Commentary on Seamus Heaney's "Scaffolding".

“Masons” in the very first line of the poem is a metaphor suggesting the two people who share the same interests that are determined to establish a friendship. “When they start upon a building / Are careful to test out the scaffolding” depicts the two person’s first try to build a friendship. The word “careful” and “test” shows the uneasiness of getting to know a person well at the beginning of the meet due to human’s cautious nature. The process towards relationship building is instilled in the next two stanzas. “Make sure that the planks won’t slip at busy points” can be interpreted as when mutual difficulties arise, the two people would join together to solve the problems and the relationship won’t fall from it. “Ladders” represents the essential stages to reach the height of the relationship and to “tighten bolted joints” refers to the building of trust in each other.  In the next line, “And yet all this comes down when the job is done/ Showing off the walls of sure stone” shows that the solid structure of friendship remains after the scaffolding is gone. After the relationship has been established and endured from all kinds of problems, there is a mutual trust and faith in each other that no more problems should be able to break the bond between the two person is what Heaney emphasizes at this point. The word “sure stone” shows the strength of this relationship and Heaney’s absolute confidence in such. From these six lines, every word the writer chooses to use is effective to the overall emotional appealing. The metaphor symbolizes relationship building is especially felicitous and impressive.

        After explaining the essence of the relationship building, Heaney uses the last two couplets to encourage his loved one to be brave and to have trust in this solid relationship. “Old bridges breaking between you and me” symbolizes  misunderstanding and conflicts in the relationship. However, “Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall/ Confident that we have built our wall” is the conclusion to the problems, that Heaney believes any misunderstanding will be cleared up and all the conflicts will be withstand with the solid foundation of the relationship. The writer intentionally put “never fear” followed by a period in the beginning of the last couplet, which effectively catches the reader’s attention directly to the theme of the poem, encouraging the reader to value the long term relationship and cherish it with whole heart.