Heaney’s poems ‘Blackberry Picking’ and ‘Death of a Naturalist’ are both about insignificant events in his time. Both poems share similar themes: life, loss of childhood innocence and expectations and disappointment. The themes were conveyed through Heaney’s manipulation of the poem structure and his use of deliberately picked words and phrases. In this essay, I will be discussing about how his use of the poem structure and language expresses the themes of the two poems.
Firstly, the poem ‘Blackberry Picking’ consists of a total of 24 lines which range from 10-12 syllables. ‘Death of a Naturalist’ on the other hand incorporates 33 lines in its structure which range from 9-11 syllables. Both poems share similarities in its structure - most …show more content…
‘Blackberry Picking’ - a poem that describes a point in Heaney’s life where he went blackberry picking with his friend Philip Hobsbaum with the berries rotting in the end. Though the rotting may indicate Heaney and Hobsbaum’s friendship ending, Heaney’s attention to the positivity reinforces his gratitude for the friendship but also how little the disappointment should mean to the reader and that they should easily put this behind them and move on. In contrast, Heaney emphasises the negative mood in ‘Death of a Naturalist’. This might have been done to highlight the writer’s interest in nature as the negative mood correlates with the potential distraught that Heaney might have felt after the experience ended, which tarnished his naturalist mindset and hence the name of the poem being ‘Death of a Naturalist’. In addition, the significance of the negative mood links to the theme of disappointment as Heaney had deviated to a more negative outlook on life and is no longer as positive as he was when he was a …show more content…
In ‘Blackberry Picking’, the theme of expectations and disappointment was present in the poem as the start of the picking represents Heaney’s expectations - which were to eat the blackberries, and the end of of the picking, where the berries rot, displays disappointment in which they can no longer eat the berries after all the work they had put into picking them. In addition, the theme of life was put forward through the words and phrases such as ‘glossy purple clot’, ‘flesh was sweet’, ‘fermented’ and ‘rot’ to describe the berries. In this way, the theme of life and death was disclosed in this way as the terms ‘glossy purple’ and ‘sweet’ signify new life and the terms ‘fermented’ and ‘rot’ represent old age and death. In ‘Death of a Naturalist’, the theme of loss of childhood innocence was expressed through Heaney’s flashback to the classroom. The phrases ‘daddy frog was called a bullfrog’ and ‘how the mammy frog laid hundreds of little eggs’ demonstrates his innocence at the time and implies that he is slowly losing his childhood innocence as he continues to learns more about
Firstly, the poem ‘Blackberry Picking’ consists of a total of 24 lines which range from 10-12 syllables. ‘Death of a Naturalist’ on the other hand incorporates 33 lines in its structure which range from 9-11 syllables. Both poems share similarities in its structure - most …show more content…
‘Blackberry Picking’ - a poem that describes a point in Heaney’s life where he went blackberry picking with his friend Philip Hobsbaum with the berries rotting in the end. Though the rotting may indicate Heaney and Hobsbaum’s friendship ending, Heaney’s attention to the positivity reinforces his gratitude for the friendship but also how little the disappointment should mean to the reader and that they should easily put this behind them and move on. In contrast, Heaney emphasises the negative mood in ‘Death of a Naturalist’. This might have been done to highlight the writer’s interest in nature as the negative mood correlates with the potential distraught that Heaney might have felt after the experience ended, which tarnished his naturalist mindset and hence the name of the poem being ‘Death of a Naturalist’. In addition, the significance of the negative mood links to the theme of disappointment as Heaney had deviated to a more negative outlook on life and is no longer as positive as he was when he was a …show more content…
In ‘Blackberry Picking’, the theme of expectations and disappointment was present in the poem as the start of the picking represents Heaney’s expectations - which were to eat the blackberries, and the end of of the picking, where the berries rot, displays disappointment in which they can no longer eat the berries after all the work they had put into picking them. In addition, the theme of life was put forward through the words and phrases such as ‘glossy purple clot’, ‘flesh was sweet’, ‘fermented’ and ‘rot’ to describe the berries. In this way, the theme of life and death was disclosed in this way as the terms ‘glossy purple’ and ‘sweet’ signify new life and the terms ‘fermented’ and ‘rot’ represent old age and death. In ‘Death of a Naturalist’, the theme of loss of childhood innocence was expressed through Heaney’s flashback to the classroom. The phrases ‘daddy frog was called a bullfrog’ and ‘how the mammy frog laid hundreds of little eggs’ demonstrates his innocence at the time and implies that he is slowly losing his childhood innocence as he continues to learns more about