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Seamus Heaney writes about the troubles in Northern Ireland, but also displays a broad range of themes and interests such as love poems and nature poems. Many of the his poems in this collection take the form of elegies for his friends killed in the sectarian conflict such as the excellent “Casualty�� and “The Strand of Lough Beg,�� as well as elegies for dead friends not related to the conflict. Poems such as the series of sonnets known as the Glanmore Sonnets show his range and breath, being celebrations of the natural beauty found at Glanmore, and in the earlier sonnets poems they are partially self-referential poems that speak of his changing range as an artist now within Glanmore and away from the Troubles, finding new sources of inspiration and acknowledging within his poetry a kind of shock at finding new sources of inspiration.

“Triptych�� is three poems in one about the conflict in Northern Ireland. The first poem recalls a memory of two young men with gun described as “profane�� and ends with the an image of a young girl bringing food home seemingly oblivious and content in her actions from the hinted violence at the beginning of the poem, which hints at the everyday comforts of home life and small local village, and that normal life goes on for the average person after large acts of political violence. The middle talks about the land itself describing it as “neutered�� and it’s “loneliness,�� while describing the speaker’s longing to find an “unmolested�� flower. This images refers to the speakers search for innocence and peace, suggesting nothing can truly remain at peace and innocent in this conflict. The second poem has sibyl who answers the speaker’s desperation about the future with predictions that the future will be full of cycles of continued conflict, unless people can find it in themselves to break the cycle. In the final poem, the speakers visits a crumbling monastery and old pagan images representing dying and old religions. It then focuses on an upcoming protest and the military helicopters who look like the new deities and wonders if he should offer what poor and meager things he has to it, suggesting the conflict in Northern Ireland is the worship of death and this is the new religion.

“The Toome Road�� narrates the appearance an armored car with soldiers on the property of a local farmer. He wants to run and warn the rest of the countryside about these invaders who try to artificially fit into the land with camouflage, but the ending suggests that although these foreigners come with guns they will never cow the Irish and their resistance, whose center remains “untoppled�� and “invisible�� to these invaders.


The opening poem “Oysters�� describes the opulence, but also the violence of eating live oysters. He further emphasizes their connection with opulence and wealth by reflecting on Ancient Romans hauling Oysters down to their city. Even though he is participating in this opulence and violence by eating oysters the last stanza suggests he doesn’t “trust�� or have confidence in this feeling of “repose.�� He senses something dangerous and problematic about enjoying these oysters. There is a danger in relaxing in our opulence and happiness, oblivious to the darker side and the cost of our pleasures. He compares this to other purer joys like poetry and hanging out by the sea.

“A Drink of Water�� is a poem about an old lady who provides him with water from a bucket. Although initially describing her as an “old bat��, by the end of the poem he realizes the importance of gratitude for those who provide us with things and the suggestion that she might be a source of inspiration from which he “dipped to drank again.�� The lesson is that even seemingly little things or ugly images
may serve as artistic inspiration. The poems attention to sound is especially striking.

“An Afterwards�� is an amusing poem imagining a hell and appropriate punishment for poets in the vein of Dante, expressing the wish of the poet’s wife who wishes he could enjoy time with his kids and family more and not always be so obsessed and serious about his poetry. To stop and smell the rose and leave his task as a poet behind.