Blackberry Picking Essay -- Poems Poetry Berries Essays

Blackberry Picking Blackberry picking is about greed, growing up, how we struggle in life and how pleasure can be taken away from us very quickly. Heaney writes retrospectively, about the times he as a child would go blackberry-picking every year, as a metaphor for these experiences. The first stanza of the poem is mostly quite positive and enthusiastic. The first part of the stanza describes the the ripening of the berries, â€Å"given heavy rain and sun for a full week, the blackberries would ripen†. He also gives us an image of the berries. Heaney uses the metaphor â€Å"a glossy purple clot† for the ripe berries, and the similie â€Å"hard as a knot† for the unripe berries. When you say â€Å"hard as a knot†, the sound is quite short, indicating that the berries are not yet ripe. It then continues to write about the frenzy of picking them - â€Å"lust for picking†. Heaney presents the tasting of the berries as a sensual process, and also uses words like â€Å"flesh†, and â€Å"thickened wine† to make the berries sound so desirable. Alsoâ€Å"lust†, to describe the childrens unrestrained desire and appetite for them. Heaney uses a lot of figurative language in this poem. Personification and a series of metaphors and similies are used: â€Å"flesh was sweet like thickened wine†, the berry is personified and there is use of a similie, the metaphor â€Å"summer’s blood†, referring to the hard work and nourishment that nature has put into it, and then suddenly it is taken away by the children. It is the peoples â€Å"hunger† and â€Å"lust†for the berries that sends them out to fill up their â€Å"milk-cans, pea-tins, jam-pots† until they are fully filled up with blackberries – â€Å"until the tinkling bottom has been covered†. Onomatopoeia is used - â€Å"tinkling... ...ow long and painful the process of picking the blackberries are, how they got their hands full of thorn pricks. Then after a short while, the berries start to rot, and the â€Å"sweet flesh† of the berries would turn sour. Heaney writes this poem to reveal that life is about disappointment, and that good things won’t last, while relating it back to a childhood event of his past. It is also about growing up, and ageing, as we get the contrast of the adults and childrens view in the last stanza. I found this poem very enjoyable and interesting to study, because when I was reading the poem, it almost felt like I could taste the blackberries. I like his use of figurative language, especially the way he described the berries. Another reason why I liked this poem is because I like the way Heaney uses past events of his life to express certain ideas about life.