Act of Union

by Seamus Heaney
Refers to Act of Union in 1800 between Great Britain and Ireland Union created the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Summary: What is happening?

Two sides, one male, one female Male side is the speaker, addressing female side Female: Ireland Your back is a firm line of eastern coast And arms and legs are thrown Beyond your gradual hills. Male: England I am the tall kingdom over your shoulder That you would neither cajole nor ignore. And I am still imperially Male, leaving you with pain

Summary: What is happening?

Stanza 1 Cause How are the two sides interacting? What action is taking place? a bog-burst, A gash breaking open the ferny bed. I caress The heaving province where our past has grown. Stanza 2 Effect What is the result of the first stanzas action? The act sprouted an obstinate fifth column Whose stance is growing unilateral. No treaty I foresee will salve completely your tracked And stretchmarked body, the big pain That leaves you raw, like opened ground, again

What is the mood/tone?

How is England addressing Ireland? Respectfully? Arrogantly? With pity? Destructive vocabulary: Flood, burst, gash, pain, rending, battering ram, wardrum, force Pregnant vocabulary: a first movement, a pulse, heaving province, my legacy, sprouted, his heart beneath your heart, ignorant little fists, stretchmarked body If you were Ireland, how would you feel?

What is the message?

If England is addressing Ireland, what point is it trying to get across? Conquest is a lie. I grow older Conceding your half-independant shore The act sprouted an obstinate fifth column Whose stance is growing unilateral. His heart beneath your heart is a wardrum Mustering force. No treaty I foresee will salve completely your tracked And stretchmarked body

Imagery
a pulse, As if the rain in bogland gathered head To slip and flood Flood = Spilling out destructively The rending process in the colony, The battering ram, the boom burst from within. Rending = Tearing apart Battering ram has a two-sided meaning

Personification
Both countries are personified Ireland has female attributes: gradual hills, heaving province, stretchmarked body England has male attributes: tall kingdom, imperially male Third personification represents a child: an obstinate fifth column, His heart beneath your heart is a wardrum, His parasitical And ignorant little fists already Beat at your borders

Casualty
Part 1 Once again is a commentary on Catholic-Protestant discord Who is the speaker? Who is he talking about? How does the speaker describe the man he speaks of? What is the speakers attitude towards the man he speaks of? What is the meaning behind the term turned observant back? What do we learn happens to the man at the end of the stanza?

Casualty
Part 2 Where is the scene set in the first stanza? Why is it important? Where are we transported to in the next stanza? What is the speaker recounting? How does the speaker feel about what happened to the other man? What tells us this?

Casualty
Part 3 The speaker says he missed his funeral, but later talks about being taken in his boat. How does this make sense? What does the speaker do while on the boat? How does it make him feel? Why is this important? Just as in Act of Union, the poem ends with the word again. Coincidence?