Seamus Heaney’s poem “Blackberry Picking’ Essay Example for Free

Seamus Heaney’s poem â€Å"Blackberry Picking’ Essay In Seamus Heaney’s poem â€Å"Blackberry Picking’ the poet vividly recreates a seemingly unimportant event in which he goes blackberry picking as a child. However by the end of the poem this experience acquires increased significance. Throughout Heaney’s description of this event we are made aware of the theme, Heaney’s childhood hopes and dreams in contrast to the harsh realities of life. This theme is effectively conveyed through the tone of excitement and anticipation in the first stanza while picking the berries, which transforms into an atmosphere of disappointment and regret in the second stanza as the berries have rotted. Heaney is able to develop this supposed insignificant event using techniques such as language, sentence structure, imagery, contrast and tone in order to create sympathy within the reader and allow them to reflect upon the transient nature of childhood ideals. During the first half of the poem Heaney makes no attempt to sentimentalise the event that is Blackberry picking, as we can tell when he writes, ‘Our hands were peppered with thorn pricks,† the recurring plosive ‘p’ sound in this sentence allows us to hear the skin of his hands being punctured yet still we can tell that young Heaney was enthralled by Blackberry Picking. The first stanza of the poem also has numerous examples of youthful imagery. The boy anxiously awaits the first glossy purple clot,’ almost jewel like, conveying how significant and majestic these berries were to the young Heaney. He uses this metaphor in order to compare the blackberries to blood, a live-giving force that is full of goodness. Some of the blackberries are green, hard as a knot and this image portrays the boy himself, young and innocent, not yet mature himself. The blood imagery continues throughout the poem with summers blood illustrating a dominance of the colour red t hroughout. The reader associates these images of vibrant red with vitality and life, as is Heaney’s intention, to accurately portray to the reader the sheer excitement of childhood, in stark contrast with the reality to come in the second stanza. The second half of the poem describes how the blackberries rot and there is a noticeable change in tone from youthful exuberance to frustration and disappointment. The image of the boy finding the rotting blackberries is described using alliteration; we found a fur a rat-grey fungus, the harsh fricative f sound illustrates the tone of frustration and disappointment within Heaney which is also transferred to the reader through this shocking visual image which everyone can identify with. The fungus is likened to the fur of a grey rat, an image that is not appealing and directly contrasts with the previous descriptions of thickened wine where the flesh was sweet. Heaney uses visual imagery such as this in order to immerse the reader in a sensual experience so that they almost feel as if they are there in the moment with Heaney and will thus be subject to feeling the same disappointment Heaney feels in the last stanza. Towards the end of the poem we are made aware of how significant this memory is to Heaney. Heaney conveys an emotional reaction when the berries rot: â€Å"I always felt like crying,† Heaney’s tone at this point shows his absolute devastation as it is such a simple sentence, made emphatic by the fact it has been put at the start of the line. This line is also the first time Heaney has used ‘I’ which personalises the statement, making the reader feel closer to the author, as if he is confiding in us. Using the word â€Å"always† suggests that this great excitement followed by disappointment is an annual occurrence for Heaney and so the reader must also feel disappointment when presented with the idea that this disappointment is part of a cycle. In the final line of the poem Heaney’s character conveys the significance of his childhood experience picking blackberries. He introduces an air of naivety when he says, â€Å"Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not.† Heaney uses a paradox here to highlight his sense of naivety as he continuously hopes for a way to make the berries last each year, through this line we can tell that, although aware the poem was an elegy throughout, â€Å"knew they would not,† allows the reader to understand that this is not a traditional Christian elegy in that there is no consolation for Heaney, he is aware that as an adult he cannot recapture his halcyon days, but he cannot accept it, which is evident through the abrupt finality of his last statement. In conclusion, it is evident that Heaney uses a variety of contrasting ideas, imagery and sentence structure in order to his feelings of disappointment to the reader in this poem. Through the contrast between the ripe and rotting blackberries and the youthful enthusiasm transformed into bitter disappointment, Heaney manages to convey the reader, the idea of the transience of the halcyon days during childhood which are never seen with the same excitement through an adult’s eyes and although we are led to acknowledge this disappointment, we are not encouraged by the author to accept it, thus the final tone and lasting impression of the poem is one of disappointment that the ideals of childhood cannot be reclaimed and that with age, comes an unwanted but realistic perspective.

Analysis of The Abstract Wild by Jack Turner :: The Abstract Wild Jack Turner Essays

Analysis of The Abstract Wild by Jack Turner Jack Turner's The Abstract Wild is a complex argument that discusses many issues and ultimately defends the wild in all of its forms. He opens the novel with a narrative story about a time when he explored the Maze in Utah and stumbled across ancient pictographs. Turner tells this story to describe what a truly wild and unmediated experience is. The ideas of the aura, magic, and wildness that places contain is introduced in this story. Turner had a spiritual connection with the pictographs because of the power, beauty, and awe that they created within him upon their first mysterious contact. Turner ruined this unmediated experience by taking photographs of the pictographs and talking about them to several people. His second visit to the pictographs was extremely different- he had removed the wild connection with the ancient mural and himself by publicizing and talking about them. This is Turner's main point within the first chapter. He believes that when we take a wild place and photograph it, talk about it, advertise it, make maps of it, and place it in a national park that we ruin the magic, the aura, and the wildness of that place. Nature magazines, photographs, and films all contribute to the removal of our wild experience with nature. It is the difference between visiting the Grand Canyon after you have seen it on TV and read about it in magazines, or never having heard of the place and stumbling across it on your own during a hike. Unfortunately, almost every wild experience between nature and the public has been ruined by the media. Through Turner's story he begins to explain the idea of the wild and its importance and necessity of human interaction with the wild.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second chapter contains two major ideas. The first is Turner's defense and explanation of the appropriateness of anger. Turner thinks that society wrongly taught the people to repress and fear their emotions. Turner finds primal emotions to be necessary to our survival, as well as the survival of the wild. He explains that anger occurs when we defend something we love or something we feel is sacred. He reminds us to cherish our anger and use it to fuel rebellion. Turner criticizes the cowardice of modern environmentalists in the following passage: "The courage and resistance shown by the Navajos at Big Mountain, by Polish workers, by blacks in South Africa, and, most extraordinarily, by Chinese students in Tiananmen Square makes much of the environmental protest in America seem shallow and ineffective in

Greater London Authority

This business report aims to investigate the policies affecting the environment in London. A review will be made into the responsibilities of the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the mayor. A critical evaluation of the evidence will be provided. A survey of opinions amongst GSM students will be presented and a conclusion drawn on the effectiveness of the Greater London Authority (GLA) and the Mayor in tackling key issues which relate to the environment. It has been estimated that London, the capital of England, has a population of more than eight million (www. tandard. co. uk). With a 0. 7% fall in GDP in the second quarter of 2012 (GLAEconomics, 2012) the Mayor of London (MoL) plays an important role in ‘improving London for all’ (london. gov. uk). The Greater London Authority (GLA) is a top-tier administrative body for London (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Greater_London_Authority) which consists of an elected mayor, the London assembly and permanent members of GLA staff who collaboratively work towards design a better capital (www. london. gov. uk/who-runs-london/greater-london-authority).The MoL is responsible for the economic, environmental, social enhancement of the city (www. london. gov. uk/who-runs-london/mayor/role). Plans and policies are developed to tackle the issues effect London such as transport, housing, health inequalities and environmental issues (www. london. gov. uk/who-runs-london/mayor/role). Environmental issues can be defined as the overuse of natural resources (Fransson and Garling, 1999) and can be categorised into air, water, radiation and odor pollution (http://www. environment-agency. ov. uk). The United Kingdom (UK), ranked eighth in the world for emit the highest carbon dioxide emissions (http://www. ucsusa. org). The UK generates 586 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Even though significant efforts are being made to reduce our carbon footprint such as building the world's largest wind farm, pollution due t ransportation however still remains a major problem in the UK (http://www. actionforourplanet. com). Environmental concern has risen on the political agenda since 2003. Various olicies have been introduced since then, relating to the environment. In 2009, a document entitled ‘Leading to a Greener London’ was published setting out the aims for London to reduce its carbon foot print and become ‘one of the worlds greenest cities’ (https://www. london. gov. uk/priorities/environment/vision-strateg. The Mayors Municipal waste strategy (2011) sets out to improve the life of Londoners by retrofitting London, greening London and cleaner air for London (http://www. london. gov. uk/sites/default/files/Municipal%20Waste_FINAL. pdf).Retrofitting or mordenising our homes and workplaces to be more energy efficient is considered to be a vital action, as this accounts for nearly eighty percent (80%) of the cities emissions. Greening London consists of increasing Londonâ₠¬â„¢s tree coverage and green spaces in order to improve air quality, reduce the impact of extreme weather conditions and increase the vibrancy of the city. The mayor has already made various steps towards achieving cleaner air for London which includes introducing new cleaner hybrid buses (http://www. london. gov. k/priorities/transport/green-transport/hybrid-buses), charging points for electric cars (https://www. sourcelondon. net) and barlays cycle hire is due to be expanding to south west London in 2014 (http://www. tfl. gov. uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/25711. aspx). Nevertheless, evidence shows that air pollution in our capital has exceeding EU limits and proves that London has a long way to go to improve emissions (http://www. london. gov. uk/media/press_releases_london_assembly/new-figures-reveal-limits-harmful-air-pollution-breached-across-capital).The business waste Strategy (2011) sets out to direct the management of business waste. London currently produces 20 m illion tones of waste a year. With London growing, this amount is due to increase. The aim of this policy is to educate and encourage Londoners to reduce, reuse and recycle their household and support business’s to dispose of their waste more efficiently and effectively (http://www. london. gov. uk/priorities/environment/vision-strategy/waste). These policies have filtered down to local councils and a proposal has been drawn in the borough of Croydon to target those who persistently refuse to recycle with a fixed penalty of ? 0 (http://www. croydon. gov. uk/environment/rrandw/recycling-rates/). However, even with the governments increasing efforts to try a reduce waste and encourage recycling, there are many areas in society where this is not happening. For example, the government’s voluntary scheme to cut the use if throwaway bags issued by supermarkets has been a disappointment. The use of plastic bags has increased for the second year running (http://www. guardian. co. uk/environment/2012/jul/05/plastic-bag-use-rise-supermarkets). In response, a proposal making it mandatory to charge all single use carrier bags may be enforced (http://www. ondon. gov. uk/media/press_releases_assembly_member/news-jenny-jones-am-calling-charge-all-single-use-carrier-bags). In conclusion, government will always make proposals and draw up policies however sometimes implementing these policies at a local level is very challenging. Even though the GLA want to see improvements and continuously demand, support needs to be made at a local level to help guide local authorities through continuous changes enforced upon them. REFERENCING FRANSSON, N. GARLING,T. (1999) ENVIRONMENTALCONCERN: CONCEPTUAL DEFINITIONS, MEASUREMENT METHODS, AND RESEARCH FINDINGS.Journal of Environmental Psychology, 19 (4) pp 369–382 http://www. actionforourplanet. com/#/top-10-polluting-countries/4541684868 http://www. london. gov. uk/media/press_releases_london_assembly/new-figures-reveal -limits-harmful-air-pollution-breached-across-capital http://www. london. gov. uk/priorities/transport/green-transport/hybrid-buses http://www. london. gov. uk/sites/default/files/Business%20Waste_FINAL. pdf). http://www. london. gov. uk/sites/default/files/Business%20Waste_FINAL. pdf http://www. london. gov. uk/sites/default/files/londons_economy_today_no119_26071

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