Seamus Heaney

(13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013)

 About Heaney
• Seamus Heaney(13 April 1939 – 30
August 2013) was an Irish poet,
playwright and translator. He
received the 1995 Nobel Prize in
Literature.

• After his death, a crowd of over

80,000 spectators applauded him for
two minutes or more just before an
All-Ireland Gaelic football semi-final
at Croke Park.

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 The Underground
• Stanza 1
• The poet remembers an incident from his
honeymoon. He and his wife are running
from a tube station in London.

• Desperate to reach the Albert Hall in

time for ‘The Proms’. (This is a musical
evening.) His wife is wearing her ‘going-
away coat’, a coat bought specially for
leaving the wedding party and wearing
on honeymoon

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 The Underground

• The poet addresses the poem directly to

his wife, and this creates a sense of
intimacy and closeness between the
couple. The verbs are dynamic:
‘running’, ‘speeding’, ‘gaining.
• Heaney rather playfully compares his
running after his new wife to this
mythological scenario.

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 The Underground

• He thinks, she might turn into a white

flower, splashed with red. This is a
reference to her white coat stained with a
little spilled beetroot juice, but could also
refer to virginal innocence stained with
the blood of a first sexual experience

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 The Underground
• There are several references to the moon
in this poem. The moon is associated
with change, with the tides and with the
passing of time. ‘Time and tide wait for
no man.’

• There is also a reference to Hansel and

Gretel who, in the fairytale, found their
way by following a line of dropped
pebbles.

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 The Underground
• The tone of the poem changes now from
one of excitement and energy to one of
darkness.

• He alludes to the myth of Orpheus and

Eurydice, and tells himself not to look
back at her. Is this because he is
determined to lead her to safety as
quickly as possible, so will not look
back, or is it because if he does look back
he will be damned? Does he mean that
we cannot look back at the past, at the
early days of marriage?

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 Themes
• Love and Marriage: The poem
could be seen to say that the
early excitement of marriage
dwindles and that the pursuer
can become the pursued. It can
also be seen to say that while the
husband’s role in the early days
of the marriage may be that of
the lustful pursuer, he moves to
becoming the protector and the
one who must ensure his family’s
safety and security.

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 Themes
• A Sense of Place: This poem
evokes both the excitement of
being in London and the slight
sense of dislocation and anxiety
that comes from being in an
unfamiliar place, far from home.

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 'A Constable
Calls'

• Seamus Heaney tells us about a

memory from his childhood. A
policeman visits his family farm to
take a record of the crops that
Heaney’s father is growing.

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 Stanza 1 and 2

• The description of the bicycle is

our first indication that the
policeman is not welcomed and
that he is seen.

• He represents ‘the law' and is

therefore disliked. At that time in
Northern Ireland, most Catholics
would have viewed the police as
an oppressive force.

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 Stanza 3

• It is clear that the constable is

not welcome in the Heaney
home. His hat is on the floor:
nobody has taken it from him or
offered him a place to put it.

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 Stanza 3

• The physical description

of the constable focuses
on unattractive aspects
of his appearance. His
hair is ‘slightly sweating’
and marked by the cap
he has been wearing.
The idea of his
oppressive presence is
again picked up by the
reference to the ledger
(record book) being
‘heavy’
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 Stanza 4

• The young Heaney is filled with

fear as he watches the
constable. He stares at his gun
and remembers every detail of it
in its holster. The tone of the
poem is one of fear.

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 Stanza 5

• The constable continues to

record the family’s crops.
Heaney’s father answer’s
the constable’s questions
with curt, one word replies,
showing how unwelcome
both he and his
interrogation are. The
young boy is terrified to
hear his father lying about
the crops

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 Stanza 6 & 7

• The constable takes his

leave, putting the ledger
away. Heaney refers to it as
the ‘domesday book’
because he is so terrified
that his father will be
judged and punished for his
little lie about the turnips.

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 Stanza 7

• The constable takes his

leave, putting the ledger
away. Heaney refers to it as
the ‘domesday book’
because he is so terrified
that his father will be
judged and punished for his
little lie about the turnips.

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 Stanza 8

• The constable looks at the young boy

and says ‘goodbye’. This reminds us
that the constable is, in reality, just a
man. This is the only instance of his
humanity. It is not likely that he wishes
to appear threatening or intimidating,
but that is how he is viewed by the
Catholic community. He is seen as a
representative of an unwelcome,
despised, oppressive authority.

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 Stanza 9

• The constable cycles off, and the

sound it makes is reminiscent of a
clock, or of the timer of a bomb. It
ticks and ticks, which evokes the idea
of a ticking timebomb that is waiting to
go off. This could be a reference to
the mounting tension in Northern
Ireland.

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 Theme

• Conflict
• Conflict: The poem describes a rather
minor incident, but one which is
symbolic of the tension between
Catholics and Protestants in Northern
Ireland. The constable is a member of
the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and as
such is seen as in an enemy camp.

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 The Skunk

The poem opens with Heaney in

California. He is missing his wife
and, for the first time in eleven
years, he is writing her love
letters.

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 The Skunk
Stanza 1 and 2
Heaney sits at his desk each night and
see’s a skunk. Simile ‘her like a visitor’

The language in the poem is intensely

sensual. ‘The Orange trees’

The nightly ritual of the skunk’s appearance

leads to the poet becoming tense and
excited as he wonders if she will appear his
night. He says that the thrill he gets from
watching the skunk is almost like the thrill a
voyeur would experience as he secretly
watched a woman.

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 The Skunk

Stanza 3

Heaney is telling us its his first time away

from his wife in their 11 years of marriage.
Its foreign to him to be addressing a letter to
his ‘wife’

This tension and excitement, along with his

admiration of the skunk’s beauty and
confidence makes Heaney long for his wife.
This feeling is exacerbated by his loneliness
and sexual frustration.

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 The Skunk

Final Stanza

The last stanza returns us to Heaney’s

present. He is back home, some years
after his stay in California. He and his
wife are getting ready for bed and he
hears the sensual, gentle ‘sootfall’ of her
clothes as she undresses.
He is reminded of the skunk ‘snuffing’
around the verandah. The sexual
tension he felt then is linked to his
arousal now.

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Theme
Love and marriage

This poem shows how a couple can retain their love and desire for one
another even after eleven years of marriage. Heaney misses his wife deeply
during his time in California.

The separation forces Heaney to look at his relationship anew and he is

once again like a besotted suitor, charming the object of his affections with
carefully written love letters.

The poem is also a celebration of the erotic love that exists in marriage. At
the end of the poem, Heaney is still ‘stirred’ by the mere sound of his wife’s
clothes falling to the floor, even though they have now been together for
many years. 25
Theme
Memory

The poem shows just how intense and powerful memory can be. At the start of the
poem Heaney remembers his wife when he tastes wine, smells eucalyptus and even
when he finds himself anticipating the nightly visit of the skunk. Back in Ireland,
his wife reminds him of the skunk by her ‘tail-up’ search for her nightdress in a
bottom drawer, and this in turn reminds him of how much he missed her and
longed for her during his stay in America.

26
Question
Heaney’s writing displays a wonderful sense of nostalgia.
Discuss

The Underground – Nostalgic on the time he went to London on his

Honeymoon. Running a long a like using a simile like Hansel and Gretal.
Quite positive overall and the last stanza quite ominous.

The Constable Calls – Policeman calls to Heaney’s home house.

Interviews his father. They don’t take his hat or offer. Negative ‘slightly
sweaty. The troubles in the north is highlighted here

The Skunk – California – Thinking back to when he was away from his wife.
A skunk calls every evening. Imagery that’s in Contrast to Ireland The
Skunk the orange trees (sensual imagery) The last stanza, his wife’s
movements reminds him of the skunk. He is happy to be back in his marital
bed.
27
 Bogland
Theme:
Memories:
On one level the bog simply contains the physical
history of our people and land, but on another level
it is a metaphor for our national consciousness. We
preserve our history in songs, stories and history
books but each version is different, depending on
who is telling it. Like the fluidity and lack of
definition of the bog, our national consciousness is
not easily defined. There is a danger that in digging
‘inward and downward’ we may not look beyond the
past but may become overly obsessed with it. On
the one hand we remember and celebrate all that is
good in our history, but on the other hand we may
not let go of past grievances and injustices.
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 Theme: Nature
Nature: The poem is a celebration of
the physical beauty of the landscape.
Every aspect of it is lovingly
described: it is indefinable, it is
interesting rather than featureless and
it is just as worthy a subject of poetry
as the more obviously impressive
prairies. This is a gentle, ‘kind’ place
that is linked to the people. Heaney
described the bog a ‘very beautiful,
benign place’.
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 ‘A Call’
The poet rings his family home where
his now elderly father lives.

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 Stanza 1
. Heaney calls his father. A woman,
we are not told who, tells Heaney that
his father is out weeding in the garden
and goes to get him to come to the
landline.

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 Stanza 2
Whilst he waits the poet affectionately
imagines his father at work in the
garden, carefully and methodically
weeding the leek bed, taking pride in
his work.

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 Stanza 3
He then imagines the scene in the
empty hallway with light reflecting off
mirrors and the ticking of the hall
clocks.

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 Stanza 4
His thoughts turn to death and he
muses that if the character of Death in
a medieval morality play was to call
‘Everyman’ today he would probably
use the phone. His thoughts are
interrupted by his father speaking on
the phone and he ‘nearly’ tells him
that he loves him but doesn’t

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 Theme
Mortality/inevitability of death
Heaney contemplates the inevitability
of his father’s passing and in doing
so, begins to build on his thoughts.
This is a universal common theme of
when children see their parents grow
old and worry about what time they
have left with them.

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 Theme
Family
This is the second poem where
Heaney writes about his father.
This shows the close relationship
and fondness Heaney has for his
father.

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