“Blackberry-Picking” Textual Analysis
1. Consider the title: Would a poem about blackberry picking be positive or negative? Justify your answer.
Blackberries are rare and are picked in late summer, so the title may suggest a happy time. (Answers will vary,
however, depending upon a student’s experiences. Some may suggest it will be unpleasant because of the work, etc.)
2. As you read the poem the first time, look for the sentences (end punctuation, not a semi-colon). Note
where each sentence ends. You will analyze sentences, not lines.
Blackberry-Picking
Line
(5)
(10)
(15)
Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate the first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. The red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields, and potato drills1
We trekked and picked until the cans were full,
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard’s. 2
We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.3
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our chache.
(20) The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not.
1
Planted rows
Bluebeard is a character in a fairy tale who murders his wives.
3
Barn
2
Textual Analysis: Annotate the text.
Before you tackle these questions discuss (S) speaker and (O) occasion from SOAPSTONE in your groups.
1. What is the speaker’s tone in the first sentence? How does SETTING and DICTION convey tone in this
sentence?
“Late August, given heavy rain and sun / For a full week, the blackberries would ripen” (1-2).
The setting is August, summer. Summer is the season of youth and enjoyment, so that setting suggests a positive
experience. The rain might suggest sadness, but not with “August” and “sun.” “Ripen” also suggests something
positive in that the fruit has improved and is ready to consume, which is pleasant—if you like blackberries.
2. What is the speaker’s attitude in the third sentence? In other words, how does the poet characterize the
eating of the blackberries? Does Heaney suggest it to be a pleasant or unpleasant experience?
“You ate the first one and its flesh was sweet / Like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it / Leaving stains upon
the tongue and lust for / Picking” (5-7).
All students should gravitate towards the diction (or imagery) of “sweet” as the first clue the experience was
pleasant. Help them to see that sweet is actually a simile “sweet like thickened wine” and remind them that similes
are figurative language. Here the language suggests a pleasant and “intoxicating” experience. Have them explain to
each other where the “intoxication” comes from.
3. In that same sentence, what can the reader infer from the choices of “flesh” (5), “blood” (6), and “lust”? In
other words, what ideas, experiences, etc. does this DICTION call to mind?
Let’s start with lust. Help students with a dictionary definition: an intense longing : craving. Based upon that, ask
student groups if this experience is “laid back” like a lazy summer day, or is it something different? Now add “flesh”
and “blood” and a METAPHOR emerges through the words. What is Heaney comparing the “hunt” for blackberries to?
Finally, help them put it all together: Although positive, the experience has a dark, almost violent edge to it.
4. Where is the intensity of feeling that you discovered in question 3 again in the poem in lines 8-16? (Hint:
look for DICTION and ALLUSION).
Define ALLUSION for them before they converse about this in their groups. Hopefully, students quickly spot “hunger”
(8) and “sticky as Bluebeard’s (16). Remind them to actually read the footnote. Many students do not. The reference
of murder likens the pursuit of the berries to a murderous desire. Remember “lust” and “blood”? Some students may
also point out the repetition of briars (thorns) and mention how the pursuit of the berries is so intense that personal
safety and comfort is somewhat ignored.
5. What is the speaker’s attitude towards what happens to his berries in lines 19-20? (Think DICTION and
VISUAL IMAGERY)
“Rat-grey” is quite unpleasant because of the visual of a rat, which is universally disgusting and associated with
disease and something unclean, as is a “fungus”; “stinking” is also unpleasant diction.
6. “Cache” (19) is a hiding place. Why do people generally hide something? What does this DICTION reveal
about how the speaker viewed his store of berries?
We hide valuables, even guilty valuables (think cache of guns or drugs). Remember lust and hunger? The berries are
almost a guilty treasure for the speaker.
7. Though literally about a young speaker’s reaction to an annual experience, the poem is meant to
SYMBOLIZE a deeper understanding of the human experience.
How can what happens to the young speaker be applied to life in general and how we view life and
disappointment. (This is the (P) purpose of SOAPSTONE.
The poem explores how humans build up rare and enjoyable experiences and then try and “hoard” them or make
them last. However, like the berries they do not keep. Help students to compare the poem to summer or a great trip or
a great date. Eventually, these things end, and if we try and prolong them, sometimes the reality of them—the next
day—turns to something unpleasant.