The Tollund Man

Page 1

I

Some day I will go to Aarhus

To see his peat-brown head,

The mild pods of his eye-lids,

His pointed skin cap.

In the flat country near by

Where they dug him out,

His last gruel of winter seeds

Caked in his stomach,

Naked except for

The cap, noose and girdle,

I will stand a long time.

Bridegroom to the goddess,

She tightened her torc on him

And opened her fen,

Those dark juices working

Him to a saint's kept body,

Trove of the turfcutters'

Honeycombed workings.

Now his stained face

Reposes at Aarhus.

II

I could risk blasphemy,

Consecrate the cauldron bog

Our holy ground and pray

Him to make germinate

The scattered, ambushed

Flesh of labourers,

Stockinged corpses

Laid out in the farmyards,

Tell-tale skin and teeth

Flecking the sleepers

Of four young brothers, trailed

For miles along the lines.

III

Something of his sad freedom

As he rode the tumbril

Should come to me, driving,

Saying the names

Tollund, Grauballe, Nebelgard,

Watching the pointing hands

Of country people,

Not knowing their tongue.

Out there in Jutland

In the old man-killing parishes

I will feel lost,

Unhappy and at home.

http://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/audio/heaney/the_tollund_man.mp3

Identity (more personal than Bogland)

DESCRIPTION

mild - sense of personality

Denmark (flat)

Has an impact on Heaney

Sexual element

Saint's - link to part two

Trove - suggests treasure

RELIGION

Consecrate - make holy

Cauldron bog - noun --> adjective

(holds things)

Ritualised sacrifice primitive

Killing someone for religion not primitive?

CONNECTION BETWEEN HEANEY'S FEELINGS TO BE IN DENMARK AND THE TOLLUND MAN

Sad freedom - willing sacrifice

Lost, unhappy, and at home - paradox. Both reminiscent of Ireland and different. People are also killed for religion.

Imagery

'The mild pods of his eye-lids,

His pointed skin cap'

'His last gruel of winter seeds

Caked in his stomach'

Impact on Heaney

'I will stand a long time'

'Something of his sad freedom

As he rode the tumbril

Should come to me, driving'

Sacrifice

'Bridegroom to the goddess

She tightened her torc on him'

Treasure

'Trove of the turfcutters'

'A saint's kept body'

Link to sectarian violence

'I will feel lost,

Unhappy and at home'

'.... pray

Him to make germinate

The scattered, ambushed

Flesh of labourers

Sockinged corpses

Laid out in farmyards,

Tell-tale skin and teeth

Flecking the sleepers

Of four young brothers, trailed

Formiles along the lines.'

Identification with the Tollund Man

'Something of his sad freedom

As he rode the tumbril

Should come to me, driving'

'Out here in Jutland

In the old man-killing parishes

I will feel lost,

Unhappy and at home'

The Tollund Man

Links