The two peaces of poetry I have studied by Seamus Heaney include Essay

The two peaces of poetry I have studied by Seamus Heaney includeFollower and The Early Purges.Heaneys poems both relate back to his younger, adolescent life. Inthe poem Early purges, he describes young kittens being drowned onthe farm. His maturity is shown when he says with perception, Andnow, when shrill pups argon prodded to drown, I however shrug, Bloodypups . But we are shown that he is still careless now, as well in acasual way by saying I just shrug. He is also unsympathetic, andjustifies his actions like Dan. He is now older, looking back andchanged.The language accustomd by Heaney also expresses the fact that undersize wasthought of these so-called nuisances. He says they are slung and DanTaggart describes them as scraggy wee shits. This shows howunsympathetic he was and how the kittens neednt be cared about.Seamus Heaney also tries to describe the habitual drowning of lesserkittens. Again, he tries to use language to appeal more and give us abetter personal picture of events. For instance, when describing thekittens, just after their death, he quite brightly says, Like plasteredgloves they bobbed and shone till he sluiced them out on the dunghill,glossy and dead. Glossy and dead are two contrasting words - glossyis a healthy appearance, but its however because the water drowned thekittens, where the word death comes in.Heaney goes on to say watching the three sogged remains turn mealyand crisp as old summer dung. This is very imagery language, and by chance quite disturbing, although I think it adds more atmosphere tothe poem, because summer is supposed to be happy and fresh, whereasdung isnt. And turn mealy and crisp, which gives the impressionthat he tried to pr... ...side with Heaney. Thearguments pitch up by Dan Taggart, such as Sure isnt it better forthem now? are seen to be realistic later on in the poem when Heaneysays, It makes ace. The images which he uses, however, encourageus to sympathise with him, such as Suddenly frightened, fo r days Isadly hung round the yard where we picture a small boy frightened atthe power of adults over the poor helpless animals.This poem again, like Follower shows that life in the country can bevery difficult, especially if you have to kill small animals, but ifyou work hard, then the farm will run better.Both poems have main themes, and they are very similar to eachother.It is all about the hard work involved in running a farm, therelationship between the father and son, and the expectation thatprofessing and skills will be carried on throughout the family.