Blackberry Picking

Blackberry Picking

Context
1. by Seamus Heaney
  1. Irish poet
2. set in Ireland
Themes
1. loss of hope
2. loss of childhood innocence
Techniques
1. Contrast
  1. poem is in 2 sections
    1. section 1
      1. positive
        word choice
        "sweet"
        "glossy"
        imagery
        "like thickened wine"
    2. section 2
      1. negative
        word choice
        "stinking"
        "fungus"
        imagery
        "like a plate of eyes"
    3. negative change portrays loss of hope/innocence
  2. Sentence Structure
    1. "lovely canfuls smelt of rot"
      1. contradictory
      2. oxymoron
    2. "sweet flesh would turn sour"
      1. highlights the change/development of fruit
        desirable to disgusting
        delicious to horrid
    3. "Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not."
      1. loss of hope
      2. outcome always same: failure
      3. portrays difference between hoping and knowing
        hope never fulfilled
        loss of childhood imagination and naivety
      4. sense of newfound understanding and reality
        dreams have been lost
        he is no longer a child full of hope and innocence
2. Word Choice
  1. section 1
    1. "glossy purple clot"
      1. bright
      2. colourful
      3. shiny
      4. first taste
      5. "clot"
        filled with juice
        covered by thick skin
        connotes blood
    2. "summer's blood"
      1. thick, dark juice
      2. rich
      3. personification
    3. "flesh"
      1. personification
    4. children's desire for berries
      1. "lust"
        sensual nature
        burning passion
        addicted since first taste
        highlights children's need/desire
        longing
        yearning
        portrays loss of innocence
      2. "hunger"
        need berries to survive
        only berries will satisfy
        children have become wild/crazed like animals
        addiction/craving
        cannot be denied
  2. section 2
    1. "stinking"
      1. opposite of sweet
        highlights contrast
      2. horrid
      3. putrid
      4. reeking
    2. "glutting on our cache"
      1. their berry collection
        diseased
        flooded
        overwhelmed
      2. overpowering berries
      3. filling up
    3. "rat-grey fungus"
      1. rotten
      2. infested
    4. children
      1. "hoarded the fresh berries"
        "hoarded"
        locked them away for themselves
        stashed
        greedy
        more than necessary
        unable to let go/give up
3. Imagery
  1. section 1
    1. "like thickened wine"
      1. tempting
      2. dark
      3. desirable
      4. "wine"
        addiction
        sweetness
        richness
      5. hints at theme of loss of innocence
    2. "big dark blobs burned"
      1. "burned"
        foreshadowing
        danger
        sin
        deep colour
        reflection into "glossy" skin
  2. section 2
    1. "like a plate of eyes"
      1. simile
      2. berries are watching/judging them
      3. disgusting
      4. revolting
    2. hands "sticky as Bluebeard's"
      1. simile
      2. old French folktale
        murdered wives
      3. murderous
      4. sinister
      5. blood on their hands

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