The Loss of Childhoos in Heaneys Poems Essay -- Seamus Heaney Poetry

The Loss of Childhoos in Heaney's Poems Seamus Heaney's poems explore the loss of childhood and the cruel awakening into the world of adulthood. Discuss. Seamus Heaney has been described as 'the best Irish poet since Yeats'. He was born on April 13th 1939 and was the eldest of nine children to Margret and Patrick Heaney, at the family farm in Mossbawn. He studied English in Queen's University in Belfast, also in Saint Joseph's College in Belfast, to become a teacher. After many years of writing "Death of a Naturalist" was published in 1966. It contains poems symbolic of death of childhood, specifically Heaney's childhood as a curious young "naturalist", eager to learn about nature. Heaney's poems reveal his thoughts of his childhood and his family. His poems are filled with the images of dying, but are also firmly rooted in childhood. His poems of transition explore the journey from childhood into the adult world. "Blackberry Picking" is a reflection of adulthood and childhood. Heaney tries to tell us that we should enjoy childhood because adulthood is disappointing. He gives the message to have low expectations, therefore when we grow up we will not be let down by the adult world. The poem is written from an adult perspective, although it has many childlike phrases in it. It is about Heaney's summer ventures with his friends during which they would collect blackberries in "milk-cans, pea-tins, jam-pots". It is an elegy, mourning the spiritual death of childhood. The poem is also an extended metaphor. The beginning is about childhood, seeing the world as a child. However there are associations made with adulthood throughout the first stanza eg: "like thickened wine." This implies that adulthood... ...ive side to adultery, monotonous, boring, defensive, greedy and engulfing. Heaney drags out all of the aspects we loathe most about being an adult. Then he places them in an intimidating setting, through a child's perspective and allows us to interpret the experience for ourselves. Heaney presents a generally pessimistic, almost fatalistic view of adult life. His poems illustrate dangers and isolation vivid in adult life, in contrast to the dependence we rely on in childhood. They explain to us the dramatic change from innocence and purity as infants to corruption and voracity in adulthood. The poems are used to convey young Heaney's insecurities and uncertainties, coupled with a faint progression through the conclusion of each of the poems: something has been learned or achieved. What more can one hope for from these significant childhood incidences?