Wicklow Mountains, By Seamus Heaney

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Wicklow Mountains located in Upland Ireland is infamous for the number of dead bodies found along the green, scenic countryside. Certainly, Andrew-Hozier Byrne, known as Hozier, was aware of these deaths as he grew up in Wicklow County. Hozier rose to fame in October 2014 with the global release of his indie, R&B debut album, Hozier, which included ballad “In A Week” featuring Karen Cowley. In an interview with Courtney E. Smith, Hozier praises Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, for a particular poem that has beautiful descriptions of dead bodies found in bogs in Norway and overall reveals his admiration for the poet's use of nature. Seamus Heaney’s work along with the peculiar and haunting history of Wicklow Mountains shape Hozier’s work to a great …show more content…
The persona reveals “I have never known hunger like these insects that feast on me” (ll. 2), powerfully revealing the desperation and starvation the bugs buried in the ground were feeling before they could feast. The manifestation of the animals reinforces the acceptance of death as the body is being welcomed and reclaimed by the earth. Imagery is intensified in the second verse with, “Thrown here or found, to freeze or to thaw/so long, we’d become the flowers/ two corpses we were, two corpses I saw” (ll. 5-8), where the reader envisions two rotting corpses either being found or placed in the field, hence the freezing or thawing of the bodies, regardless Hozier counteracts the gruesome description with the immediate image of flowers that will eventually become of their bodies. Although, the two would later become flowers, they are still corpses, but that is natural and is analogous to the path an elderly couple take together fading peacefully into the universe. Hozier continues his vivid imagery writing, “When the cattle’d show fear/ After the insects have made their claim/ After the foxes have known our test” (ll. 22-24) where the animals and critters gustatory senses are elevated once again emphasizing the satisfaction of their hunger and show how valuable the two corpses will be to the ecosystem. The cattle, on the other hand, represent the common man who is afraid of death and returning to the Earth, something bigger than their current lives, unlike the bugs and foxes eating and ultimately playing into the grand scheme of earthly life. Overall, Hozier demonstrates a wide range of vivid imagery to convey and reinforce the theme of the validity of

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