The Forge

Page 1

SENSES

'ring', 'hiss', 'the unpredictable fantail of sparks'

IMAGERY - SYMBOLISM

'unicorn', 'an altar', 'the anvil', 'a door into the dark'

ONOMATOPOEIA

'ring', 'hiss', 'clatter'

ASSONANCE

'anvil's short-pitched ring'

CONSONANTS - MASCULINITY- MUSCULARITY

'leather-aproned', 'recalls a clatter', 'grunts and goes in, with a slam and a flick'

MYSTERY - SACRED

'horned as a unicorn', 'an altar'

OUTSIDE/INSIDE WORLD

'Outside, old axles and iron hoops rusting

Inside, the hammered anvil's short-pitched ring.'

'Where he expends himself in shape and music'

PASSING OF TRADITIONAL CRAFTS - DEFIANCE, LAMENTATION, CHANGE

'recalls a clatter

Of hoofs where traffic is flashing in rows;

Then grunts and goes in, with a slam and a flick

To beat real iron out, to work the bellows.'

UNROMANTICISED

'old axles and iron hoops rusting'

'leather-aproned, hairs in his nose'

All I know is a door into the dark.

Outside, old axles and iron hoops rusting;

Inside, the hammered anvil's short-pitched ring,

The unpredictable fantail of sparks

Or hiss when a new shoe toughens in water.

The anvil must be somewhere in the centre,

Horned as a unicorn, at one end square,

Set there immoveable: an altar

Where he expends himself in shape and music.

Sometimes, leather-aproned, hairs in his nose,

He leans out on the jamb, recalls a clatter

Of hoofs where traffic is flashing in rows;

Then grunts and goes in, with a slam and a flick

To beat real iron out, to work the bellows.

Ability to subtly evoke resonance

Poetry writing

Extended metaphor

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfatu3_seamus-heaney-the-forge_creation#.UbmrOufyLpU (Embed)

Heaney's imagination

Anvil - seed of creation

Ceremony - sacred art

Anachronism

Anachronism - something or someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time, especially a thing orperson that belongs to an earlier time

Movement from outside to inside

Quotes and notes

Links