Poet, Seamus Heaney Focuses on the Simple Joys of Life Essay

For the poetry unit, I decided to study the works of the renowned Irish poet, critic, and recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995, Seamus Heaney. I choose Heaney because he is rather contemporary author, most of his works published in the mid to late twentieth century, and his poems were simple yet beautiful. The voice that he uses to spin his tales is fundamentally human. In my opinion, Heaney does not put on fronts of human perfection, but chooses to focus on the simple joys that life provides. This can be seen in many of his poems such as â€Å"Lover of Aran†, in which he gives human characteristics to the beach and the sea to exemplify human love and compassion, as well as in â€Å"Personal Helicon†, where he harps on the beauty and†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Lovers of Aran† lines 4-5 states, â€Å"Or did Aran rush/ to throw wide arms of rock around the tide†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The use of personification implies the relationship between the la nd and the sea, as if they were lovers. In line for of â€Å"Docker†, Heaney writes, â€Å"Speech is clamped in the lips’ vice.† Personification is use here as a means of characterization, showing the docker is a man of few words. In my piece, I used personification to create the image of the potter, whose hands were â€Å"Spitefully burned by kilns too hot and cruelly marked by tools too sharp† (Stanza 1, line 3). I also used personification to draw a reaction of the reader with the line, â€Å"†¦And the sharp whispers from his carving tool†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Stanza 6, line 20). I wanted the reader to feel the hostility and the malice behind the sharp edge of the tool used to create beautiful artwork. Another important element to my work was the title. Though the title of the poem may seem simplistic, I followed in Heaney’s footsteps and named my poem after the subject. The Potter of this poem is supposed to represent human intellect; his hands and tools representing words and judgment. The clay represents each individual person. The poem was meant to convey that humans are molded by the words and opinions of others, and are easily scarred and destroyed by negative opinions. Though this theme is darker than the ones Heaney usually conveyed, I believe that the voice that it is told in is largely similar to his works. Ultimately, this work wasShow MoreRelatedMid-Term Break Analysis5263 Words   |  22 Pagescom/online-writing/analysis-of-mid-term-break-poem-by-seamus-heaney/ Analysis of Mid-Term Break Poem by Seamus Heaney. There are stories in the poem and story in the poem â€Å"Mid- Term Break† by Seamus Heaney is about a young boy who just come back from boarding school had loss his brother in an accident. The death of the brother had give difference emotional respond by the family member about the death . Literary device make poem better and make it interesting to read .Furthermore, there are a lot of literary devices that use by Seamus in thisRead MoreWho Goes with Fergus11452 Words   |  46 PagesYeats is asking his readers to model Ferguss actions. He renounced all materialistic desires (including love) and sought a life of simplicity and spirituality, and danced upon the level shore because of it. The deep woods woven shade = the unknown. And in response to the previous comment, in my opinion I think that brazen cars is in reference to battle/warfare. Summary The poet asks who will follow King Fergus example and leave the cares of the world to know the wisdom of nature. He exhorts young