Punishment Flashcards
(28 cards)
Seamus Heaney context.
- Northern Irish
- The violence from “The Troubles” was always around him.
What would happen to women in Northern Ireland who had romantic relationships with British soldiers?
- They would be tarred and feathered by the IRA soldiers.
- stripped naked and tar poured over their head
Published?
- 1975
What did Heaney declare this poem was about in an interview?
- By- standing when IRA carried out horrific acts against women.
- BUT ALSO about by- standing when British people torture in Belfast (leads to IRA carrying out horrific acts of revenge.)
What bodies was Heaney fascinated by?
- Bog-bodies of Northern Europe that were unearthed in 20th century.
- Uses the bog body as a metaphor to parallel the death of the bog girl to the punishments IRA gave young women.
What bog body does Heaney focus on in this poem?
- Windeby Girl.
- Thought to be ritually killed for transgression of unwritten law.
Signifiance of first person perspective in first few stanzas.
- Narrator very much involved in the girl’s punishment, but doesn’t do anything to help her.
What type of poem do the first few stanzas seem to mimic? Signifiance?
- Blazon (poem written about physical features of woman.)
- Contradicts idea that her physical features have been destroyed by IRA.
- Showcasing how there was potential for her/ her beauty.
What sensual imagery does Heaney employ?
- “naked front.”
- “nipples”
-Directly linking to idea of her being in a relationship leading to Punishment. - Suggestion of her vulerability/ exposed self.
What are “amber beads?”
- Tree-resin now valued as gemstone, dating back millions of years .
- Girl is preserved for everyone to see how she was treated/ Heaney wants to preserve the young woman in Northern Ireland in this manner.
Examples of nautical imagery.
- “rigging.”
- “drowned.”
- “floating.”
- Her fragility in the depth of the ocean of peat, just like a ship’s fragility in the sea.
Significance of assonance used? Where?
- “drowned body in the bog.”
- Heavy tone, serious topic - the depth of the tragedy of woman being killed.
What natural element does Heaney link to the young girl?
- Metaphors of trees.
- “sapling.” Trees need to be protected,tragedy of the fact that girl hasn’t been protected (narrator by-standing!)
- “oak-bone” Her outline is preserved in history.
Signifiance of repitition of “her.”
- Heaney taking the attention off of men, mirroring how men would never be punished as women were by the IRA.
- Giving the remains humanity they deserve.
How does Heaney describe the “noose” around the girl’s neck?
- “a ring to store the memories of love.”
- Marital ring, she died for someone she loved
Signifiance of the enjambement. Where?
- Between “ring” and “to store.”
- Idea that woman’s body preserved, her humilation will ALWAYS be there.
Switch from third to first person. Signifiance?
- Speaking as if the girl is a alive, feels a connection to her - feels responsible for he death.
- Feels as though he is witnessing her death.
How does Heaney refer to the body body which could suggest he is judging her?
- “Little adultress.”
- BUT could be subverting negative connotations of this word by using the familiar adjective “little.”
Signifiance of Heaney describing the young woman as a “scapegoat.”
- Scapegoat: bears the blame for others unjustly.
- She has been blamed for The Troubles/ what the British have done.
- Biblical allusion to story of Priest putting all the sins of people on a goat.
Signifiance of the biblical allusions Heaney uses throughout the poem.
- Sibilance: “stones of silence” –> serpent.
- “Scaepgoat.”
- Paradoxical poem (religious/ violent references)– representation of paradoxical nature of The Troubles, Christians kill each other and feel triumph because of this!
How does the narrator describe himself?
- “artful voyeur.”
- Observing and deriving pleasure from observation.
- Narrator condemming himself for getting an illict thrill of watching others being tortured.
- “artful”: he almost immortalised her by not standing up against the injustice.
How does the narrator describe the woman’s “brain?”
- “exposed.”
- Still under public scrutiny/ can’t escape the shame.
Signifiance of the “numbered bones.”
- Literally archeologists labelling.
- Women seen as objects/ possesions, not treated with dignified respect.
- Biblical allusion: Jesus on cross “count all my numbered bones.”
Last 2 stanzas, what is this shift? Signifiance?
- Time shift to Northern Ireland.
- Linking the bog bogy to the “betraying sisters.”
