Milia McCoy

November 7, 2019
IB English
Period Seven
Blackberry Picking by Seamus Heaney
Term Analysis

A ​stanza​ or verse is the assortment of lines in a poem used for structure, organizing
ideas, and rhythm. Though this is a pretty lengthy poem, it is notable that Heaney divides it into
two stanzas that are written in two different moods. The first stanza, from ​Late August t​ o
Bluebeard’s, ​was about 2/3rds of Heaney’s poem reciting a feeling of excitement and joy. The
narrator writes in anticipation of picking the berries in a childlike manner, like it is the
cumulation of summer. However by the second stanza in the aftermath of the berry picking is an
underwhelming and realistic result. Instead of receiving the fruit of their bearings, the narrator is
gifted rotten and sour fruit. Unlike the first stanza, the narrator speaks in the first person
explicitly stating his or her disappointment and sadness, “I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair”.
The two stanzas clearly depict the meaning behind the poem as childhood delight in the first
stanza with a disappointing reality by the second. The act of separating the two passages allows
the two moods to be shown clearly.
Similes ​are literary devices used to emphasize an idea of an object by comparing it to
something that it is not. A way of identifying the difference between similes and metaphors are
through the way similes are written. Similes make use of the descriptive words “like” and “as” to
create a comparison between objects and what they are similar too. This literary tool is not only
used to better describe an object, but to create a visual picture in the reader's mind and make a
text lyrical. In ​Blackberry Picking, ​Heaney uses a multitude of similes to make the reader feel
the level of excitement as the narrator and visualize the berries as the narrator does. The simile,
“hard as a knot” is used to help visualize the unripe berries. Comparing a berry as a “knot”
brings up associations of a small and taught thing- something you would not want to eat.
Juxtaposing this simile with the following description of the first ripe berry, stresses why it is
exciting to see. Allowing the excitement of ripe berries to build up and increases, as it does to the
narrator.
Lastly, ​alliteration​ is used in Heaney’s poem to quicken the pace of the reading,
concealing the reason of disappointment in the end with the light heartedness that is often
associated with alliteration. Alliteration is when words of a phrase has the same characters or
make the same sound as one another. Often, this literary device is used to create mood or rhythm
in a text, such as Heaney at the start of the second stanza.
“We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus” is alliteration with the use of the sound “b” seamlesly continuing with the use
of an “f” sound. Heaney uses this to change the pace of the poem to a quicker speed literally
quickening the time of the berries being picked to rotting immediately.