A common point in each of the poems is that of the poets’ internal struggle to come to terms with himself, acceptance of himself as the person he is. This is clearly seen in ‘Digging’ where he shows nothing but admiration for his father and the expertise needed to farm, which is highlighted by the use of technical terms such as ‘lug’. He finally concludes that his skill as a writer, a poet, is just as valued as that of a farmer and that in all likelihood his feelings of guilt at discarding tradition were not necessary and there was no need to believe he could not live up to expectations, he has accepted himself.
Through Heaney’s poetry we come to understand, that his ideas do not just relate to him, they relate to us as well, they show the connection between human lives. This is what William Carlos Williams calls “the universality of the local”. When you look deeper and scrutinize the poems they become more than just the memories of a man. Beyond the surface there are layers of meaning, complexity, the ambiguity of some words is a great strength to delivering significance, as seen with the titles of the poems. For instance ‘Mid-Term Break’ is a holiday from school and the breaking of a family at the death of a loved one. The poems give a message or moral that can be taken or left, that is a parallel to our own experiences and helps to make the poems seem even more meaningful.
Many people have suffered a sudden death of a loved one (‘Mid-Term Break’), the feeling of inadequacy (‘Digging’), the sudden exasperation at the dependence of others on you (‘Follower’), the need to see yourself in a different light (‘Personal Helicon’), and lastly in later life the understanding that you have loss your innocence and ignorance of youth (‘Blackberry Picking’).
Diction is an important poetic tool to create certain affects. The language throughout the poems is usually formal with the occasional use of colloquialisms to highlight and emphasise, such as the sentences that formed their own stanza in ‘Digging’. “By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man”. This is intended to show the awe and high regard he holds towards his elders as well as hinting at a deeper meaning, the phrase shows the long tradition farming has had in the family, thus making the abandonment of this tradition all the more dreadful in Heaney’s mind, as all he wanted to do was “to grow up and plough” (Follower).
The voice of the poet is also important, the progression and change in viewpoints for the reader is all due to the influence of voice. In ‘Blackberry Picking’ the voice of the poet changes from the use of plurals such as “we” and “you” to first person singular, “I” , this links with the structure of the poem which is quite unusual as the stanza appear to have the form of paragraphs. This indicates the transformation from a child’s perspective to the adult in retrospect as the poem progresses. The use of plurals for group experience remembered in later life such as the “lust for picking” is sharply contrasted with the sadness he may have felt alone when the blackberries rotted. The lesson to this poem is that good things never last so you should enjoy them while you have them (instead of leaving them to rot).
This is another example of how the poems are deceptively simple. The language used is specific; there were no mistakes, Seamus Heaney intended the tone of the poems to convey a particular meaning. There is more to it than first emerges, the images appear simple and direct but hint at something more intricate. This is seen within the poems, a perfect example is ‘Personal Helicon’ where metaphors such as “the trapped sky” give excellent imagery, used to create pictures in the readers mind eye. The surface meaning to this poem is the description of a child’s fascination with nature and their own reflection contrasted with the deeper meaning of seeing yourself find a purpose to your existence. His “darkness” echoes through rhyme thus he knows he exists.
Lastly while considering the language used in the poems, the sound effects made through the use of rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance and rhythm are all important in building a poem. Onomatopoeic words are those which sound like that which they describe, such as “glutting” and “stinking”, “slap” and “slop”. ‘Digging’ uses alliteration for the highlighting of particular words internally (such as “gravely ground”). Language is important also in creating imagery in ‘Follower’ nautical references make comparisons between farming and exploration, the poet did not see his father as simple but as highly skilled as a ships navigator. The word “globed” give an underlying meaning that his father was his world. As a child he used to imitate his fathers actions, his father was one of the most influential people in his life and through this poem Seamus Heaney tackles the misconceptions of farming.
Returning back to consider specific language tools that helped make a poem seem straightforward. Rhyming couplets are used in ‘Blackberry Picking’ to help keep it sounding poetic as opposed to a piece of prose. When you look at poetry in detail you begin to realize that poetry is never simple, it is practically impossible, it can appear simple, almost effortlessly easy, composed on a whim but behind each word, each sentence constructed, is hours of thought and consideration, each component of the poem has a precise intention. It is for this reason when a piece of poetry is read aloud it is dependant on the proficiency of the reader for how successfully they convey the poem with all its meaning. This is true for ‘Blackberry Picking’ as the rhythm of speech enhances and improves the experience. Thus it is on first glance that poetry deceives but on a second glance the reflection of the poet dissolves the simple appearance and gives the full flavour for all those who search for it.
Structure is the final method of deception. Punctuation is used within the poems to give a certain effect. Sentences occur but because of enjambment words in the middle of sentence are emphasised at the beginnings of new lines. Some poems have regular structure with stanzas that consist of the same number of lines and also have a regular rhyme scheme. Some use half-rhyme to give the appearance of a rhyming poem. Alternatively poems use irregular stanzas and rhyme for an equally prolific effect. It is all dependent on how the poet wishes the poem to be delivered.
For example ‘Personal Helicon’ has both a regular structure and a regular scheme of rhyming couplets whereas on the other hand ‘Mid-Term Break’ appears to a poem because of its regular stanza but in fact when read aloud it sounds like the recital of memories free from a poetic form it is the last two line which rhyme that brings the poignancy and the poetry to the ears.
Finally it is the sensual language of the poems that captures the experience of the poet best. This use of language that appeals to the senses is important as memory is activated through vivid taste and intense smells. It is through the senses that the reader is stimulated. Descriptions of the senses in ‘Digging’ include “a lean rasping sound” for hearing, “cool hardness” for touch, “the cold smell of potato mould” and in ‘Blackberry Picking’ the sight of “a glossy purple clot”. In reality it is through our senses that the past comes to life. To capture this within a poem, with writing, takes a skilled poet and a practiced technique. The language of the poem, every single word is important; it may appear simple but if you were to write a poem without any thought there would in truth be no real meaning to the poem. It is through the expertise of Seamus Heaney that the nature of his poems comes to light and we understand that which we already knew and the meaning of a deceptively simple becomes clear.
