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