It must be the Irish

 Seamus Heaney has proved to be a very interesting Irish poet to learn about. One of my favorite poems of his is Digging. I like his comparison between writing and farming. Even though it seems like he is talking about digging with a shovel, I think Heaney is really talking about digging with his pen. His writing utensil is used to dig for new words. He compares his father working outside to his own writing, combining the imagery of manual labor with artistry. Heaney sort of makes the manual labor his father did in the field like artistry. There is also a theme of tradition within this poem. Heaney talks about his father and his grandfather digging potato drills and as the third generation his is carrying the tradition in a different sort of way. He is digging with his pen. This scene makes me think of a young son that doesn't want to carry on the family business anymore, his father looks very disappointed, but after years of not talking the son becomes successful with his new career choice and comes back to help his father. Almost a prodigal son type of story. 

I also really like his poem Punishment. This is one of the famous bog poems. The murder mystery behind the bog poems is really interesting and quite unexpected. These bodies that were found in bogs in Europe were preserved in a very realistic / lifelike way. The bogs were able to preserve the bodies, so even their hair was preserved after thousands of years. The "bog people" died violent deaths. It seemed that their deaths were ritual murders, almost like they were trying to appease some kind of deity. The big question is why? Why did these people have to die in such a horrific way? Unfortunately, the fact that these people experienced such a terrible death makes it even more interesting. There is an issue very deep in human hearts that cause them to act that violent towards each other, and an even deeper issue when someone enjoys violence. I don't personally enjoy violence, yet it is interesting that the human brain is more likely to remember bad news or not be able to look away from a terrible car accident because something bad could have happened. Why do we do that? 

Heaney's images are shocking, which I think he is trying his best to portray exactly how these bog people looked. Even the sounds of his poem when you read it out loud are interesting. For example, lines 35 and 36 read, "...your muscles' webbing / and all your numbered bones..." It's almost like you can see the bodies that were hidden in the bog. It's almost like you can see every tendon every strand of hair. The poem becomes especially dark when you learn that one of the bog people found was a 14 year old girl. So, the images Heaney is describing could be a mere teenager. Now, why did they (whoever they is) want to kill young teenagers?