"A Sad Child"
by Margaret Atwood
You’re sad because you’re sad.
It’s psychic. It’s the age. It’s chemical.
Go see a shrink or take a pill,
or hug your sadness like an eyeless doll
you need to sleep.
Well, all children are sad
but some get over it.
Count your blessing. Better than that,
buy a hat. But a coat or pet.
Take up dancing to forget.
Forget what?
Your sadness, your shadow,
whatever it was that was done to you
the day of the lawn party
when you came inside flushed with the sun,
your mouth sulky with sugar,
in your new dress with the ribbon
and the ice-cream smear,
and said to yourself in the bathroom,I
am not the favorite child.
My darling, when it comes
right down to it
and the light fails and the fog rolls in
and you’re trapped in your overturned body
under a blanket or burning car,
and the red flame is seeping out of you
and igniting the tarmac beside your head
or else the floor, or else the pillow,
none of us is;
or else we all are.
Commentary
In Margaret Atwood’s poem “A Sad Child”, the poet uses simplistic diction, imagery, and figurative language in order to express one’s ideas or feelings about experiencing depression. The speaker, possibly Atwood, uses these literary techniques as a basis of coping with the inevitable occurrences in life, which is influenced by sadness, as the title would suggest. The opening line also suggests this idea as it says “You’re sad because you’re sad.” The speaker is suggesting that sadness is inescapable as it is “psychic. It is age. It is chemical.”
The speaker suggests all children are sad, though some get over it, as it is a natural part of life. Throughout the poem the speaker develops ways of coping with this sadness as she suggests seeing a shrink or “hug your sadness like an eyeless doll.” This simile suggests that sadness is childlike as a child looks to an innocent doll as a means of escaping the misery. The speaker also looks more so to the materialistic things in life, like buying a hat, coat, or pet n hopes to forget the sadness. The speaker also suggests taking on a physical task, like dancing, as another way to deal with the pain. Although, the speaker tries to keep an optimistic point of view as she suggests, “count your blessings”.
In the third stanza the speaker concludes, “I am not a favorite child.” As the speaker comes to this realization it adds to the sadness the speaker is facing. In the following stanza the speaker uses a metaphor and states, “the light fails and the fog rolls in and you’re trapped in you’re your overturned body”, which causes the speaker to panic. This vivid image again gives us the impression that the speaker is helpless and unable to escape the pain, as these events add to the pressure.
To conclude, the speaker states, “none of us is; or else we all are”, which suggests that unfortunately either we are all effected by depression or not, which adds to the idea that depression is universal. Through the use of diction, imagery, and figurative language, the speaker stresses the idea that although depression is inescapable when consumed by it, there are ways to cope with the sadness.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Heaney's "Follower" Commentary
"Follower" by Seamus Heaney
My father worked with a horse plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horses strained at his clicking tongue.
An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck
Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.
I stumbled in his hobnailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.
I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow around the farm.
I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.
Commentary
In Seamus Heaney’s “Follower” the poet uses diction, imagery, and figurative language to describe the relationship between a father and a son. Throughout the play there are visual images of a farmer who is hard at work, which is a metaphor for the father. The speaker is the son, perhaps Heaney, who describes the enduring process of farming, as he admires and looks up to his father and his strength for inspiration as he tries to live up to his father’s expectations. With that, that title, “Follower”, represents admiration as the son tries to follow in his father’s footsteps.
In the first stanza, the speaker is comparing his father to sailor as he states, “his shoulders globed like a full sail strung.” The speaker is suggesting that his father, like a sailor, is in complete control of what he is doing. The speaker uses the nautical imagery to compare the breeze, ease, and control of sailing a ship on the smoothness of water to the strength his father has as he tolerates the harshness of doing labor on the rough land of the farm. The speaker also states, “his eye narrowed and angled at the ground, mapping the furrow exactly.” This again refers to the father’s strength and preciseness in his work. This image also reflects the phrase in the previous stanza in which the speaker briefly states, “An expert.” This phrase emphasizes the idea of the speaker’s father being very precise and full of potency. These interpretations create a very powerful and reflective tone.
Though the father’s physical strengths are stressed throughout the first three stanzas, in contrast, the last three stanzas are more so about the weaknesses of the son. The speaker says, “I want to grow up and plough, to close one eye, stiffen my arm”, which suggests hope, as he wants to grow up and be just like his father, especially physically. But, the speaker uses words like “stumbled”, “fell”, “nuisance”, “tripping”, “falling”, and “yapping always” to describe his flaws. As he is an innocent child, these words suggest perhaps he is not living up to his father’s expectations, as he is very clumsy. It seems as though the speaker is constantly in his father’s way and he is not of much help on farm. But, the speaker concludes, “But today it is my father who keeps stumbling behind me, and will not go away”. I interpreted this as the father becoming very weak, old and unable to work, so he is pressuring his son to follow his footsteps and meet his physical abilities.
In conclusion, Heaney uses diction, visual images, and figurative language to describe the physical relationship between a father and son. The visual images constantly allow us to picture the father hard at work, which is comparable to a sailor sailing a ship. The son wants to be like his father, but he lacks the physical aspects to meet that deed, perhaps because he is only a child. But, the son admires his father, as the title would suggest.
My father worked with a horse plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horses strained at his clicking tongue.
An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck
Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.
I stumbled in his hobnailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.
I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow around the farm.
I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.
Commentary
In Seamus Heaney’s “Follower” the poet uses diction, imagery, and figurative language to describe the relationship between a father and a son. Throughout the play there are visual images of a farmer who is hard at work, which is a metaphor for the father. The speaker is the son, perhaps Heaney, who describes the enduring process of farming, as he admires and looks up to his father and his strength for inspiration as he tries to live up to his father’s expectations. With that, that title, “Follower”, represents admiration as the son tries to follow in his father’s footsteps.
In the first stanza, the speaker is comparing his father to sailor as he states, “his shoulders globed like a full sail strung.” The speaker is suggesting that his father, like a sailor, is in complete control of what he is doing. The speaker uses the nautical imagery to compare the breeze, ease, and control of sailing a ship on the smoothness of water to the strength his father has as he tolerates the harshness of doing labor on the rough land of the farm. The speaker also states, “his eye narrowed and angled at the ground, mapping the furrow exactly.” This again refers to the father’s strength and preciseness in his work. This image also reflects the phrase in the previous stanza in which the speaker briefly states, “An expert.” This phrase emphasizes the idea of the speaker’s father being very precise and full of potency. These interpretations create a very powerful and reflective tone.
Though the father’s physical strengths are stressed throughout the first three stanzas, in contrast, the last three stanzas are more so about the weaknesses of the son. The speaker says, “I want to grow up and plough, to close one eye, stiffen my arm”, which suggests hope, as he wants to grow up and be just like his father, especially physically. But, the speaker uses words like “stumbled”, “fell”, “nuisance”, “tripping”, “falling”, and “yapping always” to describe his flaws. As he is an innocent child, these words suggest perhaps he is not living up to his father’s expectations, as he is very clumsy. It seems as though the speaker is constantly in his father’s way and he is not of much help on farm. But, the speaker concludes, “But today it is my father who keeps stumbling behind me, and will not go away”. I interpreted this as the father becoming very weak, old and unable to work, so he is pressuring his son to follow his footsteps and meet his physical abilities.
In conclusion, Heaney uses diction, visual images, and figurative language to describe the physical relationship between a father and son. The visual images constantly allow us to picture the father hard at work, which is comparable to a sailor sailing a ship. The son wants to be like his father, but he lacks the physical aspects to meet that deed, perhaps because he is only a child. But, the son admires his father, as the title would suggest.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Seamus Heaney's "Blackberry-Picking" Commentary
"Blackberry-Picking"
By Seamus Heaney
Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
We trekked and picked until the cans were full,
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.
We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.
Commentary
In Seamus Heaney’s “Blackberry-Picking”, the poet uses imagery and diction to describe the process and feelings one endures while picking blackberries, as the title suggests. Heaney also uses other literary devices, like metaphors and similes, which make the idea of blackberry picking as a child more in-depth and stand for something else. As the innocence of waiting all year to have the pleasure and excitement of harvesting and picking blackberries ends, so does the child’s innocence.
In the first stanza the speaker experiences the excitement of picking the first “glossy purple clot” while patiently waiting for the others to ripen, as they were “hard as a knot”. The speaker says, “you ate the first one and its flesh was sweet like thickened wine”. The use of the simile puts emphasis on the sweetness and joy that came with picking blackberries, which is comparable to the wonderful taste that one has while drinking wine. The poet uses the innocence of the blackberry picking seems to signify the innocence of a child’s life as the "sweet flesh" and “summer’s blood” seems to represent the life’s goodness. Also, the speaker states, “we trekked and picked until the cans were full”, which suggests these children, picked every delicious blackberry in sight. Hence, this may represent the passion they have for life as they realize its decency. All of these vivid images allow the reader to actually see and image what is the speaker is talking about. The imagery sets the tone for the first stanza, as it is full of joy, happiness, and passion.
As the poem transitions from first to the second stanza, so does the tone of the poem. As the individuals in the poem try to hoard the blackberries in the byre, “a rat-grey fungus” consumes them. As the blackberries are diminishing from the first stanza, which seems to symbolize a child’s innocence and life, the second stanza seems to represent the loss of innocence and death. The second stanza is full of images that seem to resemble images of decomposition. The images of the fruit fermenting as “the sweet flesh would turn sour”, remind the reader that as berries ripen, so does one’s life as it comes to an end…death. The overall tone changes in the second stanza, as the first stanza is full of life’s happiness and the second stanza is full of sadness as life rots. The speaker comes to this realization and concludes, “each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not”, which suggests all good things come to an end.
In conclusion, Seamus Heaney uses diction, imagery, and figurative language to explain how the bittersweet things in life come to an end. The use of figurative language emphasizes this and the idea that nothing in life comes easy. Heaney uses the innocent images of blackberry picking in comparison to the challenges one endures in their life, including death, which represents the loss of innocence. Though the speaker enjoyed and had a passion for blackberry picking, the speaker also had to take in the pain that came along with it.
By Seamus Heaney
Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
We trekked and picked until the cans were full,
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.
We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.
Commentary
In Seamus Heaney’s “Blackberry-Picking”, the poet uses imagery and diction to describe the process and feelings one endures while picking blackberries, as the title suggests. Heaney also uses other literary devices, like metaphors and similes, which make the idea of blackberry picking as a child more in-depth and stand for something else. As the innocence of waiting all year to have the pleasure and excitement of harvesting and picking blackberries ends, so does the child’s innocence.
In the first stanza the speaker experiences the excitement of picking the first “glossy purple clot” while patiently waiting for the others to ripen, as they were “hard as a knot”. The speaker says, “you ate the first one and its flesh was sweet like thickened wine”. The use of the simile puts emphasis on the sweetness and joy that came with picking blackberries, which is comparable to the wonderful taste that one has while drinking wine. The poet uses the innocence of the blackberry picking seems to signify the innocence of a child’s life as the "sweet flesh" and “summer’s blood” seems to represent the life’s goodness. Also, the speaker states, “we trekked and picked until the cans were full”, which suggests these children, picked every delicious blackberry in sight. Hence, this may represent the passion they have for life as they realize its decency. All of these vivid images allow the reader to actually see and image what is the speaker is talking about. The imagery sets the tone for the first stanza, as it is full of joy, happiness, and passion.
As the poem transitions from first to the second stanza, so does the tone of the poem. As the individuals in the poem try to hoard the blackberries in the byre, “a rat-grey fungus” consumes them. As the blackberries are diminishing from the first stanza, which seems to symbolize a child’s innocence and life, the second stanza seems to represent the loss of innocence and death. The second stanza is full of images that seem to resemble images of decomposition. The images of the fruit fermenting as “the sweet flesh would turn sour”, remind the reader that as berries ripen, so does one’s life as it comes to an end…death. The overall tone changes in the second stanza, as the first stanza is full of life’s happiness and the second stanza is full of sadness as life rots. The speaker comes to this realization and concludes, “each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not”, which suggests all good things come to an end.
In conclusion, Seamus Heaney uses diction, imagery, and figurative language to explain how the bittersweet things in life come to an end. The use of figurative language emphasizes this and the idea that nothing in life comes easy. Heaney uses the innocent images of blackberry picking in comparison to the challenges one endures in their life, including death, which represents the loss of innocence. Though the speaker enjoyed and had a passion for blackberry picking, the speaker also had to take in the pain that came along with it.
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