dramatic effect in thought of it would bring across the importance of the action. The line is ‘Which they robbed.’ The three progressing lines of this stanza all interline with each other as they all have the meaning of the Bog Queen being robbed. ‘I was barbered / And stripped / By a turfcutter’s spade’ is the description of how her beauty was robbed away from her, beauty was, at the time of the Bog Queen, shown through someone’s hair. This shows the link of time as now we do not think as much as people did about hair being beauty as now we can change the colour and style of our more so then they could at the time of the Queen. This dramatic stanza express the Bog Queens anger towards the way in which she was treated.
Taking a different approach the next stanza only mentions geographical reference as the word ‘coomb’ is used. Coomb is a short valley or a hollow in a hillside. This simple word indicates time, as today we do not spell it ‘coomb’ however we do spell it ‘combe’. Not much of a difference but this little indication supports my essay about the use of time throughout Seamus Heaney’s two poems.
To contrast with her anger in stanza eleven, the next stanza is very suttle as she continues to express her feelings about her hair through the text however, in a more tone down manner. She mentions a ‘Lord Lady’ in the first line as thought she knows all about them, this too could be a link in showing her authority and also her knowledge. ‘The plait of my hair’ supports my point about showing that she talks about her hair in this stanza; this could be for effect, as she will not let the fact go that she was robbed of her hair just as she may have been robbed of her authority to early then expected. Birthing imagery slips into this stanza through lines three and four. This is highlighted as the words ‘birth-cord’ and ‘had been cut’ both referring to the umbilical cord inside a women’s womb which connects the baby to the mother. This could also be link towards the previous sexual things I mentioned. In a nutshell these two lines could mean that the Bog Queen is born once again but this time from the bog, this is in comparison to the line I previously mentioned ‘A jar of spawn’.
Finally, the last stanza raps the whole poem off, the very first line of this stanza very much expresses time as it says ‘And I rose from the dark’ meaning that she has gone from the past to the present almost as if the founders of her body have resurrected her from the bog. This metaphor for the rising of the Irish Aunt shows Seamus Heaney’s Irish side as it also makes the point more dramatic and effective. The next 3 lines contain words such as ‘Hacked’, ‘Skull-ware’ and ‘Frayed’ these very powerful words are used in order to show that Seamus Heaney doesn’t approve of the British soldiers being in Ireland but he believes that the IRA aren’t the answer as they use sexual and physical violence to their victims, just like the Vikings did. This is another geographical reference towards the peatlands and the Viking Bog Queen.
In conclusion to my analysis of Seamus Heaney’s two poems ‘Punishment’ and ‘Bog Queen’ I feel I have shown some very valid and important links towards Seamus Heaney’s time of life and the life of the bog bodies. I believe that both poems largely express this time connection and through Seamus Heaney’s gift of poetry he shows his readers how much passion and mystery he has towards the bog bodies almost as if he has a one-to-one relationship with each and everyone of them.
By Sandy Clarke
10RF