This image of Seamus Heaney watching his grandfather working, stopping only to quickly drink, creates the impression that Seamus Heaney felt inadequate for not having a similar passion and drive for farming.
A similar image of inadequacy is used by William Blake in ‘The Little boy Lost’. William Blake writes in line 8, “and away the vapour flew”. This image creates the feeling of uneasiness and loneliness. Seamus Heaney also expressed feelings of a similar nature as he wrote about his wanting to be a poet though his family were all farmers.
William Blake also uses images such as “The child was wet with dew” (line six) and “The mire was deep, and the child did weep” (line seven) which create unhappy and uncomfortable images where the boy is alone. William Blake rhymed the words “deep” and “weep” in line seven to emphasise and link the feeling of loneliness the little boy had.
Similarly, Seamus Heaney used “The squat pen rests; snug as a gun”, using the reverse spelling of snug (with dropping the‘s’) to write ‘gun’ in the same line to emphasise the image of his pen being a weapon.
“The squat pen rests; snug as a gun” also shows great contrast with ‘snug’ being a comfortable and secure word while ‘gun’ is a word that conjures up images of violence and war.
This type of negative, contrasted, imagery is used throughout ‘Tichborne’s Elegy’ to emphasise loss. Charles Tichborne uses images such as “my crop of corn is but a field of tares” which expresses that anything worthy of praise he once had, is now worth nothing at all. Conceivably the poem the expresses the most sadness, ‘Tichborne’s Elegy’ uses strong imagery that creates the air of grief surrounding the poem. An example of this powerful imagery is the haunting refrain which is repeated throughout the poem at the end of each stanza, “And now I live, and now my life is done”. At the time Charles Tichborne wrote this poem, he knew he was going to be executed. This contrast emphasises that though he is alive at the time of writing, he will soon die. It is that image so that sets the scene for the whole poem, that everything Charles Tichborne once had, he is soon to lose through death.
Seamus Heaney also uses repetition in ‘Digging’, repeating the word ‘digging’ throughout the poem. This image of digging is a powerful image because of its relevance to his family’s livelihood, and because he uses it metaphorically in the last stanza.
“Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it”.
This image leaves a lasting impression because they are the last three lines of the poem, and because of his determination to become a poet, digging (working) as hard as his paternal line did, through just through a different medium.
Another example of a powerful image is included in ‘Catrin’ by Gillian Clarke. Like Seamus Heaney, she repeats the image in her poem to emphasise its importance to the subject matter. Gillian Clarke uses imagery to express her emotions concerning the birth of her daughter.
“I can remember you, our first
Fierce confrontation, the tight
Red rope of love which we both
Fought over.”
This image is used to describe the birth of Gillian Clarke’s child, the image portraying the umbilical cord in childbirth. Though the umbilical cord is used in the description of childbirth, Gillian Clarke uses this image to describe the love she felt for her child at birth, and as the bond they shared as mother and daughter. The alliteration used in “red rope” links the two words which describe the most graphic part of the image, while also adding emphasis to the image being a bond of love shared between mother and daughter.
Gillian Clarke’s image is used to highlight the early relationship between mother and child.
Each of the poets uses imagery to express sad, passionate or insecure emotions in the poems. These images are often stressed by the use of alliteration, repetition and contrast.
Seamus Heaney and Gillian Clarke repeat images that are important to their subject through in their poems, though tend not to use sinister images such as William Blake and Charles Tichborne did. Charles Tichborne used rhyme in “Tichborne’s Elegy” which emphasised his loss and loneliness.
William Blake also used rhyme in “The Little Boy Lost” as well as including images that contained references to wildlife. Charles Tichborne also used references to wildlife in his images, writing “My crop of corn is but a field of tares”.
Each poem contains rhyme as can be seen in “Digging” though some poets use rhyme more often that the others.
Strong, powerful imagery → red rope of love (mention alliteration)
Child image → little boy lost yearns for love of his father- insecurity present (doesn’t want to be lost- needs love)
Loss → Tichborne’s Elegy has a haunting refrain summing up the whole poem… similar to Seamus Heaney’s repeated image of ‘digging’.
Repeated image of digging → emphasises how digging is what his family always did, but how he is going to ‘dig’ with his pen (be as powerful as them, by using poetry as a great and powerful source).
Conclusion: they all use imagery to express sad, passionate, or insecure feelings in their poems. They do emphasise these images by the use of alliteration, repetition and contrast.
