The theme of this poem is personal feelings – the conflict between needs of the flesh and teaching of society codes of behavior. The idea behind this poem is simple: a couple, (possibly adolescents), go out for a walk on a spring evening. However, their good upbringing forces them to move cautiously, to “preserve classic decorum” and to refrain from publishing feeling. Primitive love and sexual attraction are keys to this poem as well.
The setting is cleverly situated – Heaney masterfully interweaves time and location to provide an precise description of the characters’ thoughts and emotions. He chose the spring (the season of love, or as the French would put it – la saison de l’amour) to highlight the thrilling love experience that the characters undergo.
The poem is characterized by personification of the lovers’ surroundings – the atmosphere is sexually charged. Throughout the poem, Heaney provides a confluence of sentiment through the characters’ bodies and minds; this is referred to in line 7: “traffic holding its breath”, which reflects the couple’s anticipation. The sky is labeled as a “tense diaphragm”. In short, the atmosphere of the poem is “tremulous as a hawk”, deadly and nervous, but also maintains an abrupt calmness and serenity.
Heaney uses diction that would normally express the innocence of love to convey a darker message. There is a clever play on words; the word ‘diaphragm’ is a pun – innocently, it may mean the respiratory system, but on a ‘darker’ perspective, it may be defined as the contraceptive (woman’s condom).
Heaney’s use of imagery in the poem approaches the essence of love in a shy and tentative way. His picturesque images of nature is cleverly used to emphasize the setting and theme of the poem. An example of this would be the imagery of birds, namely the swan and t he hawk. These two birds are used and covey ideas and feelings effectively. The swan alludes to the connotation of life long mating. However, the hawk personifies the tremulous atmosphere, the fear, the anxiety and the nervousness of the moment. The bird imagery underscores the poem – the idea that love is ephemeral.
Heaney draws a parallel between new romances and childlike relationships. Although the air is simulated with chariness and excitement, what develops is simply “nervous childish talks” and nothing more. Patience and fear for regret is captured in stanza four – the speaker blames “juvenilia” for their supposed courage and will-power to keep them from taking the relationship to the next level. “Still waters running deep” portrays ambivalence – the mixture of contentment, anxiety, satisfaction and impatience.
The clever imagery and language that Heaney uses portrays the purity of the unspoken terms of love and the essence of love in a shy and tentative way. Underscoring the poem is the idea that love is ephemeral.
