The Tollund Man

Becki Lee The Tollund Man Coursework The Tollund Man is one of Europe's best-known bog bodies. He was found, alongside The Grauballe Man in the early 1950s. Bog bodies recovered from the past are quite wide spread throughout Northern Europe, especially in Denmark, Germany and Ireland. The peat perfectly preserves the bodies due to anaerobic conditions, although the bodies are found blackened, their fingertips, hair and clothing are all still intact. Seamus Heaney uses the bog bodies in his poetry to "uncover, in their meditations, a history of Ireland's conquest, first by Viking's and later by the English". 'Tollund Man' opens quietly and effectively like Glob's initial description, "an evocative and poetic prose", and it is mirrored by the structure of quatrains which is divided into three sections. The first verse is mostly monosyllabic, 'some day I will...to see his peat...' making the words sound hard, which sets the scene as it is a serious subject. There is also no repetition of vowels or consonants which shows a lack in fluency. The repetition of p in the words 'peat' and 'pods' makes the verse sound very pronounced. Moreover, the smallness of his head is defined by the short i's and alliterated p's of the monosyllabic words in the first verse. "The balance of the initial and final p's in the fourth line seals the

  • Word count: 1209
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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An Introduction to The Great Famine

An Introduction to The Great Famine After a warm, uninterrupted summer, the late summer beckoned, and at the beginning of September, when the potatoes were to be harvested, it became clear that entire crops were diseased and unfit for consumption by either man or animal. Within months the disease had spread and the Irish were in the grip of a dire potato blight, which within months had wiped out three quarters of the entire potato crop in Ireland. It should not be thought that the potato blight was the only reason for the famine, granted it was a primary factor, however when coupled with a huge inflation within the Irish population, and that meant due to this, people had significantly less land to grow and harvest crops, this when coupled with the potato blight made it neigh on impossible to prevent the starvation of an entire country. "Our accounts from the northern parts of this country are most deplorable. What the poor people earn on the public works is barely sufficient to support them. All their earnings go for food; and the consequence is, that they have nothing left to procure clothing. Since the extreme cold set in, sickness and death have accordingly followed in its train. Inflammation of the lungs, fevers, and other maladies, resulting from excessive privation, have been bearing away their victims. Many have died in the course of last week; and the illness in

  • Word count: 702
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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'From our study in the "Clearances" collection, what is revealed about Seamus Heaney and his relationship with his mother, and his thoughts and feelings about other members of his family'

'From our study in the "Clearances" collection, what is revealed about Seamus Heaney and his relationship with his mother, and his thoughts and feelings about other members of his family' One of the most moving and emotional of Heaney's works is his collection of sonnets called 'Clearances'. These sonnets were written in dedication and memoriam to his mother Margaret Kathleen Heaney, who died in 1984. The eight sonnets are filled with lively, detailed and vivid memories, but the strong and loving relationship between Heaney and his mother is constantly referred to also. Heaney has no difficulty in expressing openly the love felt for his mother, both by him and his family, as we see in the invocation at the beginning of the collection; 'She taught me what her uncle once taught her'. Here we immediately see how his mother has taught him simple but great life wisdom, how to live and deal with problems in everyday life. This immediately identifies a clear picture of love and devotion towards her son, illuminating right from the beginning their strong mother/son relationship. This life wisdom is reflected again in sonnet 2, whereby she commands him on various rules before entering the house she grew up in; 'And don't be dropping crumbs. Don't tilt your chair'. This yet again shows the close bond Heaney and his mother share, as she warns him in order to avoid him getting into

  • Word count: 1915
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Seamus Heaney.

Seamus Heaney Heaney was born on April 13, 1939, the eldest of nine children, to Margaret and Patrick Heaney, at the family farm, Mossbawn, about 30 miles northwest of Belfast in County Derry. He attended the local school at Anahorish until 1957, when he enrolled at Queen's College, Belfast and took a first in English there in 1961. The next school year he took a teacher's certificate in English at St. Joseph's College in Belfast. In 1963 he took a position as a lecturer in English at the same school. While at St. Joseph's he began to write, publishing work in the university magazines under the pseudonym Incertus. During that time, along with Derek Mahon, Michael Longley, and others, he joined a poetry workshop under the guidance of Philip Hobsbaum. In 1965, in connection with the Belfast Festival, he published Eleven Poems. In August of 1965 he married Marie Devlin. The following year he became a lecturer in modern English literature at Queen's College, Belfast, his first son Michael was born, and Faber and Faber published Death of a Naturalist. This volume earned him the E.C. Gregory Award, the Cholmondeley Award in 1967, the Somerset Maugham Award in 1968, and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, also in 1968. Christopher, his second son, was born in 1968. His second volume, Door into the Dark, was published in 1969 and became the Poetry Book Society Choice for the year.

  • Word count: 4150
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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"Violence is never far from the surface." Discuss with reference to three of Heaney's poems.

"Violence is never far from the surface." Discuss with reference to three of Heaney's poems. To discuss the topic of violence in Heaney's poems, it is easiest to look at three of his poems that have an aggressive nature. Therefore, I am going to look at the poems: Punishment, A Constable Calls and Act of Union, all of which incorporate the theme of violence. It is useful to understand the underlying themes of the poems mentioned to understand them as violence is not always explicitly mentioned. A Constable Calls is about a police officer visiting a Northern Irish farm, checking up on the farms produce. A rather innocent task, however, in the mind of the young boy, this visit appears threatening and intruding. Punishment is about the remains of a body (a young female in her day) found in a bog. She appears to be the victim of a ritual killing, punished for the fact that she was an adulteress. Act of Union, on the alternative hand, is a complex metaphor distinguishing England as a man, Ireland as woman and Northern Ireland as the offspring. England has effectively raped Ireland in the way it treats it creating the multi-cultured society that we call Northern Ireland. All three poems have very dissimilar themes, portraying and exploring violence in very different ways. The poems look at mental and physical violence such as in A Constable Calls where the child is very fearful

  • Word count: 1136
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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In what ways do these two poets tell their stories so that readers will be shocked and moved?Which poem shocked and moved you more and why?

Poetry of Violence and Injustice in Irish History Assignment title In what ways do these two poets tell their stories so that readers will be shocked and moved? Which poem shocked and moved you more and why? The two poems that I will be comparing and contrasting are "The Eviction" (from Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland) by the poet called William Allingham and "Claudy" by James Simmons. William Allingham was born in Co, Donegal in 1924 and he died in 1989. During his life he worked as a customs officer, first in Ireland then in England where he settled in 1963. His friends in the literary world were people such as Rosetti and Tennyson. James Simmons died at the age of 68 in June 2001. He taught at Friends School Lisburn for five years before moving to Africa to teach English in a school in Nigeria. He then returned to Coleraine and taught in the University of Ulster. He was born into a Protestant family who lived in Londonderry where his grandfather was the major. His reason for writing the poem "Claudy" was as a result of the I.R.A. setting off three bombs on the morning of July 31st 1972 killing nine people. "The Eviction" is simply about a village being evicted by their landlords and it shows the reactions of the people to this. "Claudy", however, describes what the people were doing at the time of the bomb and it shows their desperate attempts to fight death. In

  • Word count: 2220
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Compare and contrast the treatment of emigration and rural life in “The Country Boy” by John Murphy and “Philadelphia, Here I Come” by Brian Freill.

ENGLISH COURSEWORK - EMIGRATION Q. Compare and contrast the treatment of emigration and rural life in "The Country Boy" by John Murphy and "Philadelphia, Here I Come" by Brian Freill. A. Emigration has been, and still is, a major factor in Ireland. It has been ever since the famine of 1845. Over one million people left Ireland to go to The United States Of America, and Irish people have been leaving ever since. It used to be that everyone who left, were leaving due to unemployment or lack of opportunities, but these days, even though there are a lot more jobs available and the economy is at its best ever, people are still leaving. It seems they are leaving to find adventure. They think Ireland is too small and too boring a place to spend the rest of your life in. I will be looking at two plays which deal with emigration. The first is "The Country Boy" and the second is "Philadelphia, Here I Come". In both plays, the writer shows that boys haven't got a very good relationship with their fathers. There is a lack of communication between the father and son, and although they seem to get on with each other, they aren't very close. Although, Curly seems to have a better relationship with his father than Gar has with his father. The reason for this is, although Curly and his father can't really agree on anything, they seem to talk more and communicate on some sort of level,

  • Word count: 1785
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Analyse how Seamus Heaney uses language to convey his childhood experiences to the reader in his poems

Analyse how Seamus Heaney uses language to convey his childhood experiences to the reader in his poems "Death of a Naturalist" and "Blackberry Picking." Both poems are similar in their content as they are both written by Seamus Heaney about his childhood experiences. I also believe that both his experiences have a similar content. In "Death of a Naturalist" we find that the poem is about being out in fields collecting frogspawn. In "Blackberry Picking" the poet is speaking again about his childhood experiences in the fields. This time he is collecting blackberries. This is similar to "Death if a Naturalist" as it is in the wild at a young age enjoying nature. The titles are not so similar; "Death of a Naturalist" is a symbolic title. The title is not literal, no one actually dies in the poem. The death is of the way the poet feels about the frogs. In the first verse the poet feels for the frogs but in the second verse he almost fears them. "Blackberry Picking" on the other hand is not a symbolic title it is literal. In the poem the poet goes blackberry picking and this is explained in the title. Although the title could be considered symbolic also as perhaps the simplicity of the title portrays the simplicity and innocence of the child's mind. The mood between the two poems is also very similar. In "Death of a Naturalist" the mood changes between the two verses. In the

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Show how the Writer deals with the social consequences of emigration on the live of the characters portrayed in the Irish short stories studied in class.

English Literature coursework Show how the Writer deals with the social consequences of emigration on the live of the characters portrayed in the Irish short stories studied in class. In the mid nineteenth century in Ireland a disease spread among the potato crop, which was the staple diet for thousands. The potato blight destroyed most of the potato crop and this cause many deaths through starvation and malnutrition. Hundreds of thousands of people left Ireland in seek of a better life. Many went to England and some to Australia but most went to America. When they reached their destinations they were often disappointed by the harsh reality that met them. Some were successful and became wealthy but most lived impoverished hard lives in American cities where conditions were almost as bad as in Ireland. Many young people moved away from rural villages and towns to go to America in search of good fortune. The first story "Going Into Exile," Is a story of a young brother and sister from a small Island off the west coast of Ireland. It is a small Island with a closely-knit community. At the beginning of the story the whole community gather in the Feeny household for a leaving party to celebrate the impending emigration of Michael and Mary. The party has been paid for by an uncle, this and the fact that the money for the travelling has been sent by an aunt emphasises on the

  • Word count: 1338
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Explore Heaney's Presentation Of The Irish Conflict In, "Whatever You Say, Say Nothing"

Explore Heaney's Presentation Of The Irish Conflict In, "Whatever You Say, Say Nothing" The poem, "Whatever You Say, Say Nothing", was written by Heaney in the North collection of poems, therefore we can establish that Heaney will be considering the nature of the Irish conflict in this poem. The poem is split up into three sections, with each section dealing with a different viewpoint on the conflict. Section one takes a political stance, showing Heaney's attitude toward the media representation of the conflict, presenting an outsiders viewpoint, while the third section deals with the nature of the Irish conflict from the views of the Irish themselves and also showing Heaney's frustration. The last section concludes with a morbid conclusion of what is to come. The poem opens with, "I'm", maybe allowing the reader to acknowledge that the issue in which Heaney will talk about, is something he feels deeply connected with. While the others poems in this collection are from a third person point of view, this is from a first person point of view, establishing a strong connection between Heaney and the issue at hand, showing that Heaney is possible protective of the nature of the Irish conflict. Furthermore, the opening line of, "I'm writing this just after an encounter with an English journalist", gives the impression of an informal tone, almost conversational, however the

  • Word count: 2565
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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