'A Comparison Between ‘Requiem For The croppies’ And ‘The Tollund Man’, both by Seamus Heaney\r'

'Seamus Heany is a poet, born in Northern Ire institute in 1939. He authenticly divides his time between his firm in Dublin and Harvard University, where he is ‘Emerson poet in residence.\r\nHeaneys poesys ar r atomic number 18ly political but two meters which tittle-tattle indirectly on sectarian violence argon ‘coronach For The Croppies- written in 1966, and ‘The Tollund part which was published in 1972.\r\nEach poem is inspired by the bygone but is revolving to the recent troubles.\r\nHeaney was a state of struggleded the ‘Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995.\r\n‘ wail For The Croppies was written in 1966 to mark the anniversary of the easterly rising (the Easter rising refers to a sedition against the British by the catholic Irish which brought active the civil war.). The poem tells of an earlier rebellion of the Irish against the Protestant British in 1798 and how this rebellion tail assembly be linked to the Easter rising and current se ctarian violence in Ireland. Heany writes the poem in the graduation exercise person, as if he were one of the croppies; a peasant youth rebelling against the protestant British who are running catholic Ireland.\r\n‘The Tollund Man is a nonher of Heaneys poems in which he comments indirectly on the sectarian violence in Ireland. This poem was written after Heaney was inspired by a book by P.V Glob which features latterly discovered two-thousand year old bodies, which had been short maintain in a peat slow in Denmark. This poem opens with the poet, Heany, saying how he would like to visit the organic structure of ‘The Tollund Man at a museum in Aarhus, Denmark; some pruneg he genuinely did in 1973.\r\n‘Requiem For The Croppies opens with the lines:\r\n‘The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley â€\r\nNo kitchens on the run, no striking camp-\r\nWe moved firm and sudden in our own country,\r\nThis refers to how the croppies, a diminished unprepar ed army of catholic Irish citizens, marched crossways a land they believed to have been theirs. These lines describe how the croppies alter their pockets with barley for food as they had no travelling kitchen or organised meal arrangements.\r\nThe poem tells how war is a great equaliser among men. In 1798, classes seldom mingled with for each one other, however, these men are all trash for the same cause and so study each other as equals and sleep together, as told in line four: ‘The priest lay laughingstock ditches with the tramp. The fact that a priest is fighting the war also gave the Catholics moral legitimacy.\r\nThe croppies appeared as hikers to passing folk, they did not march as it was an informal undisciplined army. The croppies had slight victories fuelled by spontaneity\r\nThe word ‘until shows the sudden stick of luck in the croppies tale; the rebels were slain on the Vinegar Hill in what Heaney described as ‘the fatal conclave.\r\n‘Terr aced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon.\r\nThe hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave. These lines describe just how pathetic the weapons of the rebels were compared to those of the British. The Irish rebels had scythes to defend themselves in battle, which were generally no spouse for a prepared army with cannons. And so, the rebels, fighting in rows side-by-side (like terraces), were slaughtered. The idea of the ‘blushing hillside, gives the idea of how blood was spilt on the land and giving it the red, ‘blushing appearance.\r\nThe croppies were buried without ‘shroud or coffin; this explains how the croppies were granted a mass burial with no ceremony or funeral rites which is very important to the catholic religion. ‘The barley grew up out of the grave. This line has a hook of meaning in the poem, the croppies were buried in the vesture they wore and the barley from their coats literally took root and grew, this implies that you can pom mel an army but the spirit of resistance lives on.\r\n‘The Tollund Man is shared out into three parts. The first part of the poem opens with:\r\n‘ just about day I will go to Aarhus\r\nTo see his peat-brown head,\r\nThe mild pods of his eyelids,\r\nHis pointed skin cap.\r\nThis first verse expresses Heaneys foresightfuling to visit the Tollund man in Aarhus, Denmark, he has further seen photographs of the body and wants to see it in person. Heany describes the ‘Tollund man as having a ‘peat-brown head this is because when the body was discovered the skin was stained brown from the peat. The ‘mild pods of his eyelids refers to just how fountainhead the body had been preserve (the Tollund man still had his hair, teeth and eyes, as well as the contents of his stomach, perfectly preserved (‘the demise gruel of winter seeds caked in his stomach)). Heaney then says how he would project in awe of the body, full of reverence, if he were satisfact ory to visit it (I will stand a long time, bridegroom to the goddess).\r\nIn the fourth verse of the first constituent Heaney describes the Tollund Mans remainder quite sexually; ‘She tightened her torc on him,\r\nAnd opened her fen,\r\nThose dark juices functional him\r\nTo a saints kept body\r\nThis is Heaneys way of describing the Tollund mans execution (a sacrificial ritual to the heathenish god of fertility, Nerthus). The Tollund Mans neck was broken in a vice (tightening the torc) and he was buried in the peat bog (‘opened her fen) where he sank deeper into the peat to be preserved perfectly for two thousand years (‘those dark juices working him to a saints kept body).\r\nThe final verse closes with Heany commenting on how valuable the find was to the archaeologists and now the mud stained face ‘reposes at Aarhus.\r\nPart two of this poem is about four catholic brothers who were ambushed by protestant men. The brothers were tied to the back of a tr ain and dragged to their death over several miles of train line, parts of their bodies were fix up and down the line including teeth and patches of skin. Heany says that if it were attainable to bring the brothers back to life by risking anathema and praying to the Tollund man, then he would do so.\r\nThe trine fraction of this poem discusses Heaneys journey to Aarhus. He will find out estranged because of ‘language barriers but at mansion because he can link the death of the Tollund Man to the deaths of people in his homeland, both die for their religion.\r\n‘Requiem for the croppies is in Miltonic sonnet format, it comprises of fourteen lines in an musical octave plus sestet format. The poem also features a complex rhyme scheme of ABABCDCD EFEFEF. The dashes on the third line regarding the croppies feeding habits add parenthesis (conversation aside).\r\nHeany uses a few metaphors (e.g. ‘terraced thousands ‘hillside blushed) to add imagery to this pie ce of musical composition and the antithesis of ‘shaking scythes at cannon is a good cable to use when comparing the weak to the strong.\r\n‘The Tollund Man is written in a conversational tone and comprises of several quatrains per section and it has no rhyme scheme. The poem uses metaphors to describe the variety of the eyes; ‘pods allows the reader to visualise a thin layer containing some sort of round target e.g. a pea pod. The paradox ‘unhappy and at home is an ironic paradox relating to his how he has become modify to killing around him yet it still makes him lamentable to know it is going on. The oxymoron ‘sad freedom is ironic because you wouldnt scat to use two words which involve contrary emotions to be next to each other in descriptive writing.\r\nI prefer ‘Requiem for the Croppies because I find it more dramatic and moving. The pivot in the story adds a thrill to the tale and it is not as long and cryptic as ‘The Tollund Man.\r\n'