Heaney and Montague Both Write About Rural Traditions

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Montague and Heaney both write about their rural traditions. Compare and contrast two poems, one by each poet, taking into account the methods (the situation and tones of the speakers, and the form, structure and language, including imagery) which each poet uses to write about their rural traditions: In ‘The Forge’ by Seamus Heaney and ‘Forge’ by John Montague they both write about their rural traditions in similar and different ways. Seamus Heaney had quite a rural background as he used to live on a farm when he was younger with his family and when he grew older he worked on the farm. Seamus wrote an anthology called ‘Door into the Dark’ – ‘The Forge’ is an extract out of this. It was written in 1969, Heaney uses his personal experiences from his rural background to write the poem. Where as John Montague unlike Heaney wasn’t born on a farm, he was raised in Brooklyn and was looked after by his aunts. Although, by living in Ireland Montague would have had a sense of rural traditions. Montague (like Heaney) wrote an anthology called ‘A Chosen Light’ which he wrote in 1967 – ‘Forge’ was an extract from this also. The time period of which both poems were written affects the poem itself as it is written in a time period when work like this would have been done and rural traditions were more thought of. ‘The Forge’ by Seamus Heaney is about a blacksmith’s behaviour and craft and his reaction to modern life. The title gives us a feel of what is happening as ‘The’ tells us that it’s a place and ‘Forge’ is a blacksmiths workshop and gives us the feeling that someone will be making something. This helps us to try and understand the poem from the start. Heaney keeps this is theme with his rural tradition. This is quite similar to John Montague’s ‘Forge’ which is about an observer describing a blacksmith at work – creating a shoe. The title ‘Forge’ gives up the feeling

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