The Harvest Bow

Memory poem
relationship between father and son
no words spoken to express their love but the love is there "you implicated the mellowed silence in you/a throwaway love-knot of straw"
manual work- fathers closeness to the natural world- skilled workman- "your fingers moved somnambulant" (don't need to concentrate, could do it in your sleep)
"I tell and finger is like braille Gleaning the unsaid off the palpable" - handing it to him symbolises his love even though it in unsaid it can be felt
particular memory - "i spy into its golden loops i see us walk the railway slopes" silent atmosphere, the detail in which Heaney remembers these moments with his father displays his affection for him, linking the past to the present, "blue smoke straight up" auction notice on the outhouse wall (the details which show the importance of the memory) - harvest bow preserving the memory as poetry does too
"already homesick" - the transience of time, aware that he will be nostalgic for these times
"The ordinary town land still tongue-tied in the straw tied by your hand"
last stanza - present - "yet burnished by its passage and still warm" still remembered, warm - symbol of love, harvest bow embodying the past
the poets father - typical farming man from first half of 20th century - strong silent countryman - like many from his generation wouldn't have been overly given to self expression or talking about his feelings - weaves his inner self into the harvest bow - palpable - "gleaning the unsaid" bow as "knowable" and a "love-knot" - old age - man out of his time
childhood memories - looks into loops can see the past - almost like a magical television set - youth momentarily exists again
craft - expresses himself through the making of this harvest bow as heaney does with poetry
'The end of art is peace' - objective of art is peace. peace will be the death of art- art can only be made out of conflict and turmoil
process of memory
changing world - tongue tied town land - uneducated farming community - lacked learning and vocab for self expression - father = man from different era (contempt of speech, craft)
sense of place
AABBCC rhyme- and many half rhymes "peace""device" "midges""hedges" -> pleasant verbal music throughout
difficulty of communication
vanished community of Heaney's childhood

	Created by niamhmoynagh almost 11 years ago

Seamus Heaney Note on The Harvest Bow, created by niamhmoynagh on 05/26/2013.

The Harvest Bow