Seamus Heaney: His response to violence in Northern Ireland.
...und Man to ‘germinate’ or somehow bring new life not only to the four brothers but also to all the victims of the north’s violence. In doing this it seems that the speaker is searching for a way to convert the sectarian bitterness that led to the brother’s death into a more positive driving force towards a more peaceful future. Heaney himself described this poem as a kind of prayer. It is a prayer for the victims of the troubles in Northern Ireland and also a prayer for peace and resolution. Heaney also depicts his feelings towards the Irish troubles in his poem a ‘Constable calls’. This offers a more documentary account of the troubles. Mossbawn (the family home) depicted as a ‘safe-haven’ in ‘Sunlight’ is penetrated by fear and suspicion caused by a visit from a protestant constable. This conveys the underlying tension that existed in the divided Northern State, and the mistrust felt by the Catholic minority toward the protestant dominated state institutions. In the poem the constable is associated with weaponry and violence. Even his bicycle is portrayed in terms of weaponry ‘Its fat black handle grips’. This imagery suggests handcuffs which show the speakers awareness and unease of the constable’s power to arrest and imprison him. Similarly the bicycle’s dynamo is described as ‘gleaming and cocked back, like a gun ready to go off. Much of the poem is dominated by fear. The ‘fear’ belongs to the young speaker as he watches this alien oppressive force in his home. The speaker’s eyes focus on the constable’s gun which fills him with terror and fascination. ‘I sat staring at the polished holster/ with its buttoned flap, the braid cord/looped into the revolver butt’. This vivid description reinforces the young speaker’s unease in the presence of the constable. The speakers unease is heightened when his father fails to tell the constable about his secret ‘line/Of turnips’. The speaker fears the worse and he imagines that his father might be taken to the ‘barracks’ for lying. The police barracks is portrayed as a dark, sinister place ‘Imagining the black hole in the barracks’ illustrating how the Catholic population viewed the police barracks. The constable soon leaves leaving the speaker ...