HEANEY HINTS
When you see the 3 poems, look for some links like these regarding the key concerns of
Heaney.

Loss of childhood innocence
o Death of a Naturalist – think of speaker’s initiation into adulthood. The boy is
a naturalist in two senses – 1. Because he is in tune with nature 2. Also a
naturalist because he is not yet tied down by the trappings of society.
Behaves as he wishes. Intuitive. Heaney’s pleasure in experiencing the
countryside in all its facets.
o Mid-Term Break – brother’s sudden death brings him into adult world. Sees
father’s despair.
o Follower – speaker writing about relationship with father. Admired father as
child but growing into adulthood lost enthusiasm. Father more of a nuisance
than someone to be admired.

Conflicting emotions/Conflict
o Regret
o Sense of freedom
o Think about how it is conflict that creates some of the poetry

Violence
o Massacre in Requiem for Croppies
o Bruise on brother killed by car
o Cousin’s murder

Pain of victims
o Suffering of Tollund Man merges into suffering of people of Northern Ireland

History
o Potato famine in Ireland in 1845-48
o ‘Requiem for the Croppies’ – is a historical poem and refers to the climax of
the great rebellion of 1798. The speaker sees a new beginning. The seeds in
the pockets of the dead rebels are like the germination of further revolutions
in the years to come.
o Sense of commemoration of those who died in service of their country
o Sense of inequality – farmers against government.
o Social order- ‘The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp.’
o Way he merges past and present in some poems.
o A sense of pagan origins of Ireland
o Heaney suggesting seeds of present Ireland troubles sown in the past
o Exploring his own family history eg. Murder of his cousin.
Death
o Is there a darkness or background of death in the poem?
Love
o Love of wife
o Of lost brother
o Love of Ireland
o Love of landscape






Bogs
Binding together of people and place
o Wants people to get along
o Wants to make reader feel more secure
Rituals
o Of death
o Of families
o Of countries/cultures/ancient times
Opened Ground
o
o
o
o
Wounds of landscape
Wounds of Irish history
Remember words come from ‘Act of Union’ poem
Uncovering emotions, events of past, personal concerns, honesty
TYPE OF POEM
 Structure
o Is it a ballad? Sense of a folk story?
o Tight, even stanzas
o Free flowing
o Sections – Heaney labelling I and II
o Enjambment
o Caesura
o What variations between the three poems?
 Pace
o How is poem sped up? Slowed down?
 Punctuation
o Question marks
o Exclamation marks
o Full stops
o Commas
o Colons or semi-colons
o What is their effect?
o Does use of punctuation vary between the 3 poems?
 Alliteration – matching consonants – actually specify them in your response
 Assonance – think about vowel sounds that give rhythm
 Onomatopoeia – harsh words, slippery words, loving words,
 Sounds
 Senses









Imagery
o Of the countryside
Merging of Past with Present
o Think of The Tollund Man where the murder of the four young men is linked
to sacrificial death of The Tollund Man
Naming of Places
World of adult, world of child
Voice of poet – first person, third person
o Is poet detached? Is he close up?
Feelings of speaker/poet –
o Does he feel guilt?
o Horror
o Shame
o Fear of young child
o Insecurity
o Sense of alienation
Way Heaney brings opposites together
Use of historical analogies