The poetry of Seamus Heaney is deceptively simple Essay -- English Lit

The poetry of Seamus Heaney is deceptively simple. Examine this comment in the light of his choices of subject, diction, and structure. You should refer to at least two poems in your responses. The deceptive simplicity of the poet can be helped to be understood through P A M Dirac, who suggests that poetry tries to tell people in a way that is understood by no one, something everybody already knew. If you can comprehend this, it is easier to see how the poetry of Heaney can be called deceptively simple, the surface which appears to be the reminiscing of his youth, is misleading, in actuality it is hinting at something far more complex and explaining lessons of life that he learnt, that the reader may never grasps. One of the common themes which appear to run through the poems studied is that of childhood experience. They each explore the authors’ memories in a different way, showing how his past has made him into the person he is now. All his memories are significant beyond their surface meaning. For example the poems are all set in nature with the exception of ‘Mid-Term Break’ and beyond the details of his formative years as a farmer’s son, are issues which are of much more importance, such as death. Certain words also allude to at other things beside that which the poem simple is, such as the metaphor â€Å"as snug as a gun†. This is a reference to the IRA in Ireland. Other words and phrases such as â€Å"Helicon† and â€Å"our palms as sticky as Bluebeards† are also allusion to the immediate world. They for instance show his educated background in Classical Mythology. As background information, Seamus Heaney was what we may call the odd-one-out, he lacked the physical skill and the ability to become a farmer ... ...important as memory is activated through vivid taste and intense smells. It is through the senses that the reader is stimulated. Descriptions of the senses in ‘Digging’ include â€Å"a lean rasping sound† for hearing, â€Å"cool hardness† for touch, â€Å"the cold smell of potato mould† and in ‘Blackberry Picking’ the sight of â€Å"a glossy purple clot†. In reality it is through our senses that the past comes to life. To capture this within a poem, with writing, takes a skilled poet and a practiced technique. The language of the poem, every single word is important; it may appear simple but if you were to write a poem without any thought there would in truth be no real meaning to the poem. It is through the expertise of Seamus Heaney that the nature of his poems comes to light and we understand that which we already knew and the meaning of a deceptively simple becomes clear. The poetry of Seamus Heaney is deceptively simple Essay -- English Lit The poetry of Seamus Heaney is deceptively simple. Examine this comment in the light of his choices of subject, diction, and structure. You should refer to at least two poems in your responses. The deceptive simplicity of the poet can be helped to be understood through P A M Dirac, who suggests that poetry tries to tell people in a way that is understood by no one, something everybody already knew. If you can comprehend this, it is easier to see how the poetry of Heaney can be called deceptively simple, the surface which appears to be the reminiscing of his youth, is misleading, in actuality it is hinting at something far more complex and explaining lessons of life that he learnt, that the reader may never grasps. One of the common themes which appear to run through the poems studied is that of childhood experience. They each explore the authors’ memories in a different way, showing how his past has made him into the person he is now. All his memories are significant beyond their surface meaning. For example the poems are all set in nature with the exception of ‘Mid-Term Break’ and beyond the details of his formative years as a farmer’s son, are issues which are of much more importance, such as death. Certain words also allude to at other things beside that which the poem simple is, such as the metaphor â€Å"as snug as a gun†. This is a reference to the IRA in Ireland. Other words and phrases such as â€Å"Helicon† and â€Å"our palms as sticky as Bluebeards† are also allusion to the immediate world. They for instance show his educated background in Classical Mythology. As background information, Seamus Heaney was what we may call the odd-one-out, he lacked the physical skill and the ability to become a farmer ... ...important as memory is activated through vivid taste and intense smells. It is through the senses that the reader is stimulated. Descriptions of the senses in ‘Digging’ include â€Å"a lean rasping sound† for hearing, â€Å"cool hardness† for touch, â€Å"the cold smell of potato mould† and in ‘Blackberry Picking’ the sight of â€Å"a glossy purple clot†. In reality it is through our senses that the past comes to life. To capture this within a poem, with writing, takes a skilled poet and a practiced technique. The language of the poem, every single word is important; it may appear simple but if you were to write a poem without any thought there would in truth be no real meaning to the poem. It is through the expertise of Seamus Heaney that the nature of his poems comes to light and we understand that which we already knew and the meaning of a deceptively simple becomes clear.