Blackberry-Picking

Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heany

Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
We trekked and picked until the cans were full,
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.

We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.

In this poem, Heaney captures the fleeting nature of experience through beautiful and vivid description of blackberry picking. Every year after berry picking, the speaker would attempt to hold onto the sensations by hoarding large amounts of the fruit, but each time it would inevitably rot. This reflects how it is impossible to hold onto the good experiences forever; a large part of what makes them so valuable is their transience. Yet even knowing this, we still try to, as the speaker attempts year after year, despite knowing better. I found this poem touching because of its accuracy, as it seems to portray many ideas we have about past experiences that are difficult to put into words.

Literary Terms

1. Aphorism: In the final line of the poem, the speaker states "Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not" (24), an observation that reflects his awareness of the inevitable cycle of hope and disappointment in life. Although he knows better from past experience, he cannot keep himself from hoping that this time will be different.

2. Diction: The poet's choice of words determine the tone and lasting impression of the poem. In the first stanza, the word choice is distinctly sensual: "its flesh was sweet" (5), "lust for / Picking" (7-8). However, the second stanza, there is a shift to diction associated with death and decay: "rat-grey fungus" (20), "The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour" (21), "smelt of rot" (23). The diction mirrors the message of the poem, which initially deals with the sweetness of memories but then shifts to disappointment and loss.

3. Allusion: In line 16, the speaker makes a reference to Bluebeard, a fairy tale character who murders his wives. By employing the description "our palms sticky as Bluebeard's" (16), the poet attaches a violent, sinister edge to an innocent activity with the image of a husband who's hands are covered with the blood of his wives.

4. Half rhyme: The poem utilizes a rhyme scheme of AABBCCDDEEFF... (etc), where the last word of each line rhymes with the next: "clot" (3) and "knot" (4), "lust for" (7) and "hunger" (8). Many of the rhymes, such as "sour" (21) and "fair" (22), are half or imperfect rhymes. This use of subtle rhymes rather than more obvious ones keeps the poem from sounding forced, while still adding to its natural rhythm.

5. Alliteration and consonance: Throughout the poem, Heaney skillfully uses subtle alliteration and consonance which, like his rhymes, add to the voice of the poem without overpowering it or sounding forced. Examples of the alliteration used include "briars ... bleached ... boots" (10), "peppered ... pricks ... palms" (15-16), "fruit fermented ... flesh" (21). The use of consonance can be seen in "hayfields, cornfields" (11) and "trekked and picked" (12). These devices add to the cadence of the poem.