Blackberry-Picking - Seamus Heaney Flashcards
What is the introduction?
In Seamus Heaney’s ‘Blackberry-Picking’ the theme of change is prevalent as the poem depicts the ending of Innocence and the moment from which the joys of youth will never be recaptured. This essay will examine how Heaney uses imagery, lexical choice and tone to establish the sorrow often associated with growing up.
What is the first paragraph?
Heaney’s use of setting in time and place, allows the poem to organically explore the theme of change. Poem is set in ‘Late August’, a time of change and loss when the harvest is in and the season moves towards winter. In this season Heaney explores the emergence of the berry, through the image of ‘a glossy purple clot’. This suggests a thing of beauty, power (purple as a signifier of power and status) and also of life and threat to life - clots are full of pumping blood, but they will cause great damage over time. This ‘clot’ could also suggest the death of his innocence. As the berries ripen and move from green and red (youth and passion) to fulfilment, the desire to possess them grows in Heaney. He is prepared for a difficult quest to find these ‘big dark blobs’, fighting through briar and bramble and trekking’ over the whole andscape, as if possessed by the berries. By using a rural setting, Heaney is able to illustrate how the seasons of the natural world can mimic the inevitable change humans can experience.
What is the second paragraph?
The theme of change, specifically growing up is also explored through Heaney’s love for the berries. Heaney is sorrowing for an innocence lost partly due to his lust’ and ‘hunger’ for fruit, suggesting an ill-controlled desire bordering on sin. Heaney accentuates this by references in the poem to the berries being more than fruit. By stating, ‘the flesh was sweet’ places eating the fruit clearly in the element of illicit sexual activity. This is followed by the simile like thickened wine’ making another clear link to the intoxication of pleasure which will lead to permanent ‘stains’ marking the tongue in the sense that the once tried such activity can never be forgotten and the image of ‘summer’s blood was in’ the berry, implies the euphemistic expression for sexual arousal.
What is the third paragraph?
As we reach the Volta, the warning signs are there that change is not always a positive experience. Heaney explains that the boys ‘hoarded’ the berries, which indicates an uncontrollable greed, which leads to devastating consequences. By the end of the poem the berries are described as having a ‘rat-grey fungus’. Here the ‘rat’ connotes disease and the juice of the glossy fruit - its blood, the image carried through from stanza 1 is now
‘stinking’. Once picked, the fruit turns impure - fermenting to alcohol and Heaney recalls the idea of the flesh, so ‘sweet’, which has now become ‘sour’. This contrasts with the luxurious wine’ described in the first stanza. As he ends the poem, the final tercet allows the reader into Heaney’s grief. He ‘always felt like crying’ as he hoped for change ‘each year’. This emphasises his distress, and the emotion of ‘it wasn’t fair’ suggests a childish response to the inevitable situation.
What is the conclusion?
In conclusion, ‘Blackberry-Picking’ deals with the harsh realities of growing up through the coveted pastime of picking berries. Through imagery, lexical choice and tone, the seductive blackberry itself represents a forbidden fruit which leads the boys on to discover the reality behind the youthful lust-driven emotions. Through this act, Heaney explores how change is an ongoing reality, and feelings of wonder and suffering can be intertwined.
