Varying representations, interpretations of and attitudes towards death

Murderous, entrenched, complex the Yankee Ireland conflict seems to defy rational discourse. But from the contradictions and tensions has sprung some remarkable art, non least the poe show of the Troubles, now widely recognised as among the approximately vibrant contemporary writing in the English language.Through the sextuplet poems work forcetioned the theme of death is very prominent. We start with Tollund globe and Grauballe Man. In these two poems Heaney portrays the deaths as a tragedy, exclusively opposed to his other poems, he notes hear in the first place to the physical appearance of the bodies.In Tollund Man he starts the poem with a very vivid, striking description of the reasoning(a)box, and expresses his desired pilgrimage. Heaney focus mainly on the period afterwards death in this poem and describes how its tremendous preservation has made it seem to contract one with the earth she tightened her torc on him. Heaney seems in awe of the corpse, which after death the body has taken on a Christ like appearance I could risk swearing. This death does not have any direct relation, as such, to Heaney, and and thence does not have the selfsame(prenominal) sort of heartfelt mourning. None the slight Heaney still seems to care greatly for this Bog body and elaborates on the configuration in which the body was found. He uses these de bottoms to create himself his own horizontal sur grammatical construction of their life-time leading up to their gruesome murder. In the last department of this poem Heaney refers to the sad freedom that comes with death, and how now he provide be grouped as a statistic with Bog bodies found in the diverse other locations. The Tollund Man now has his freedom, moreover at a full(prenominal) price. Heaney finishes with a personal reference to his own sadnessI will feel lost, unhappy, and at homeHere he is referring (as he does in a number of his poems) to the military unit in Northern Ireland, to ground how he has become disposed to death.Similarly in Grauballe Man Heaney describes the body as if it has become one with the earth. As with party an(prenominal) poets Heaney agrees that there is a very well run between sleep and death. Here the Grauballe ManLies on a pillow 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 but he maintains its peaceful image. Again here he uses vivid imagery the volcano of his of his slashed throat that has tanned and toughened to convey the way in which this almost angelic body lays. He does not want to refer to the body as a corpse and he asks the rhetorical forefront Who will say corpse to his vivid cast? Similarly to the Tollund man prone the body a to a greater extent holy image than simply a rotting corpse. By the end of the poem Heaney has become familiar to the body and answers to himself his rhetorica l question. Heaney draws up the conclusion that there is a fine farm animal between beauty and atrocity. He uses blunt, monosyllabic intelligence agency sounds such as slashed and dumped to represent the jolty reality of the world and what man has turned it into. cosmos used to death is something that has influenced a lot of Heaneys poems. This is an incredibly sad poem. The whim is set almost immediately in the second line determine 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 showing that hours have passed in waiting. The second stanza begins with the image of Heaneys don crying. Having come across Heaneys father in poems such as Follower in which he appears to be a strong man of few words, this contrary picture evokes virile emotion in the reader. Heaney skilfully takes the r eader with him as he enters the nominate through the porch we meet his father, Big Jim Evans, the baby in its pram, the old men congregated in the room and finally Heaneys mother coughing out angered tearless sighs.Lines 14-15 again show Heaney using assonance, this time in his repeating of the short a At, ambulance, arrived, stanched, and, bandaged emphasising the stopping short of origin and life. We learn in the sixth stanza that Heaney hadnt seen his brother for six weeks having been Away at school. The words Paler now, hang at the end of the stanza do a sad pause before the sentence continues and describes how little changed in appearance the boy is in death, the difference creation his paler complexion and poppy flog. The final line stands out on its own. Almost every word is emphasised so that the reader must take in the lines core and the shock and deep grief that the family must have felt. There is an fixings of shock for the reader reading it for the first time also, when they discover who has died and that he was a mere 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 being very close to the deceased, playing the part of the pallbearer, he uses here a double entendre as he shoulders a kind of manhood as he is only a baby bird. As in The Tollund Man and The Grauballe Man Heaney begins with a vivid description of the body with its dough white pass on and igloo brows. Heaney uses phrases such as the black glacier of all(prenominal) funeral pushed away to demonstrate how darkness is synonymous with death. In the second function of this poem, Heaney also cin one casentrates on the period straight after death as in Mid-Term push through. However here he focuses on the funeral procession linking it again with the force out in Northern IrelandNow as news comes inof each neighbourly murderwe pine for ceremony,customary rhythmsHeaney shows he has become accustomed to death and how the formalities after death are simply for show. Heaney, once again, creates a devout atmosphere in the second section describing the delay moving procession paying their respect. 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 tykehood 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 sending a powerful message to the reader.In the poem oblivion 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 darknessAlong with the salmonHe tags on the end of the first to line-along with the salmon making it sound as if it is nothing out of the ordinary. following this he concentrates on the actual death of the bastard baby, murdered by his own mother for the sake of religious beliefs. Heaney describes how the baby was rejected by its mother and discarded, although not without feelingHe was a minnow with hooksTearing 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 brutality 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 place where the body of the child now lays, in some far briny zone where the water supply is too harsh Even Christs palms, unhealed, Smart and cannot fish there.The last poem, Casualty, is more of a story than the others are. It describes an elderly man who is a local customer a t 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 clearly not at ease with this, so Heaney changes the subject. Although he is succinct he has a great presence, but his confidence eventually 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 to the common brutality in the Ireland conflict. He uses phrases such as coffin after coffin and common funeral to demonstrate how, tragically, death and violence have become an accepted part of life. Heaney then goes back 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 wrong place at the wrong time.Heaney then goes on to say how he did not attend the funeral, but pickably 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 longer to face the arduous tasks of life, or the harshness of man.Throughout Heaneys poems he expresses his distaste of mans cruelty towards their own species. Heaney expresses his views on the futility of violence with inspiring confidence. In each of his poems he manages to use many different literary devices and provokes thought and emotion in the reader. His language is poignant and yet not aggressive and at the same time he is presenting a very valid set of arguments.