A Review of Punishment, by Seamus Heaney

461 Words2 Pages
Seamus Heaney draws inspiration from his life in Ireland, and the social issues that prevail there. Poems like "At a Potato Digging" and "Digging" reflect his childhood, and also Ireland's historical past. "Punishment" is a tragic poem about a horrifying incident involving the torture of a girl because of social disgrace. The poem revolves around the connection between the social past and how it has not graduated to any other level even now. It's main theme would be violence inflicted on people who cannot or will not contend to society's norms or pressures. It is also written based on a real incident. It begins with a "naked" image, with words like "nape of her neck", "nipples" and "frail rigging of her ribs" that gives the reader a raw feeling. It is a description of the girl who is being tortured. The next line enlightens the reader about how the girl is being tortured. She is being drowned, in a bog, with a weighing stone to pull her down. A bog is a mire that accumulates peat. The poet then goes on to describe her further. Her "shaved head", "flaxen" hair and "tar-black face" were apparently, beautiful. Along with her "brain's exposed" and her "muscles webbing", they make the reader feel she is somehow delicate and fragile, the way she was first introduced in the poem. However the words "noose", "undernourished" and "bandage" bring a sense of gloom over the reader. The reader, like the poet, is beginning to feel bad for the girl. We realize she is being punished for adultery as well, and is called "my poor scapegoat" by the poet. He says he would have almost loved her but still would have "cast the stones of silence" The poet is feeling helpless, and doesn't want the poor girl to die. However, he, like the other people in the crowd, does not say a word of protest. He calls himself "the artful voyeur", or just a silent spectator. But we begin to
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