Consider Heaney's presentation of relationships in Act of Union and one other poem

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Consider Heaney’s presentation of relationships in Act of Union and one other poem

The poem Act Of Union is an allegory and focuses on the theme of relationships. It has a surface meaning of a relationship between a man and woman and the underlying meaning of Ireland and Britain. Its title is from an act passed in parliament in 1800, England’s response the 1789 rebellion. This created from January 1st 1801 onwards, the ‘United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland’.

The extended metaphor used throughout the poem describes what took place between England and Ireland but also a sexual act taking place between a man and woman. The flow of the poem using enjambment also represents the sexual act taking place.        

The language used in the 1st stanza points toward this being a case of rape,

“To slip and flood; a big burst,”

“And arms and legs are thrown”

The use of alliteration and consonance represent the pain and harshness of the act of rape and the invasion of Ireland by England. Yet Heaney goes on to write,

        “I caress The heaving province…”

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this juxtaposition of the sexual act provides a stark contrast and forces us to stop and revaluate exactly why we are reading the poem.

        Topography is also used in the poem to give a female persona to Ireland,

        “Your back is a firm line of eastern coast”

and also the power England holds over Ireland,

        “I am the tall kingdom”

Towards the end of the 1st stanza Heaney writes,

        “Conquest is a lie.”

He means that Ireland always conflicts with England yet they never fully conquer Ireland. It also means that the woman in the poem doesn’t love the man and ...

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