E.+Purcell

= **Poetry Explication ** = = **By Emily Purcell ** =



Seamus Heaney Seamus Heaney was an Irish poet born in April of 1939 as the one of nine children to a farming family. His parents passed away at an early age, and Heaney was greatly influenced by his uncles. At the age of twelve, Heaney won a scholarship to a boarding school where he excelled. He went on to become a poet after he advanced through school. He married Marie Devlin and had three children, many of whom became writers as well. His wife has been a central influence in many of his works, both appearing directly and indirectly in his poems. He worked as a lecturer at Queen’s University for a while until retiring from that in the 1970s in order to work full time as a poet and free-lance writer. He later went on to receive the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.

Blackberry-Picking  By Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots. Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills We trekked and picked until the cans were full, Until the tinkling bottom had been covered With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.

We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre. But when the bath was filled we found a fur, A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache. The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour. I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.


Seamus Heaney’s poem, //Blackberry-Picking//, is literally describing the narrator’s memory of picking blackberries as a child. He recalls seeing the first of the blackberries begin to ripen and turn purple in late August. He recalls tasting the first ripe blackberry then running back to his house to collect buckets to fill up with freshly picked blackberries. He says that they would then place all of the blackberries in the barn where they would proceed to become covered with a fungus and rot. He always hated when the blackberries began to rot and turn sour, and wished that they could stay sweet and delicious forever.

Although the poem seems to be very straightforward, there is deeper meaning than the literal picking of blackberries. Heaney uses imagery in order to better convey the changing of the berries, and thus life, when he says that “We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre. But when the bath was filled we found a fur, A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache”(18-20). Heaney’s use of imagery makes it seem as if the reader is witnessing the rotting of the blackberries while reading the poem. This use of diction and imagery helps the reader to understand that all beautiful things must eventually come to an end, and that nothing stays golden forever.

I believe that this poem is reflecting on much more than just the rotting of blackberries. I think that Seamus Heaney is conveying his observation that nothing in life can stay pristine forever. At first the blackberries are very ripe, juicy, and delicious, but eventually time takes its toll on them and they begin to die and rot and lose their beauty. Heaney uncovers a common thread of human nature to be optimistic even though it may be unrealistic when he says that “Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not” (25). I believe that Heaney, being influenced by the early deaths of both his parents and younger brother was trying to express that all good things must eventually come to an end. The meaning of this poem is parallel with Robert Frost’s poem, //Nothing Gold Can Stay//, in that it uncovers the truth that it is very rare for something to remain innocent and pristine in life. I believe that Heaney is trying to portray that just as the once delicious and beautiful blackberries begin to sour and rot, so too does life come to an end. I also believe that this poem is a reflection of Heaney’s desire to go back to the times of his youth, when everything was pristine and golden, even though he knows that it is unrealistic. Seamus Heaney’s poem, //Blackberry-Picking//, is meant to reflect the unwanted truth that nothing remains pristine and golden for long, and that all things must come to an end. ** ................................................................................................................ **

Robert Frost Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874 to a journalist father and schoolteacher mother. He tragically lost his father when he was eleven years old. Frost graduated from high school and went on to attend college for a few months before dropping out. He first worked as a school teacher and married Elinor White and went on to have six children. He lived a very rural life with his family, and took great inspiration from nature for his poems. He received many awards during his career, but became a social recluse in his later years. Frost eventually lost a son to suicide as well as other tragic ends to his immediate family members, which gave his works a dark spin for which he is famous for. He later passed away 1963.



Mending Wall By Robert Frost

Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun, And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. The work of hunters is another thing: I have come after them and made repair Where they have left not one stone on a stone, But they would have the rabbit out of hiding, To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, No one has seen them made or heard them made, But at spring mending-time we find them there. I let my neighbor know beyond the hill; And on a day we meet to walk the line And set the wall between us once again. We keep the wall between us as we go. To each the boulders that have fallen to each. And some are loaves and some so nearly balls We have to use a spell to make them balance: 'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!' We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of out-door game, One on a side. It comes to little more: There where it is we do not need the wall: He is all pine and I am apple orchard. My apple trees will never get across And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him. He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'. Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder If I could put a notion in his head: 'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows. Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offence. Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him, But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather He said it for himself. I see him there Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed. He moves in darkness as it seems to me~ Not of woods only and the shade of trees. He will not go behind his father's saying, And he likes having thought of it so well He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 150%; text-align: center;">Explication
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Robert Frost’s poem, //Mending Wall,// is literally about two men maintaining a wall between their properties. The narrator does not completely understand the purpose of the fence because they don’t have any animals to keep out from each other’s properties. This poem serves as the narrator’s way of attempting to understand why they keep maintaining the fence and why his neighbor constantly replies that “’Good fences make good neighbors”(46). This poem literally serves as the narrator’s struggle in understanding the purpose of the fence between his neighbor’s property and his own.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Frost’s poem is not meant to literally tell the story of a wall between two men’s property, but rather to uncover why it is that human nature has a tendency to build up “walls” of separation. In the beginning of the poem, the narrator explains that “Something there is that doesn't love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun” (1-3). The narrator is very confused by the fact that nature consistently tries to tear down the wall separating his land from his neighbor’s, and yet spring after spring, the neighbors meet up and repair the wall in order to maintain their separation. The narrator is very confused when his neighbor tells him that “’Good fences make good neighbors’” in order to justify the unnecessary building of the wall in that area (27). I believe that when the neighbor says this, he is unveiling the human tendency to maintain private lives and have control of their own areas. Frost’s poem, //Mending Wall//, serves as a means of questioning the human tendency to maintain separation, even when it is not realistically necessary.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">I believe that the purpose of the poem, //Mending Wall//, is to question the tendency that human nature has to close itself off and attempt to distinguish itself from others. Although the narrator does not completely understand why he continuously mends the wall with his neighbor, his human nature propels him to do so subconsciously. I have learned from personal experience that people do need their own space, although it may not always be necessary, as in the case of the poem. People are always trying to one up their peers and find ways to distinguish themselves, as seen in the poem. I personally am a private person, and I agree with the neighbor in the poem when he says that “’Good fences make good neighbors’” (46). There is a certain aspect of human nature that feels the need for privacy, and I think that Frost is trying to hit on this in the poem. I believe that Frost wrote this poem as a way of justifying the building of his “walls” to shut himself away from the rest of society after the tragic lives of his children and wife. Frost was going through a hard time, and I feel that continuously mending the wall to keep him from society, although not always logical, was reflected in this poem. Although not always completely logical, society has a way of building fences to maintain privacy, which is reflected in the poem, //Mending Wall.//

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** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%; text-align: center;"> Neither Out Far Nor In Dee**p** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;"> By Robert Frost <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; text-align: center;">The people along the sand All turn and look one way. They turn their back on the land. They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to pass A ship keeps raising its hull; The wetter ground like glass Reflects a standing gull.

The land may vary more; But wherever the truth may be--- The water comes ashore, And the people look at the sea.

They cannot look out far. They cannot look in deep. But when was that ever a bar To any watch they keep?

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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%; text-align: center;">Explication
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Robert Frost’s poem, //Neither Out Far Nor In Deep//, is literally describing people looking out to sea. Frosts says that the people on land are constantly looking out at the sea as ships pass. The people look to the sea in order to discover the truth of life, but because the sea is so vast, “They cannot look out far, They cannot look in deep” (13-14). Although these people’s range of vision has boundaries, Frost tells us that they are not swayed by this fact, and continue to keep their watch on the sea.

Although the poem appears to merely be about how the people look to the sea, I believe that there looking is more significant and has more meaning than its literal translation. The word look is very symbolic in this poem, as it appears many times throughout the work. I think that the word look is used as a symbol of people searching for purpose and fulfillment in their lives from the vast ocean. The sea is infinite; it seems to go on forever when compared to the land, which has its boundaries. The people “…turn their back on the land. They look at the sea all day” in order to attempt to see more in their lives due to the vast possibility that the sea can hold (3-4). The use of looking and the sea are very important elements in this poem.

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<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> I believe that this poem is Robert Frost’s commentary on the tendency of human nature to not think deeply, and always be searching for something more that is really not there. Frost understands that it is possible to use the land to reflect on life, because although it is not as vast as the ocean, “The land may vary more” (9). Frost comments on the single-mindedness that humans tend to possess when he says that although the land has more variability, “But whatever the truth may be—The water comes ashore, And the people look to the sea” (10-12). I believe that people have a tendency to always look for something more in life, even though they have all that they need right before them. Humans tend to be very superficial and shallow, often having meaningless searches for the next big thing. Frost says that “They cannot look out far. They cannot look in deep. But when was that ever a bar To any watch they keep?” in order to convey that people are constantly searching for something better, but in all of the wrong places (13-16). The poem, //Neither Out Nor Far In Deep,// serves to illustrate Frost’s observance on humans’ inability to look around them and find satisfication.





<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%; text-align: center;">Desert Places <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">By Robert Frost

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; text-align: center;">Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast In a field I looked into going past, And the ground almost covered smooth in snow, But a few weeds and stubble showing last.

The woods around it have it--it is theirs. All animals are smothered in their lairs. I am too absent-spirited to count; The loneliness includes me unawares.

And lonely as it is that loneliness Will be more lonely ere it will be less-- A blanker whiteness of benighted snow With no expression, nothing to express.

They cannot scare me with their empty spaces Between stars--on stars where no human race is. I have it in me so much nearer home To scare myself with my own desert places.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%; text-align: center;">Explication
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Robert Frost’s poem, //Desert Places//, is literally describing the narrator looking back on a memory of the desert covered with snow. The narrator recalls that all of the animals are hidden away in their homes, and the land feels very lonely. The narrator says that the woods are very lonely, and have an eerie feeling to them from the blankness that has been caused by the ground covered with snow. He says that although the land seems very lonely and dark with snow, the narrator is not scared by this environment because he has his own scary places to worry about.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">This poem is not meant to just literally describe a snowy desert, but to reflect on the emptiness that the narrator has in his life. The use of the snow in this poem is very important. Although snow is very pure and white, it often blankets the rest of nature, leaving the narrator feeling very empty and lonely. Frost describes the emptiness that the snow makes the narrator feel when he says that “And lonely as it is that loneliness Will be more lonely ere it will be less—A blanker whiteness of benighted snow With no expression, nothing to express” (9-12). When the narrator says that he is “too absent-spirited to count,” I believe that he is reflecting on the depression that Frost has been going through as a result of the loss of his son to suicide (7). The use of the snow is very important in illustrating the dark emptiness that the narrator feels.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">I believe that Robert Frost is expressing his dark depression after his son’s death in this poem. The snow serves mainly to blanket all possible forms of life, and allow the animals to retreat to their homes. I think that this is a reflection of what Robert Frost did by becoming a recluse in his later years while suffering from depression. I also think that Frost is saying that he is so used to emptiness, that emptiness in nature does not bother him because he is able “To scare myself with my own desert places”(16). I think that the title of this poem is fitting to Frost’s depression, because a desert is often thought of as very barren and lifeless place, much like Frost’s soul. I believe that Robert Frost utilizes this poem in order to express the depression that he has been suffering with for quite some time, building up his own deserts.



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<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">Langston Hughes

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Langston Hughes was an American writer and poet born on February1, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. He lived with his grandmother, a very prominent African-American, for a good bit of his childhood. He began his writing career in high school, and began writing for the high school newspaper. After high school, he went down to visit his father in Mexico and convinced him to pay for a year’s worth of education at Columbia University. After a year of college, Hughes became a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. He was a very influential figure for the black race, and towards the end of his career was titles the Poet Laureate of the Negro Race. His goal in his writing up until he died on May 22, 1967, was to represent African-Americans in a positive light.



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%; text-align: center;">The Negro Speaks of Rivers <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">By Langston Hughes I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 180%; text-align: center;">Explication
<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Langston Hughes’ poem, //The Negro Speaks of Rivers//, is literally about the narrator recalling his memories of rivers. He says that he has known the rivers that have existed long before human came about. Throughout his life, his soul has grown to be very deep like the rivers. He has washed in the Euphrates River, lived along the Congo, looked at the Nile as he built the pyramids, and watched as Lincoln went down the Mississippi River. Hughes is literally saying that he has known rivers all of his life, and has grown with the rivers as they have grown deep and winding.

Hughes’ poem is about way more than simply experiences with rivers, it symbolizes the experiences of the Negro race. Hughes relates the rivers to humans when he says that “I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins” (2-3). These rivers are much more than just bodies of water, they symbolize the humans that have had experiences along them, and this history runs deep within the narrator’s veins. Hughes repeatedly says that “I’ve known rivers; Ancient, dusky rivers,” which symbolize the history of other Negros that have gone before (10-11). The term dusky helps to give the rivers a dark description, much like the color of Negro skin. This poem is not literally about rivers, but about the history that flows through the African American culture like rivers.

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">I believe that Langston Hughes is trying to convey that he has grown from his knowledge of the history of the Negro race. He feels as if he has almost experienced living by the Congo, and traveling the Nile, much like his ancestors did. This poem serves as a means of tracing the African American race through major historical events, just like the winding of rivers. He is saying that rivers have always been present, and the history of the Negro can be traced back by way of rivers. I believe that the rivers are a source of life, and Hughes has found a new look on life through the history that has twisted through the generations. I think that the most important line of the poem is when Hughes says that “My soul has grown deep like the rivers” (12). Hughes has a better understanding of his race through the history, and this has helped him to better understand the feelings in his own soul, and examine things more deeply.



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">Works Cited <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; text-align: left;">Baym, Nina. //The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition, Volume 2 1865 to the Present//. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007. Print.