The poem is told in the first-person, so that we are given the male figure’s perspective of the story. This is interesting as it puts the reader in the position of one of the characters and includes the reader in the story. In the first stanza, the word ‘walk’ is used twice, perhaps to clarify using the male’s voice that all they will be doing this evening is walking and nothing else. However, it is ambiguous at this point with regard to where this walk will lead to, which brings us back to the paradoxical way the girl is dressed. This may be another implication of the uncertain intentions of both the girl and the boy, and it may also be Heaney’s way of tempting the reader to continue reading in the hopes of finding out more. The fact that the girl came with him for friendly talk is endearing and this certain charm about both of them is yet another way of relating to the reader and attracting the reader to read more.
Lines 7 to 12 elaborate on the basic information we are given in the first stanza. What Heaney does from this point onwards is educate the reader about the central idea of the poem, that is, the feelings of a young person in love. Traffic and the sky are personified as they both are ‘tense’ and ‘holding their breath’. The objective of this is to create tension and let the reader relate these ideas to the couple holding back their emotions and almost cannot wait any longer to relase them. Traffic is a particularly distinctive simile as it relates to the boy and the girl waiting for a green light, some sort of sign indicating that they can proceed. Henaey then writes:
‘Dusk hung like a backcloth
That shook where a swan swam,
Tremulous as a hawk
Hanging deadly, calm’
and here, the poet uses a backcloth, a swan and a hawk to further demonstrate the key sentiments the boy and the girl are feeling. The backcloth dramatizes the setting as it would on a stage, but also makes the characters more colourful in front of a shady background. The swan and the hawk are personified skilfully by Heaney to denote the gentleness and the calmness that the couple are presenting in front of each other, but also the anxiety and the fear they have in their minds. Heaney’s fast-changing diction paints a vivid picture as he alternates from cadence to tremulousness using the words, ‘tense’, then ‘hung’, then ‘shook’, then ‘swan’, then ‘hawk’, then ‘hanging’, then ‘deadly’, lastly followed by ‘calm’. The use of consonance and cacophony with the words, ‘shook’, ‘swan’ and ‘swam’ also is a sign of the couple’s worry.
‘A vacuum of need
Collapsed each hunting heart.’
The use of words here is effective as these words as the use of the word ‘vacuum’ in the beginning of the third stanza and the use of the word ‘calm’ to end the previous stanza calm the reader down from the preceding stanza’s expressive instability. Heaney makes use of the words ‘collapsed’ and ‘hunting’ to make the heart seem as though it is something that has been searched for once before but has now perhaps been shot down thanks to some external force. The use of the letter ‘h’ in ‘hunting heart’ can also be heard as a rhythm similar to a heartbeat. This notion is further expanded with the word ‘hawk’, ‘hanging’ and ‘held’ in the before and after line 14. This effect is added to the rhythmic impression given by the rhyme scheme throughout the stanza. The rhythm scheme Heaney uses again puts emphasis on the vacillation of the couple’s feelings.
From lines 15 to 22, the reader is told that the couple:
‘Preserved classic decorum,
Deployed [their] talk with art’
And this exemplifies the manner in which they act given their indecision. It is almost a skill or a game that has to be learnt, where talk needs to be strategically and promptly organized ‘with art’. The next few lines:
‘Our juvenilia
Had taught us both to wait,
Not to publish feeling
And regret it too late’
reaffirm the fact insinuated by the title, Twice Shy, that the couple are being cautious to avoid repeating mistakes in the past. Even though this may be uncomfortable for the reader, the characters are deserving of sympathy as they both are thinking the same way. This is also ironic. It is charming for the couple to be working so collaboratively together in order to prevent their relationship from going wrong.
Lines 23 to 28 are, indeed, more pleasant-sounding than the earlier stanzas and perhaps this is alluding to how thrilled the couple were at the beginning of their ‘embankment walk’ but have come to calmly accept the fact that all they can and will do is share ‘nervous childish talk’. Heaney carefully chooses to use the old proverb, ‘still waters running deep’, to conclusively condense the couple’s patience and satisfied appearance, and the anxious, excited mood they are in as they walk.
I found this poem to be very captivating thanks to Heaney’s careful choice of words, use of similes and intended subject, that is, the feelings of adolescent affection. I think that this poem can relate to many people and not just teenagers, for it is a poem that does not take any particular perspective in terms of opinion or viewpoint. With the tranquillity in the first and last stanza, and the swift action and plentiful techniques to look out for in between, although a little short in my opinion, this poem was concise, relevant and an enjoyable read.
