Two of Seamus Heaneys poetry that count on the alterations in language to create meaning are “The Strand by Lough Beg” and “Casualty”, both by his Field Work (1979) Anthology. The two poems include the effects of sectarian violence in Ireland alluding to the fact that many Irish are certainly not political powered and are guarantee damage in the events. Through rich imagery and good symbolism, Heaney utilises language to reflect on the Troubles in Ireland in europe.
The 2 poems “The Strand for Lough Beg” and “Casualty” reflect on victims of sectarian violence in Ireland who also known privately to Heaney. In “The Strand for Lough Beg”, Heaney tries to give back to his cousin, Colum McCartney, the dignity he dropped due to the violence of his death. McCartney was a victim of a highway murder when he returned house from a Gaelic basketball match. Heaney was not in fact present at his cousin’s death nevertheless visualises an imaginary circumstance where he takes on the role of Dante from Tormento. Similar to this, Heaney invents recollections of John O’Neill, the man killed in an Irish His party Army (IRA) pub bombing. Parallels can be drawn among “The Strand at Lough Beg” and “Casualty” as they both use intertextuality inside the poems through the language and imagery evoked in order to produce imagined cases and think about the Troubles of Ireland.
The early stanzas in “The Strand at Lough Beg” utilise speed and intertextuality to convey the sense of pursuit during Colum McCartney’s death. The poem unwraps with an extract via Dante’s Tormento “All around this little isle, on the follicle grow the tall pushes from the oozy sand” since Heaney decides to assume the part of Dante in the poem. The initial verses, through enjambment, flow with no stop thus building a slow pace which is similar to how McCartney may possess driven through the night in a area that was unknown to him. Heaney writes, “Leaving the light glow of filling areas and a few unhappy streetlamps among the fields you climbed the hills toward Newtownhamilton” the usage of language mirrors a slow pace inside poem which contrasts together with the next passage. Heaney uses shorter syllables such as “Goat-beards and dogs’ eyes” to enhance the rate and sibilance through “snapping and squealing” which contrasts to the quietness of the previous verses. The effect of vocabulary in this lengthy opening sentence in your essay foreshadows the setting and nature of Colum McCartney’s death.
The use of terminology in “Casualty” is similar to that in “The Strand in Lough Beg” as Heaney juxtaposes calamity with violence through modifications in our language. In the construction with the death of Louis O’Neill, Heaney publishes articles “But my own tentative skill his flipped back designer watches too” discussing the previous debate about how this individual and O’Neill would speak about ” lore of the equine and cart or the Provisionals”. This conversation uses a regular rhyme scheme of A, N, A, N creating a calm pace specifically through the use of keyword phrases such as “at closing period would go in waders” The calamity can be quickly in comparison in the composition as Heaney states that “He (O’Neill) was taken to bits”, a very abrupt manner of conveying the death. The unnecessary repetition is strained through the stanza with “blown”, “bits” and “obeyed” which usually represents the sudden method of O’Neill’s fatality. Through the changes and clashes in dialect, Heaney is able to create thought memories of the sudden nature of sectarian violence in Ireland.
Language can be used to make reference to other literary performs which Heaney often will to inform the reading of his personal poems. As mentioned previously, Heaney uses the Purgatorio in “The Strand at Lough Beg” as they assumes the role of Dante during the death of his relation. Literary reference is also built to King Sweeney, an Irish myth about a kind whom went upset during battle and changed into bird while being pursued by demons: “Where Sweeney fled before the bloodied heads”. The imagery employed in “The Follicle at Lough Beg” likewise evokes commonalities to the Michelangelo’s “La Pieta”, the figurine of the Virgin mobile Mary keeping Christ after he comes down from the cross. Through the imagined field Heaney publishes articles “I lift you beneath the arms and lay you flat” evoking tenderness that was missing during his cousin’s real death. Though Heaney will not necessarily point out the fictional or artistic influence, the imagery built alludes to other texts informing the reading of Heaney’s functions.
Poets often have a definite way of composing and parallels can be driven between Heaney’s past text messages in “Casualty”. It is well-known that John O’Neill has not been actually a close friend of Heaney yet more an acquaintance. Regardless, Heaney constructs a mild image of himself and O’Neill on a vessel going sportfishing as this is his profession. The composition speaks showing how the two men were “on the water banked under fog” as “the screw purling, turning” took them to be able to sea and Heaney “tasted freedom with him”. The influence of W. W Yeats’ “Fisherman” is seen right here and also the affect of Heaney’s past work, “The Tollund Man” where Heaney had written about the entire body who was present in the 1950’s that was a sacrifice towards the fertility Our god, Nerphus. In “The Tolland Man”, Heaney states how “something of his unhappy freedom ought to come to me” resonating the language found in “Casualty”. Furthermore, the Northern Reticence’s which in turn Heaney generally speaks is usually conveyed in “Casualty” a lot like how it can be conveyed in “The Strand at Lough Beg” plus the poem “Whatever You Claim, Say Nothing”. The continual language from the “sideways talkers”, Irish whom “spoke an old language of conspirators” and spoke in “smoke signals” is exemplified in many with the texts while Heaney uses symbolic vocabulary to mention the North Reticence. The use of repeating language from Heaney’s very own work or other literary works can be used to enhance the meaning of his poems especially those about the violence in Ireland.
Seamus Heaney’s two poems “The Follicle at Lough Beg” and “Casualty” count on language to produce meaning about the sectarian violence in Ireland. Heaney refers to his own fictional works and other texts to tell the understanding of his very own poems. Through vivid imagery, pace, sounds and illustrations, “The Follicle at Lough Beg” and “Casualty” create partially thought situations with Colum McCartney and John O’Neill to ensure that Heaney to comment on the Troubles in Ireland.
