Varying representations, interpretations of and attitudes towards death

Murderous, entrenched, complex the marriageerly Ireland conflict seems to defy rational discourse. yet from the contradictions and tensions has sprung some remarkable art, non least the poetry of the Troubles, at present widely recognized as among the most vibrant coetaneous writing in the English oral communication. by dint of the six poems mentioned the theme of death is truly prominent. We start with Tollund patch and Grauballe world. In these twain poems Heaney portrays the deaths as a tragedy, exclusively opposed to his other poems, he refers pick up mainly to the physical mien of the bodies.In Tollund Man he starts the poem with a very brainy, striking commentary of the eubstance, and expresses his desire pilgr film. Heaney focus mainly on the period later death in this poem and describes how its marvelous preservation has made it seem to befit one with the earth she tightened her torc on him. Heaney seems in awe of the corpse, which after death the rem ains has taken on a rescuer like appearance I could chance blasphemy. This death does not catch any direct relation, as such, to Heaney, and consequently does not induct the same shape of heartfelt mourning. None the less Heaney cool it seems to cargon greatly for this Bog torso and elaborates on the condition in which the body was set in motion. He pulmonary tuberculosiss these details to create himself his cause story of their life story leading up to their gruesome murder. In the last office of this poem Heaney refers to the sad freedom that comes with death, and how at one time he allow be classify as a statistic with Bog bodies found in the various other locations. The Tollund Man now has his freedom, still at a high price. Heaney finishes with a personal rootage to his aver sadnessI will feel lost, unhappy, and at home here(predicate) he is referring (as he does in a number of his poems) to the wildness in Federal Ireland, to demonstrate how he has be come presumption up to death.Similarly in Grauballe Man Heaney describes the body as if it has become one with the earth. As with worldy poets Heaney agrees that there is a first-rate distinction between sleep and death. hither the Grauballe ManLies on a roost of turf and seems to weepHeaney personifies the lifeless body, describing him as if asleep he continues this and lets the bodies take on other animal qualities his spine an eel arrested scarce he take holds its peaceful image. Again here he uses vivid imagery the tone ending of his of his slashed throat that has tanned and strengthen to convey the way in which this to the highest degree angelic body lays. He does not want to refer to the body as a corpse and he asks the rhetorical question Who will say corpse to his vivid cast? Similarly to the Tollund soldiery given the body a to a greater extent sanctum image than patently a decompo razzion reaction corpse. By the end of the poem Heaney has become familiar to t he body and answers to himself his rhetorical question. Heaney draws up the conclusion that there is a all right caudex between beauty and atrocity. He uses blunt, monosyllabic word expectants such as slashed and dumped to represent the harsh reality of the area and what homo has turned it into.Being employ to death is something that has influenced a lot of Heaneys poems. This is an fabulously sad poem. The mood is set about immediately in the second line Counting bells knelling classes to a close. Notice how Heaney uses assonance and alliteration to emphasise the funereal sound of the bells and the feeling of time dragging. The stanza begins with the morning in line one but it is two oclock in line three display that hours live passed in waiting. The second stanza begins with the image of Heaneys father crying. Having come crossways Heaneys father in poems such as Follower in which he appears to be a strong man of some words, this contrary picture evokes powerful sensat ion in the ref. Heaney skilfully takes the lecturer with him as he enters the house through the porch we join his father, Big Jim Evans, the baby in its pram, the sure-enough(a) men congregated in the room and ultimately Heaneys mother coughing out hot under the collar(predicate) tearless sighs.Lines 14-15 again show Heaney victimisation assonance, this time in his repetition of the mulct a At, ambulance, arrived, stanched, and, bandaged emphasising the fish filet short of blood and life. We learn in the sixth stanza that Heaney hadnt seen his brother for six weeks having been out at school. The words Paler now, hang at the end of the stanza make a sad pause onward the sentence continues and describes how little changed in appearance the boy is in death, the difference creation his paler complexion and poppy bruise. The final line stands out on its own. Almost both word is emphasised so that the reader moldiness take in the lines put across and the electric shock and deep grief that the family must have felt. There is an element of shock for the reader reading it for the first time also, when they discover who has died and that he was a unspotted four years old.Again in Funeral Rites it is a person close to Heaney who has died. In this poem Heaney describes him self as be very close to the deceased, playing the disperse of the pallbearer, he uses here a pronged entendre as he shoulders a mixed bag of manhood as he is scarce a child. As in The Tollund Man and The Grauballe Man Heaney begins with a vivid description of the body with its dough white give and igloo brows. Heaney uses phrases such as the minatory glacier of each funeral pushed away to demonstrate how sinfulness is synonymous with death. In the second sectionalisation of this poem, Heaney also concentrates on the period square(p) after death as in Mid-Term Break. However here he focuses on the funeral procession linking it again with the power in Northern Ireland in a f lash as news comes inof each friendly murderwe pine for ceremony,customary rhythmsHeaney shows he has become accustomed to death and how the formality after death are simply for show. Heaney, once again, creates a dear standard pressure in the second section describing the dense moving procession paying their venerate. He personifies the funeral procession as it drags its tail morbidly through the streets and side roads of Ireland.In the last section Heaney brings together the themes of his own childhood experience of death, deaths in the north at present and the death of Gunnar, a Viking hero dead by violence and unavenged. This demonstrates the futile waste of life conflict has caused over many centuries, and move a powerful message to the reader.In the poem Limbo Heaney touches on the controversial subject of Religion. Heaney casually introduces the subject of the poem, with a newspaper style headlineFishermen at BallyshannonNetted an infant last nightAlong with the salm onHe tags on the end of the first to line-along with the salmon making it sound as if it is cypher out of the ordinary. Following this he concentrates on the actual death of the bastard baby, off by his own mother for the saki of religious beliefs. Heaney describes how the baby was rejected by its mother and discarded, although not without feelingHe was a minnow with hooks bust her open.This shows how strong some peoples convictions really are, and how they are prepared to die, or to kill for them. He uses vivid imagery and descriptive language to try and out across the pain, emotion, and heinousness of the situation. The mother has to choose her baby or her religion, and being a strict Christian chooses Catholicism and drowns her own child ironically in contrast with the teachings of the bible. He ands mentioning the hindquarters where the body of the child now lays, in some far briny partition where the water is too harsh til now Christs palms, unhealed, Smart and cannot fi sh there.The last poem, Casualty, is more of a story than the others are. It describes an elderly man who is a local customer at a bar in Ireland. He is fond of a drink but is able to control him self and maintain dignity. He is content to sit at a bar and watch life go by him. Out of respect he attempts to speak of poetry, but is distinctly not at ease with this, so Heaney changes the subject. Although he is laconic he has a great presence, but his confidence finally leads to his downfall, and this is how Heaney builds up emotion in the reader. He presents a figure that he describes in great detail and becomes attached to. This man does not think he should have to obey a curfew and is killed out on the street. Heaney describes how graffiti on the wall compares lives to goals in a football match. Heaney demonstrates his emotion in the harsh situation, and provokes emotion in the reader by creating a very solemn mood.In the second section Heaney moves on from this particular case t o the general atrocity in the Ireland conflict. He uses phrases such as coffin after coffin and normal funeral to demonstrate how, tragically, death and violence have become an accepted part of life. Heaney then goes seat to the solemn story of the man from the bar, who was simply carrying out his usual routine. He did not think he should be confined to his home for someone elses evils. This shows how the killings were not discriminate and he was simply in the pervert place at the wrong time.Heaney then goes on to say how he did not attend the funeral, but alternatively reminisces on his times spent with the man. Heaney seems to find falsehood in funerals, and would prefer to sit in isolation and think back to the time when he tasted freedom with him. Now the man is free and has no seven-day to face the arduous tasks of life, or the pitilessness of man.Throughout Heaneys poems he expresses his distaste of mans pitilessness towards their own species. Heaney expresses his views o n the futility of violence with shake up confidence. In each of his poems he manages to use many different literary devices and provokes panorama and emotion in the reader. His language is moving and yet not aggressive and at the same time he is presenting a very valid set of arguments.