Blackberry Picking By Séamus Heaney (1939-2013)

Séamus Heaney – Fact File An Irish poet, born in Derry. Lectured in Belfast. Won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995. Moved with his wife and three children to Wicklow in 1972. He won many awards throughout his life. Has been described as “the most important Irish poet since Yeats.” and “the greatest poet of our age”.

Blackberry Picking It is late August There has been heavy rain and sunshine. The blackberries are ripening. From the first bite they are addictive. The children gather them in containers. However, they can’t eat them all, and so, the fruit ferments/rots. This happens every year, when they gather too much.

Structure 1st half of the poem deals with the gathering and the eating of the blackberries. 2nd half of the poem deals with the ruin of what’s left.

Language Heaney uses rich language. Lots of verbs and adjectives. He seems to use very rich language on purpose. As you read the poem, the words fill your mouth, just like the blackberries. The use of language is intense and hypnotic.

Tone The children are suffering from the pain of wanting to satisfy their “hunger” “Like a plate of eyes” – Simile Their palms are stained with juice – “Bluebeards” stained with blood In the final part, the children “hoard” the blackberries, but they begin to grow a “rat-grey fungus…gluts” “It wasn’t fair/That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot” – Even the children knew the berries would not “keep”.

Mood The desire for the blackberries is half-sickening. The children become greedy – they even pick unripe “green ones”, filling a “bath”. They are disgusted when they see “rat-grey fungus” They want more each year – but they know what will happen to them.

Alliteration “first……flesh” “berries……byre” “fruit fermented……flesh” Can you find any other examples? The poem is like eating blackberries – “like thickened wine”

Imagery Child blackberry-pickers Carrying “milk-cans, pea-tins, jam-pots” “fur” that steals the treasure. The blackberries themselves. The children are an image for desire – They can’t resist picking them. They crave them. It’s not fair that what they desired, is snatched away by time. They know they will not last, but they don’t want to recognise this.

One of the most significant and personal themes of the poem is Heaney’s disillusionment with the agricultural lifestyle and a desire to do something more with his life, as well as his sense of guilt about feeling this way. The blackberries of the poem can be view as an extended metaphor for the agricultural lifestyle: Heaney initially enjoys the rural life as a child (as can be seen by the vivid excitement associated with the blackberry-picking in the opening stanza), but he gradually becomes disillusioned by it (as can be seen in the second stanza when the blackberries begin to decay.

The poem can also be seen to address the idea of the transitory nature of pleasure (how good things do not last), relating it to a familiar childhood experience of blackberry-picking in order to express it. Additionally, the poem can be seen to be a celebration of the joys and innocence of childhood, while illustrating that ultimately this joyful period of life cannot last.