7 ll | Modern Poetry “THE TOLLUND MAN": AN INTRODUCTION | nt and future because it has 3 rese! Poetry is a record of the past, P setpe world has. Seamus Heaney clement of continuity which no other ar oF glish since World Nicene ¥ | one of the most important poets writing aaa diveanniahe : | incidents and events of past am Power d present are pi : ° i smopolitan views wi i poetry. Heaney’s poetry has cultiva cosmopa! th the ted worldly, UTE ish le, (01 relics of the Northern Irish Ess ivated by ie ge contemporary Northern Irish poli paeeccivedit / and civilization of the past ; S Past and he has kept it alive. of past history in r tion. The body ¢: i its preservation. All the facial fe dying expression. In fact, the body as 1 when it was first discovered. Heaney wrote ‘The Bog People, by the Danish archaeologist P.V. Glob which is bodies preserved in peat bogs, presumed to be either executed sacrifices to the pagan gods. In Glob’s view, Tollund Man and mos ere sacrificed to Nerthus, the Earth Mother, to ensure a s the goddess paraded around, surrounded by fabt n fer Gundestrup cauldron, buried as a sacrifice in a Danish bos” several Iron Age bodies were also found. that the cauldron’s goddesses all wear neck foreheads—“like the ropes round the | ° strung up at winter's end or early § from the mark of the leather high UP % ould have been lower down,” Ole Nf when this occurred fone ‘of other victims: 1° Seamed win casaose Poet and knotweed, see » aMOng othe; from summer TS, but ¢ hips and autumn, ne strawle a For the purposes of tae erries, blackberries, srols i Poem, Heaney assur toa fertility ee ti roll ties in the book ‘eon seat Tollund wad gjod also considers bodies found in aoa anh odie of the same period and alana pave been, found in Ireland, too, Suggesting ieee fron Age period. Although He ; e panish city of Aarhus, his “eney imagines silkeborg, a town abo order to make the crops grow and that young men lay down their lives in the dence, From 1912 to 1923 the people ic period of political unrest and c Ireland Se have been green-and p370 Galaxy Noteg Modern Poetry i Kk. Agri i working class had no worl ii aula The cities were shabby and gj Tal all the economic indicators nova yroduct . . A ies cut up into mean rooms practice was antiquated an i i t plumbing, beautiful Georgian buildings without P} ne eativity, moderate sini inspire Scenery did not keep the emigrants hom=», icans. Whilst i fears, or calm the frantic hearts of the faithful republican t it was not as overtly violent as others, its effects were as wide Sir in ae a8 any other revolution. There were three constituent conflicts luring this time: the 1916 Easter Rebellion, the War of Independence (1919-1921), and the Civil War (1922-1923). This era ended with the partitioning of Ireland in 1921 and the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922, He furthermore draws parallels the Tollund Man was sacrificed and {female personification of Ireland ~ for are prepared to die. “Cathleen Ni Hou dramatist William Butler Yee Gregory, written and first p events of the 1798 rebe play centering on the | independence. She celebrating their young Trish Catholic men play by Irish poet and folklore, and the ec As the Tollund Man it be things to Heancy. They too hope that their lives might me¢ something and | the end : an se they love, their larger community and country. ES imagines the killing of the Toll Man . : lun bog as a kind of violent love making oot and goddest 1 of the poem, Heaney makes the Seilieea Seamed wi CanscanseSeamus Heaney lings have a certai ; in ritualistic dimension to in which the bodies of four young Catholics, d along a railway line in an act Heaney imagines Paying a visit man has been placed on display. through and the local language jem. Heaney recalls an incident quraercd by protestant militants, were dragge mutilation. In the final section of the poem, jothe muscum in Aarhus where the Tollund hough the names of the region he pa: ysintelligible, he fancies that, as an Irish man burdened with the weight of his country’s history, he will feel a kinship with a landscape that has witnessed similar conflict and killings, Heancy’s most compelling exploration into the Goddess. zZ i Seamus Heaney is renowned work personal memories with Northern Ireland. He not only also uses the rich rural identity, relationships an between the past an Seamed win Cascoq Galaxy Note, Modern Poetry a “ «CONSTABLE CALLS”: AN INTRODUCTION | The poem is from “Singing ‘School’. The poem 18 se some governmen; | official, who has come to farm house to record data about e crops. The very arrival of the constable is seen as something threatening. The narrator is child It is possible that poem is based on an experience of Seamus Heaney himself, The Catholics of Northern Ireland or Ulster were an oppressed minority under the British rule. Irish are Roman Catholics while English are Protestants, Utster is the home of Irish but it has been largely occupied by settlers from England and Scotland. They dominated the economy of Ulster and even distorted its culture. The Irish feel very sensitive about it. The British government and its forces were on the side of Pro nts. There have been big _ massacres of the Catholics in Ireland in 1920 B The poem takes a routine - uJ is checking and recording the crop in County Derry. This is done for ta on his bicycle, cap, revolver and holster. by the constable Finally the poem r leave. ises on the pro oe PS of u Constable Calls" power and authorit er whosc only response to the ¢ of t ee Poem really stand out. One way lescriptions of the constable and ™ Seamed win casage PRU " 379 i canal cag Searnus Heaney n of hi ike a bevel. In his gi; example, ‘The li i jecail that perhaps only a cal easing hair.’ This 4; eae bene 1d woul, ri is line shows a v specific sicate the heat of the afternoon at 4 notice. The constable "oweating might {ension in the poem with reference; a jess i8: VEY effective. I think also penaare gentioned and they are often associ sunlight, the "spud" Of the dynamo seaney’s narrative voice focusing on the {etailed description of the constable's objects issomething out of place and constable is a symbol or representative of, time. And the poem records the family's r Heancy's father's lie but also in the line ' Suppressed physical violence exists aS a presence or a possib ferences to the "revolver" and "po inthe seventh stanza. The: ‘ thild’s privilege. However tl violence - a bomb c black hole in the b Seamed win casa7 Gi 380 alany about the things the policeman nal i isit. felt during the v1S) ol oa nortan props. Props are the things in g that belong to someone. The props often the policeman’s name? What does his face nanswered questions. The poem | Heaney. Heaney describes the 88 oy props in a way that shows his pont and ati aed a his childish imagination. Heaney von 0 ae ing poem include a bicycle, a uniform, describes these props in such a way that he persuades the readers to, the policeman. it In the first stanza, Heaney describes the n some facts about the bicycle: ‘His bicycle stood at the its mud splasher, fixed to the mudguard. Th the bicycle to tell how he felt about the po handlegrips’. This description is show something ‘fat’ and ‘black’. Heaney Catholic families on farms viewed the ] the bicycle was as horrible as the bicycle was alive. It was ‘fat’ and In the second stanza, normally find on a bicycle n batteries power bicycle lights. reminds of the trigger of a was dangerous. The yous During the visit the boy was nervy poem shows the tension He In this poem, Heaney or scene. Props are the things what a person is like. What is like? How tall is he? These are the impact the policeman had on Seamed win CascareeFP jodern Poetry 381 Se aney ig ; ne i8 focusing on the props. This time it is the jower, Heaney is showing th ‘ © readers iceman, 8 that ht : the par staat NOt relaxed as he ua the policeman, Perhaps was y § 1S cycle to the fi in front of a hostile farmer, He that the visit Was uncomfortable pa Be mahi, ‘The third stanza shows of them, In the fourth stanza, iceman: ‘heavy ledger', Thi e er’. This is the policeman’s and fractions of acres. In the fifth stanza, H wo the way the policeman. the atmosphere in the roo urvey of lands by an English king. In people's minds, it “that God will check at the end of time. He will judge people Seamed win cascareeModern Poet! what the book states about them at t them to hell. The ‘the heavy ledger frightened boy noticed how the policem: a head. He watched anxiously as the policem the policeman looked at him while sa} In the last stanza, the frightened outside the window. The boy may with the ‘fat black handlegrips’. The securely on the carrier. The word ‘ Y and business-like. It may also show his feeling ‘bobbed’ to show how the policeman moved o Heancy is getting revenge by moc word play is a ‘pun’, The final moved off ‘the bicycle ticked, tie child Heaney noted the n But the last line may be é the hatred be‘ weeu th The policeman repr behavior of the that alreadyn Poetry Seamus Heaney Like many modern Poets, H, H -” “©ANey’s selection of i spose face is ec: with the colorg of anxiety, fae and Gauee ie ast of the a i ae deprived. Poets are the most sensitive aot ahs a onl point out certain flaws and obscurities they find around them ease and emotions they experience while they Heaney grew up amid alist and unionist, south and English ~ but found connection ar d smells of a rural childhood, E god north, Irish and British, Gaelic netaphor in the rhythms, sights an, Seamus Heaney is He makes a notice of fear on the faces of depressed and fearful People and cchibits them through his poems. Heaney’s poems contain the discomposure and uneasiness his fellowmen suffered. + Undoubtedly, he is a talented poet and can convey any message. further, he has the ability to convert emotions into words. “Toome Road” is a mem of Seamus Heaney in which he does critical analysis of war and fear and Wwidly illustrate them. He illustrates fear and impact of war on people living in “untryside. This poem is based on a sense of state of war. This poem perhaps ‘hates toa childhood experience of Heaney when he was only five or six years of f ‘ee He watched soldiers on military exercises in the fields along Rea: forces. fortifying against expected Normandy aggression of 1944. The Neg ngaee of Normandy was among the largest military operations ever “eed. On June 6, 1944, more than 156,000 American, British and Canadian ‘stormed 50 miles of Normandy's fiercely defended beaches in northern “ce in an operation that proved to be a critical turning point in World WarGalax Note 398 an armies Wt s from h he horribl re positioned near his house at an aer c ae i is home. This is how, Heancy’s mind is brim = odes of history, especially wars and invasion in the collective conscious of man. . The ing of foreign soldiers who were doing their march on th ally a battle-like march. phere of horror and terror by des lation near his house. As a child, from appalling of watching toward: y presents the atmos| details of army install: > been felt like awaking ation on his face. The real image ged with their turrets directing ide perpetually in child’s memory: Bt rs the inwardly feelings of am ng headphones and 7 The initial occurrence: for the colonizer where the rule against the will of the] valley of Kashr tir where ending images of unju