'Bogland' by Seamus Heaney

Bogland

Butter sunk under

More than a hundred years

Was recovered salty and white.

The ground itself is kind, black butter

Melting and opening underfoot,

Missing its last definition

By millions of years.

They'll never dig coal here,

Only the waterlogged trunks

Of great firs, soft as pulp.

Our pioneers keep striking

Inwards and downwards,

Every layer they strip

Seems camped on before.

The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage.

The wet centre is bottomless.

for T. P. Flanagan

We have no prairies

To slice a big sun at evening--

Everywhere the eye concedes to

Encrouching horizon,

Is wooed into the cyclops' eye

Of a tarn. Our unfenced country

Is bog that keeps crusting

Between the sights of the sun.

They've taken the skeleton

Of the Great Irish Elk

Out of the peat, set it up

An astounding crate full of air.

Description of Poem

Analysis of Bogland

Structure, Tone, and Themes

By Seamus Heaney

Structure

• 7 stanzas
• 4 lines per stanza

THE END

• Free Verse
• No Rhyme or Rhythm

Themes

• Irish landscape/Nature
• History

Tone

Appreciative of the speaker's Irish landscape and reflective.

5th, 6th, and 7th Stanza

5th

Shift in tone: past tense

to present tense

represents how long the bog has been there

Melting and opening underfoot,

Missing its last definition

By millions of years.

They'll never dig coal here,

1st and 2nd Stanza

long sounding vowels - links to the sound of the bog

metaphor

enjambment - sentence continues to the next stanza

they will never find coal - all there is is bog

1st

2nd

Tone: Contrast to

U.S. landscape

Personification/Allusion

6th

Symbolism

Refers to Western landscape

Narrative Voice

'waterlogged trunks' - decomposed trees in the bogland

for T. P. Flanagan

We have no prairies

To slice a big sun at evening--

Everywhere the eye concedes to

Encroaching horizon,

7th

The bog continues, there is never an end

Shift in tone: 'Our'

Metaphor

Is wooed into the cyclops' eye

Of a tarn. Our unfenced country

Is bog that keeps crusting

Between the sights of the sun.

Sibilance

Imagery: Links to the history of Ireland - the memory of the land

Simile - everything is decomposed and soft in the bog

Only the waterlogged trunks

Of great firs, soft as pulp.

Our pioneers keep striking

Inwards and downwards,

Negative Tone

Assonance

Imagery

Imagery: Western expansion

Socratic Seminar

Every layer they strip

Seems camped on before.

The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage.

The wet centre is bottomless

What is the overall theme of the poem? Which of the 2 interpretations is more valid? Or is there another interpretation

What are the pioneers looking for? Are they just seeing how far the bog goes? They will find nothing

How does structure play a role in developing the overall message?

What literary does are used to develop the theme? To what effect?

Repetition: the bog is never ending

Symbolism: Links to the power of nature - the world is preserving - not consuming

Overall theme: 2 researched interpretations

1) There is no hope to find anything in the bog

2) The more one digs and explores the more one can discover

3rd and 4th Stanza

4th

tone of awe/ amazement

Assonance

3rd

Ambiguous diction

Allusion: ancient Irish deer

Butter sunk under

More than a hundred years

Was recovered salty and white.

The ground itself is kind, black butter

They've taken the skeleton

Of the Great Irish Elk

Out of the peat, set it up

An astounding crate full of air.

note the capitalization

Personification:

appreciation for landscape

Imagery: literal description of what they just found

Assonance: "Ah" sound

Appreciative

alliteration

Imagery