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Punishment

Content
1. Language
  1. Simple opening with monosalabic vocabulary showing that the girl has been stripped of clothing and is in a vulnerable state
  2. Techniques
    1. Allitteration
      1. "frail riggging of her ribs" draws attention to the aspects of her female body, evoking powerful imagery
      2. "I can see her drowned body in the bog", the speaker imagine the disposal of the body. the explicit, explosive alliteration emphasises the brutality of her death
    2. Imagery
      1. The opening description of the girl makes her appear as a vulnerable creature, evoking sympathy from the reader
      2. Painfully detailed imagery gives the poem a dark, mordid feel
      3. "Her shaved head like a stubble of black corn" this vivid image of the outward ugliness which the people have bestowed onto this once beautiful girl.
      4. "Your tar-black face was beautiful", the paradoxical image of contrasting the tar with her beauty, looking past her crimes
    3. Methaphorical language
      1. The speaker is still with the girl when she is discovered. The passing of time is portrayed to the reader through Heaney's metaphorical language, "oak bone" and "she was a barked sapling". The idea of the body of this girl being alone for so long even if she is dead evokes pathos
      2. Direct contrast between a noose and a ring, one representing harm and the other, love
      3. "stones of silence" metaphorical language as well as being a biblical reference. Heaney points the blame directly at those who stood by and said nothing (sibilance)
    4. Repitition
      1. Heaney's repition of "her" gives the reader a feeling of closeness to the girl
    5. Powerful adjectives
      1. "Soiled bandages", the choice of adjective gives connotations of her reputation which has also been spoiled
      2. "little adultress", the "little soften s the use of the harsh term, reminding the reader of the youth of the girl
  3. "My poor scapegoat" the speaker reminds himself of times when he, himself, stood back and did nothing for women in a similar situation to this girl
    1. "I almost love you" this adds a further, personal dimension for the speaker, portraying the empathy he feels for this girl but also the guilt he feels for the others
  4. Direct admission of his guilt when he says he ould have stood by and done nothing if he had been there
  5. She is still under public scrutiny, even when she is dead, she cannot escape the shame.
  6. The final lines of the poem show Heaney, himself, in a bad light; a coward who would'nt step forward and prevent this from happening. the reader themself also knows in their heart of heart that they would have done what he did.
2. This poem represents Heaney's critism of a stonage communities brutal intolerance
  1. Based on a bog body found in North Germany thought to have been that of a female adultress
  2. The troubling irony is that the stonage justice does not seem that far removed from the modern punishment which would have been carried out in Northern Ireland during the troubles
3. Narrative style
  1. Poem opens with a first person speaker who seems to imagine themself being at this execution
  2. Final two stanzas compare the girl directly to the "betraying sisters"
Structure
1. 11 quatrained stanzas which vary in length between 2 and 8 syllables
2. "to store" draws attention with its dramatic nature
3. Use of longer lines to provide more detailed descriptions
4. Plentiful use of enjambed lines in and across several stanzas
5. Lack of rhyme scheme is in keeping with the poem's uncertainty and Heaney's own guilt

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Punishment

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	Created by Helenisonfire over 9 years ago