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Transcript

"Field of Vision" by Seamus Heaney

"field of Vision"

Poem

I remember this woman who sat for years

In a wheelchair, looking straight ahead

Out the window at sycamore trees unleafing

And leafing at the far end of the lane.

Straight out past the TV in the corner,

The stunted, agitated hawthorn bush,

The same small calves with their backs to wind and rain,

The same acre of ragwort, the same mountain.

She was steadfast as the big window itself.

Her brow was clear as the chrome bits of the chair.

She never lamented once and she never

Carried a spare ounce of emotional weight.

Face to face with her was an education

Of the sort you got across a well-braced gate —

One of those lean, clean, iron, roadside ones

Between two whitewashed pillars, where you could see

Deeper into the country than you expected

And discovered that the field behind the hedge

Grew more distinctly strange as you kept standing

Focused and drawn in by what barred the way.

Poet Biography

Biography

  • Seamus Heaney, in full Seamus Justin Heaney, was a renowned Irish poet.

  • Heaney was born in Ireland, on April 13, 1939.

  • When he was twelve, he received a scholarship to attend the boarding school st. Columb's College in Derry, Ireland.

  • He went on to Queens University in Belfast, Ireland. Studying English and graduating in 1961.

  • He worked as a play-writer, school teacher, and a professor at Harvard and Oxford Universities.

  • He published his first poetry book in 1966, "Death of Naturalist."

  • He also published many books of poems that included North, Station Island, The spirit level and Field of vision.

  • Heaney won 1955, Nobel prize in Literature.

  • He also won white bread prize and David Cohen prize.

  • He published his last book of poetry "human chain" in 2010

  • He died in Dublin, Ireland on August 30, 2013, at the age of 74

rhyme scheme

Form

The style of typography used in this poem contains 5 stanzas, each possessing 4 lines of its own. Every line contains roughly about 10 syllables each having 5 beats. This style of poetry can also be referred as iambic pentameter.

Form/ Rhyme Scheme

The author uses various amount of rhyme to increase the reading experience. Sound devices which are used in the poem that relates to rhyme are consonance, assonance and internal rhyme and repetition.

(i.e.)

Assonance - “One of those lean, clean, iron, roadside ones between”

Internal rhyme and Repetition - “The same, small calves with their backs to wind and rain, the

same acre…”

significance of rhyme

Significance of Rhyme

The author deliberately used these sound devices, rhyme, as a means to attract the reader's eyes and ears used in individual lines emphasizing "field of vision". these rhyme sounds are also used to correspond with images that this poem portray.

Literary Devices

Literary

There are many different literary devices present in this poem, such as:

- "who sat for years/in a wheelchair" - This is Pathos as the author is evoking pity in the reader. (Heaney, 1/2)

- "sycamore trees unleafing/and leafing at the far end of the lane" - This is an oxymoron as the author writes about the circle of life; death followed by life. (Heaney, 3/4)

- "same small calves with their backs to wind and rain/the same acre of ragwort, the same mountain" - The author uses epizeuxis to put emphasis on the sentence. (Heaney, 7/8)

- "she was as steadfast as the big window itself." - The author uses a simile here, comparing the woman in the wheelchair to a "big window", showing us that she is stable and she allows us to see new things.

- "her brow was clear as the chrome bits of the chair." - Another example of simile where the author shows that the woman is as clear as the chrome; not worried.

- "never lamented once and she never/carried a spare ounce of emotional weight" - Another use of repetition that puts emphasis on the sentence. The author shows that the woman was never sad about her situation.

- "well-braced gate - /one of those lean, clean, iron, roadside ones" - Internal rhyme that the author uses to help describe the gate in the poem

Mood and Atmosphere

First stanza: The first stanza lets us visualize a depressing and blank mood. We start off by talking about a women in a wheelchair and how she has been staring at a tree for many years.

Second stanza: In the second stanza we can see imagery that may give off an atmosphere of melancholy. Sitting all alone looking at trees everyday.

Fifth stanza: The last mood that was set was a very strange and despair type of mood. As they are finishing the poem we are told that the "field behind the hedge

Grew more distinctly strange"(Heaney 18/19) which is kind of making it seem as if something very unsettling is about to happen.

Mood

Third stanza: We are now setting a completely different mood than before. The mood now would be a nostalgic and accomplished one. We start talking about how she was in her prime. A golden child of some sort.

Fourth stanza: the mood now would be of a decision making one. They talk about how the education that she was offered was of the type only royalty could be allowed to utilize.

Theme

“Field of Vision” is a poem about a woman in a wheelchair being wise and strong even when facing to the natural world.

Why

  • "unleafing and leafing" could mean death and life which is part of the cycle of nature
  • lacking "lamentation" making her show no weakness
  • being compared to "well-braced gate" is saying that she is strong
  • speaking with her makes someone fall deeper into her wisdom

Why

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