Had I Had Not Been Awake Poem Analysis

Both poets Paula Meehan and Seamus Heaney have captured the emotion of Loss, as well as the inevitability and sadness of death, through their own experiences and nature. However their poetic styles are vastly different from one another, even though they share certain similarities such as when writing elegy poems, or poetry about the death of their fathers, which can be witnessed in “The mushroom field” and “The Butts”. Many of Heaney’s poems are about his life which is wrapped up in the past and engages with the subject of death and loss in a rather personal and anecdotal way, in contrast to Meehan exploring loss and death in a partially detached way and occasionally through nature. As in “Had I not been awake” Heaney talks about his experience in first person narrative, in comparison to Meehan’s, Zealot as it was written in a detached 2nd person narrative, It was directed at the audience.
I will analyze the poets different styles and compare and contrastt………..

Compare and contrast (Seamus Heaney, Paula Meehan) engagement with experiences of death and loss in Human Chain and/or Painting Rain
DEATH THEME
The Collections first poem “Had I not been Awake” deals with coming to terms of death, while examining how unexpected and fragile life can be. The poem illustrates the beauty of living and cherishing every moment, while …show more content…
As when you experience loss, you never fully get over it and sometimes the little things can make you remember of that person. In “The Butts” and the Mushroom Field “, the poets deal with fragments of the past and loss of their fathers .In the mushroom field Meehan is reminded of her father by the “estate which is gone now” (Line 1), where she used to walk with her father,” so many mornings”. Where as in the Butts Heaney remembers his father by looking through a wardrobe, full of his father’s old clothing with odors that causes memories and him to remember his