The Tollund Man quotes

Question 1

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‘His last gruel of winter seeds/Caked in his stomach’

Answer 1

• Death
• The enjambment in these two lines pulls a lot of attention to the fact that even his last meal was still intact - half digested.
• Which shows how well preserved he must be.

Question 2

Themes of the Tollund Man

Answer 2

• Death
• Religion (Ritualism)
• Violence and Conflict

Question 3

‘Naked except the cap, noose and girdle’

Answer 3

• Death
• This use of brutal language creates a strong image
• This image could also portray the fact that the body has been stripped down to nothing but death - as the only thing on him is the items used in (assumingly) a typical death sentence from the time.

Question 4

‘Something of his sad freedom’
‘…The tumbril should come to me…’

Answer 4

Death
- This oxymoron shows the Tollund Man is sad that his life is ending in such a brutal way but is happy that he is finally free from the constraints of violence.
Violence and Conflict
- It could also be representative of Heaneys own emotions to wanting to escape conflict in Ireland. Perhaps here Heaney is beginning to become envious of death.
- This is also seen a few lines later when Heaney states ‘…The tumbril should come to me…’. This is a reference to the French Revolution and the Terror which symbolised death. By pulling together the current violences in Ireland and the violences of the past he suggests the idea that violence is cyclical.

Question 5

‘I will feel lost/Unhappy and at home’

Answer 5

• Violence and conflict
• Heaney uses this paradox as a way of relating Ireland to Aarhus. Heaney is saddened by the Tollund Man’s story but the violence and conflict surrounding him reminds him of his home. Perhaps he is lost because he feels lost in the world as there is seemingly nowhere peaceful, without violence, he can go - nowhere he ‘belongs’

Question 6

‘The scattered, ambushed/Flesh of Labourers/Stockinged corpses/Laid out in Farmyards’

Answer 6

This creates strong imagery of all the violence back in Ireland, it presents the danger of Heaney returning to Ireland, which links with the quote ‘I could risk blashphemy’

Question 7

‘She tightened her torc on him and opened her fen’
‘Working him into a saint kept body’

Answer 7

• Religion/ritualism
• The use of sexual language in this lines shows how mother nature (in the representation of a bog) is taking over the Tollund Man’s body, and is starting to take advantage of him - ‘…working him into a saint kept body’ by taking advantage of him, she is turning him into a divine being.

Question 8

‘I could risk blasphemy’

Answer 8

• Religion/ritualism
• This is referring to Heaney’s catholic background which deems pagan worship as blasphemy.

Question 8

‘Bridegroom to the goddess’

Answer 8

• Religion/Ritualism
• He is being marriedd ot mother nature and is potentially being used as a sacrifice/gift to the gods.
• Also relates to tone

Question 9

‘Our holy ground and pray/him to make germinate’

Answer 9

• Religion/Ritualism
• It is arguable that Heaney is referring to God as ‘him’ and by praying that God ‘makes germinate’ he is praying that God lets the Tolllund Man move on from life and to fully return t mother nature without preservation - subsequently allowing him from escaping the conflict of this world.

Question 10

‘Trove of turfcutters’

Answer 10

• Religion/Ritualism
• Heaney is referring to how the Tollund man would be a sort of treasure to turfcutters - which potentially refers back to Heaneys roots and ‘Digging’. It could refer back to the memory of his father digging up turf and suggests the idea that the symbol of the Tollund man may give hope to people back home.

Question 11

Tone

Answer 11

• Interesting tone as there are chaotic themes, but the tone is quite calm and romanticised. ‘Bridegroom to the Goddess’. Marriage is seen as a romantic connection, but marriage can also be controlling and the Tollund man is being taken over by mother nature.