Scott

Jacob Scott
ENGL 451
Dr. Kelly
12 / 14 / 18

Cover Page

For my expanded paper I have decided to choose two poems from my

favorite poet that we have read this semester, Seamus Heaney. I believe I enjoyed

Heaney the most this semester due to my bias towards the more traditional type of

poetry, considering my favorite era of poetry is the Romanic era. Heaney’s poems

spoke to me on a much deeper and personal level than any author we read this

semester. I tried to look for a TEDYAP, a poetry worksheet, or a post on blackboard,

but I decided that I would create a better paper by taking an entirely new poem that

we haven’t talked about in class. I chose these two poems, “Twice Shy” and “The

Barn,” specifically because they both differ from the rest of the collection of poems

within his book Death of a Naturalist.

The entire book of poems dealt with the theme and idea of the loss of

innocence and the death of childhood essentially, but these two poems actually did

the exact opposite, and I was so infatuated by that idea that there was no other

choice in my mind than to dissect these two poems. Both of these poems deal with

the idea of no matter how old we age there are some things in our mind, memory,

and habits that will never be able to die. Some changes that I made from the original

one was that I did a lot more analyzing of language. I wrote more about literary and

poetic devices and what the significance was for them being where there were,

when they were, and I also did a lot more analysis on each quote. For example, the
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second poem that I address I quote and analyze almost every single line in the poem.

I also changed the thesis and made it longer in order to make it address my second

poem as well as my original poem. I wanted to have one paragraph about the

original poem and then follow it with a new paragraph from the new poem, but

when I did that it made the paper not read as fluidly and did not sound as natural.

After I realized this I decided to simply just put the analysis of the second poem all

entirely after the original analysis of the first poem. Yet, I still made them connect to

each other throughout the paper and that is obvious when reading it. I also

obviously added an entirely new conclusion paragraph to the paper as well. Every

single word that I added to the expanded paper is in blue. I chose blue because I feel

like it is the easiest to read besides black, but it still sticks out very much when put

next to black.
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Jacob Scott
ENGL 451
Dr. Kelly
12 / 14 / 18
Expanded Paper

Most of the poems from Seamus Heaney’s book Death of a Naturalist deal

particularly with the idea of the loss of innocence, but the poem that struck me the

strongest was the poem where the innocence was already long gone before the

poem had even begun. The poem is titled, “Twice Shy” and it deals with two young

lovers on a walk who both have had scaring past experiences with love, and sharing

a hesitant yet hopeful outlook on a future together. Within this poem Heaney is

attempting to show the reader that no matter how much conscious effort these two

young people make, no matter how much fear, tension, and anxiety they create

during this walk, they will inevitably make the same exact mistake that they did in

their past relationships: rushing everything all at once due to their incredibly strong

emotions for one another. Just like whereas in his poem titled “The Barn” he is

attempting to show the reader that no matter how far he has come since his

childhood, he will never be able to escape the graphic imagery, fear, and memories

that “the barn” has implanted in his mind.

This sense of inevitability is very much heavy and present in just about every

line of the poem starting after the first stanza. One could even argue that the title of

the poem is actually an allusion that refers to a popular phrase called, “once bitten,

twice shy,” which refers to an unpleasant experience that induces caution. Heaney

uses personification in the second paragraph to shine light on the obvious tension
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and eagerness that is present between these two young people when he writes,

“Traffic holding its breath, / Sky a tense diaphragm” (7-8). This use of the word

“diaphragm” also denotes the weakness of the sky, causing them to focus far harder

on their will power and their ability to follow their thought process of distance. Also,

just as a driver in traffic waits for their signal to begin driving again, it as if the boy

and the girl are waiting for some heavenly sign in order for them to start loving

again, and actually action on their emotions.

They both are unaware that they are going to rush into a relationship if they

don’t consciously try not to. Heaney portrays the two people in the poem as

predator and prey in the following lines when he writes, “Dusk hung like a backcloth

/ That shook where a swan swam, / Tremulous as a hawk, / Hanging deadly, calm”

(9-12). This imagery emphasizes the nervousness, the lack of trust, and the true

honest nature of the speaker. The speaker feels as if he is a ‘hawk,’ and therefore it is

only natural for him to take action on the animal that caught his eye. The hawk and

swan not only accurately represent the two young lovers fake act of remaining calm

on the outside with their bodies, but also the anxiety and panicking that is most

certainly going on inside their minds as well. Also, the use of diction and alliteration

when using words like ‘shook,’ ‘swan,’ ‘swam,’ ‘hawk,’ ‘hanging,’ ‘deadly,’ ‘calm,’

represent the rapid thoughts that are racing around in their heads at this moment

on the walk.

In the forth and final stanza the speaker decides to use a rather clever

metaphor about writing in order to relate to the publication of the two young lovers

feelings. Heaney writes in the final stanza, “Our juvenilia / Had taught us both to
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wait, / Not to publish feeling / And regret it all too late – ” (19-24). The fact that the

second line of each stanza, the forth line of each stanza, and the sixth line of each

stanza are all perfect end rhyme is not some random rhyme scheme that Heaney

chose to use. This rhyme scheme represents the idea of returning to ones

unavoidable mistakes, ones destiny. No matter how far one attempts to flee, they

will always return to their true nature, despite how many times they have been hurt

in the past. When looking at these lines it is vital to stress and dwell on the use of the

verb ‘publish.’ Here, Heaney is suggesting that just like authors who publish works

early in there career and then reflect on them later with regret, two young people

might publish their romantic feelings for one another, only to regret it incredibly

soon. It is a rather interesting choice for the speaker to hold the youths ‘juvenilia’

responsible for their ability to overcome and conquer their intimate feelings for

each other. This use of metaphor is so strong and logical that it makes it extremely

challenging for anyone to even attempt to debate the matter.

The reader now assumes that the speaker is expressing his regret for

previously published works as well as previously published feelings, and that

nothing is going to be different or special about this particular time. This is clear

when the last lines of the poem read, “Mushroom loves already / Had puffed and

burst in hate.” This last line of the poem proves Heaney’s point that primitive love

and young sexual attraction will always defeat the will power and refrain from

publishing romantic feelings. Despite the amount of conscious effort these two

characters made throughout the entire poem to keep distance and to ‘preserved

classic decorum’ (17), they inevitably managed to express their feelings due to the
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sexually charged atmosphere. They repeat their mistakes, and will continue to

simply because it is our human nature to rush into relationships because of our

overwhelming emotions.

In the poem “The Barn” there is a certain tone, and theme of strong

imagery that creates a sense of anxiety. The speaker creates a tense atmosphere for

the reader through very heavy diction that often occurs when describing unpleasant

scenarios. There is a dark and cold haunting typing of feeling throughout the poem

including the very first lines of the poem that read, “Threshed corn lay piled like a

grit of ivory / Or solid as cement in two lugged-sacks.” (1-2). Heaney uses assonance

and simile simultaneously within these opening lines to help transfer the feeling of

fear within the speaker into the mind of the reader. The use of these two poetic

devices so early in the poem creates a certain heaviness within the image, which is a

comment on how the speaker feels while living these lines, and most likely when

writing these lines as well. Heaney follows these lines by using personification in

order to amplify the feeling of fear and anxiety. He personifies the dark when he

writes, “The musty dark hoarded an armoury / Of farmyard implements, harness,

plough-socks.” (3-4). The effect of this literary device is significant due to the fact

that all these old farm tools from the 1950’s are being consumed by “the dark,”

which invokes a great deal of fear and paranoia. It creates a feeling that the speaker

still holds this fear and dark, negative connotation very close to him and will always

remain extremely fresh inside his memories.

In the second stanza of the poem Heaney uses strong imagery through the

use of descriptive language. He uses sight, touch, and temperature all within the first
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line of the second stanza when he writes, “The floor was mouse-grey, smooth, chilly

concrete.” (5). This cold and unwelcoming imagery creates a strong sense of fear

within the voice of the speaker as well as the mind of the reader. By doing this

Heaney is truly taking the reader out of their own reality momentarily and throwing

them into the scenery of his childhood. However, there is a contrast of imagery and

language when one reads the rest of the lines in the second stanza. Heaney uses a

juxtaposition when he writes, “There were no windows, just two narrow shafts / Of

gilded motes, crossing, from air-holes slit / High in each gable….” (6-8). By creating

this contrast between light and dark it is evident that the speaker commenting on

their mixed feelings about the barn and the time in their life that this actually took

place. To describe tiny pieces of dirt and dust as golden or as “gilded” creates a

sense of confusion that will stick into someone’s memories. This shows how

incredibly well the speaker remembers the feeling and sights of this barn. To have

something be so vivid years later to the point that one remembers how the light

from narrow slits of the barn touched the dirt and dust on the ground is extremely

unusual, and commonly is a result of being traumatized and scared.

The form and rhythm of the poem stay rather consistent throughout the

poem, which almost gives off an eerie type of feeling and tone for the poem. The

poem consists of five stanzas with four lines in each stanza, and about ten syllables

in each line. The poem also takes advantage of the technique of using lists of three’s

all throughout the entire poem. In fact, Heaney uses lists of three’s in every single

stanza of the poem besides the final stanza. For example in the second line of the

third stanza he uses sibilance to really emphasize the feeling of potential danger
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when he writes, “All summer when the zinc burned like an oven. / A scythe’s edge, a

clean spade, a pitchfork’s prongs:” (9-10). By consciously deciding to use specific

words that describe farm hand tools there is a sense of threat, danger, and fear

considering nouns like “edge” and “prongs” give off a sense of sharpness and

hostility. Terms like “a scythe’s edge” and “pitchfork” suggest a dark tone

considering they hold strong negative connotations, whether it be violence or just

pure evil in itself. Also, the fact that the poem has a monosyllabic title prepares the

reader for how dull, dark, and monosyllabic the diction is within the poem. It sets

the reader up to anticipate the fearful tone and discomfort that is portrayed within

the stanzas to come. The title of the poem holds great significance considering it

literary means the location of where the poem takes place, and emphasizes the

feelings and memories that the go along with that place for the speaker.

Heaney uses a very clever technique in order to get his reader on the same

level of the speaker of the poem when the third and forth lines of the third stanza

reads, “Slowly bright objects formed when you went in. / Then you felt cobwebs

clogging up your lungs…” (11-12). In these lines Heaney uses the pronoun “you” so

that the reader feels like they have lived what the speaker has lived. He is forcing the

reader to share his memories of fear with him by replacing what should be “I” in the

poem with the word “you.” It is pretty difficult for one to read this poem and not put

oneself into the poem when the word “I” is used, but if the reader doesn’t do this

there is only one other option they could create. That other option is to read the

“you” as the speaker’s old self, their former self, and even if you read it that way it

still is inviting you into the mind and memories of the speaker. In this stanza the
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speaker has the reader trapped by either putting themselves in the poem, or by

putting themselves in the mind and body of the speaker’s past self.

In the second to last stanza of the poem one really starts to see the eagerness

and fear that is rapidly growing within the speaker. We see this is obvious soon as

the stanza starts with the speaker saying, “And scuttled fast into the sunlit yard – /

And into nights when bats were on the wing…” (13-14). Here, Heaney is using a

term that is usually almost always associated with very small animals, such as an

insect or a mouse, to describe the action of the speaker. By choosing such a unique

verb as “scuttled” to describe the speaker it is implying that the speaker feels like

he/she is in a state of fear and vulnerability, and that they are like the small animal

in the barn that lives in constant survival mode. The verb associates with the feeling

of a need to escape, which causes the reader to start viewing the speaker as

animalistic for the moment being. Heaney uses the word “bats” in the same two

lines, which also always carries a negative almost evil-like connotation. The next

two lines reveal the reality of the poem when Heaney writes, “Over the rafters of

sleep, where bright eyes stared / From piles of grain in corners, fierce, unblinking.”

(15-16). The speaker uses a metaphor “over the rafters of sleep” to show that the

image of the barn and the feeling of the barn follows them into their deep sleep.

These last two lines of the poem causes a nightmarish tone within the readers mind

because now we are left to question if it was his dreams the entire time. Perhaps it is

in their dreams and thoughts where they are actually most terrified of “the barn”

and everything that comes with it. This stanza makes one suggest that it is only

when it gets dark out that the barn shines its true light on the speaker. Again, we are
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seeing this juxtaposition between light and dark, which holds great weight in the

analysis of this poem.

In the final stanza Heaney uses a simile to describe how incredibly powerful

the dark is in his nightmares and a metaphor to show his fear, weakness, and size all

within the first two lines when he writes, “The dark gulfed like a roof-space. I was

chaff / To be pecked up when birds shot through the air- / slits.” (17-18). Heaney

also switches back to the pronoun “I” instead of “you” in this final stanza to show the

reality of his childhood memories and how they intensify at nighttime within his

dreams and fears. The last two lines of the poem provide the reader with some

closure and clarity considering that the speaker brings back the same “two-lugged

sacks” that are in the first two lines of the poem, and they become apart of his

disturbing fear of the barn as they “move in like great blind rats.” (20). In the second

to last line the reader begins to see the situation for what it is and how it was in his

head the entire time when Heaney writes, “I lay face-down to shun the fear above.”

(19). All these images throughout the entire poem can actually be viewed as

personified representations of the feelings that reside within the speaker when they

were young.

Despite the fact that the whole collection of poems within Heaney’s book

Death of A Naturalist are dealing with the loss off innocence, these two poems,

“Twice Shy” and “The Barn” are actually in fact doing the exact opposite. It is

extremely interesting to compare these two poems side by side because they both

embody this child-like feeling that is present from beginning to end in each poem.

Both poems celebrate the idea that some of our childhood fears will in fact never die.