"Alphabets"
written 1984
The Haw Lantern (1987)
Form and structure: 64 lines in three sections (16, 24, 24 lines) of somewhat
irregular heroic quatrains. Alternate lines rhyme, not always precisely, and the
rhythm is rarely pure iambic pentameter.
Speaker: An omniscient 3rd person, observing the life and education of a scholar
from childhood into old age, ending with a trans-personal perspective.
Subject: Exploring the mysteries of language, especially the alphabet, over the
perspective of a lifetime.
Audience: None directly addressed in the poem. By inference, the audience may be
understood as speakers of English or other alphabetic languages, and
writers/scholars who are fascinated by written language.
Presenter: Ms. Bowen
"'Against Wordsworth's myth of
a childhood radiance lost, the
poem sets a counter-myth of an
imaginative power that becomes
fuller and freer with the child's
expanding linguistic and literary
power.'" (Vendler, qtd. in Collins 157).
Prose meaning: In Part I, the speaker describes a child encountering the mystery of language, connecting letters' shapes to
ordinary things. In Part II, the language of study is now Latin and intimidating to the learner, whom we may infer to be Irish
from the references to trees, oak wood, and scribes. The mood is mixed, moving from fear to comfort and pleasure to austerity.
Part III draws upon the passage of time in Irish history; despite changes in farming and other customs, the speaker asserts that
language still has force, and yokes this idea to a global perspective that is reinforced in the beautifully rendered image of Earth
viewed from the astronaut's "small window." In the final stanza, the sense of wonder returns with a shift to first person, in the
image of the speaker as a pre-literate child gazing at the mystery of seeing his family's name inscribed on the home in plaster.
Background on the writing: Written for Harvard's Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises, with the college's Sanders Theatre in
mind (Kim).
Line-by-Line Notes (definitions, allusions, connotations, historical context, etc.):
10
10
19
19
20
21
22
22
31
34
35
36
42
43
rafters, crosstie
slate
Declensions
hosanna
stratified
Elementa Latina
marbled
minatory
snooded
tenebrous
scribe
quills
Christ's sickle
Merovingian
44
45
50
51
53
56
56
wooden O
Graves
lambdas
delta
omega
Constantine's
In Hoc Signo
57
62
necromancer
'not just single things'
66
66
67
68
aqueous
lucent
ovum
pre-reflective
Elements of building a gable roof
Roofing material and chalkboard used for writing practice
Grammar elements which were often practiced in Latin
Exclamation of praise in Christian tradition
put into layers (connotation of status or rank)
beginning Latin study book
A type of paper decoration in old books
threatening or menacing
having a hair ribbon or hair net
dark
in the Irish tradition, early writers were often monks
feather quills were early pens
Christian symbolism – judging the "wheat from the chaff"
a dynasty of French kings; "Clovis, the first king of the Merovingians, agreed to shed
his pagan beginnings through Christian baptism" (Hart)
perhaps the rings of a university lecture hall, or a reference to the Globe Theatre
Graves wrote, "in all Celtic languages trees mean letters" (Hart)
Greek letter "L"
Greek letter "D"
Greek letter "O" (last in the alphabet, shaped like a horseshoe) omega
Roman emperor, first to convert to Christianity
"in hoc signo vinces" is the motto that helped inspire Constantine's conversion ("in this
sign shalt thou conquer") (Dictionary.com)
magician, wizard
Renaissance necromancer who hung a globe in his house so that he would think of the
whole universe and 'not just single things.' (Vendler Seamus Heaney)
watery
transparent
egg
before having the ability to think, reflect, and reason
69
70
71
agog
gable
trowel
very excited
peak of a building's wall
tool for spreading plaster or mortar
Key literary criticism:
 Floyd Collins: "In his first book, Death of a Naturalist, Heaney dramatized his development as a vessel of poetic
consciousness, an impressionable child overwhelmed by the natural universe. 'Alphabets,' on the other hand, depicts a
world scaled down to a miniaturist's fairy-tale dimensions. Far from being reductive, it is the poem of an adult who
continues to perceive magic in the ageless ciphers. Helen Vendler locates in 'Alphabets' a clever inversion of Heaney's
early Wordsworthian approach: 'Against Wordsworth's myth of a childhood radiance lost, the poem sets a countermyth of an imaginative power that becomes fuller and freer with the child's expanding linguistic and literary power.'"
 Matthew Campbell: "In 'Alphabets,' Heaney's own education recapitulates the development of modern man – from
the farm and its simple technology to the sophistication that would send us into space and provide us a new view of
our planet. The alienation from the source created by education and travel can also bring us back to an astonished
sense of the miracle and strangeness of growth and life, from beginning to end, from alpha to omega."
 Theme: going from "the earth of farm labour to the heaven of education" ("Seamus Heaney – Biography")
 Themes of silence/voice, speaking for self and others, and innocence/experience ("Studying Seamus Heaney")
 "It’s a child’s-eye view of language, from the first letters in chalk, through the Latin and Gaelic of boyhood, to the
sense of wordless wonder that survives adulthood." (Ireland)
Key literary elements & discussion:
 Motif/Symbol: the letter "O" and the shape of the globe and the sound of awe
 Rhyme and rhythm variations: Heroic quatrains with predominately slant rhyme (assonance or consonance) and
irregular scansion. Because the irregularities are the rule in this poem, the regular moments stand out by exception.
 Imagery varied subjects and levels of detail, from farm life to school to cosmos
 Syntax varies from simple ("This is writing." 3) to the 8-line sprawling sentence at the end
 Verb tense shifts from past to present (35)
Context (compare/contrast to other Heaney poems):
 Echoes self-reflection of the writer in "Digging." ("Seamus Heaney – Biography")
 Themes of continuity of the Irish experience and examples of Heaney’s fascination with the past run through much of
his poetry (Brown).
Presenter's arguable thesis: In the poem "Alphabets," Seamus Heaney uses a three-part structure, a tone
of wonder, and the motif of the "O" shape to parallel the human journey through history with the
poet's journey through the mysteries of language.
Bibliography:
Brown, Sue. "Digging." Monograph. 2011.
Campbell, Matthew. The Cambridge Companion to Contemporary Irish Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2003. GoogleBooks 27 November 2012.
Collins, Floyd. Seamus Heaney: The Crisis of Identity. Cranbury: Rosemount Publishing, 2003. GoogleBooks 27 November
2012.
Hart, Henry. Seamus Heaney, Poet of Contrary Progressions. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1993.
"Heroic Stanza." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 17 Oct.
2011.
"In hoc signo vinces." Dictionary.com. IAC Corporation, n.d. Web. 17 Oct 2011.
Ireland, Corydon. "Heaney 'catches the Heart off Guard'" Harvard Gazette. N.p., 2 October 2008. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.
http://news.harvard.edu/
Kim, Hyung W. "15 Questions with Seamus Heaney." The Harvard Crimson. 8 October 2008. www.thecrimson.com. Web.
26 November 2012.
"Seamus Heaney - Biography". Nobelprize.org. 27 Nov 2012. from From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 1995, Editor Tore
Frängsmyr, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1996.
"Studying Seamus Heaney." Meredith College : Raleigh, NC. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.
www.meredith.edu/english/heaney/crit.htm
Tobin, Daniel. Passage to the center: imagination and the sacred in the poetry of Seamus Heaney. Lexington: University
Press of Kentucky, 1999.
Vendler, Helen Hennessy. Soul says: on recent poetry. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996.
Vendler, Helen. Seamus Heaney. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998.