Seamus Heaney "The Tollund Man" and "Punishment"

A detailed Summary of Seamus Heaney "The Tollund Man" and "Punishment"

In his poem, "The Tollund Man" and in the poem "Punishment," the contemporary Irish poet Seamus Heaney creates a fusion of Irish past and Irish present, as well as creates for himself an Irish poetic persona that exists across time, and can dwell simultaneously in the Irish past and the present. Present Ireland in "The Tollund Man" becomes fused with an ancient Irish persona, as the poet sees himself as one with the remains of an ancient Celtic man. Present and past Irish history become one as the poet envisions himself watching different generations of Irish adulteresses condemned to death in bogs in "Punishment."

One of the ways Heaney accomplishes his poetic meshing together of the past and present events is that he often speaks in the present tense. "The Tollund Man" begins with the words, "Some day I will go to Aarhus/ To see his peat-brown head, The mild pods of his eye-lids, / His pointed skin cap." Although the name of the location and the skin cap of the dead man are archaic, the speaker relates this journey to the reader as if it were a casual decision to visit the man in the "the flat country near by."

Only when the burial and disinterment of the man is spoken of does the reader realize how old the relic of the ma

n is, "his last gruel of winter seeds, /Caked in his stomach." The man is naked, except for his old-style cap, and except for the covering of the earth. Heaney calls the Tollund Man the "bridegroom to the goddess," earth as if the man were wedded to the goddess of the land Ireland. Ireland's earthy bosom, "opened her fen, /those dark juices working /Him to a saint's kept body." The Irish earth preserved the Tollund man, and also consecrated him with the "dark juice of rotting." Even insects are called "turf cutters" of "honeycombed workings," in the sweet way they have become one with the man's flesh-the man is still part of the present-day Irish earth through the process of decomposing and becoming one with Irish earth.

The poet speaks of the archaic man's "sad freedom/As he rode the tumbril," and ends with a vision of the man coming back to life through the words but also the body of the poet. As Heaney wills this ancient past into the present, he asks for the spirit of the man to "come to me," as the Tollund Man in the guise of Heaney wanders amidst the peoples who have been forced to cast off their ancient, Irish speech and now cannot understand the Tollund man. The difference in speech, life, and appearance of modern poet and ancient man underlines their similarity as w

Some common words found in the essay are:
Tollund Heaney, Ireland Ireland's, Punishment Heaney, Ireland Tollund, Seamus Heaney, , irish earth, past irish, ancient irish, irish past, poet ancient, poet speaks, skin cap, holy ground, irish poet, body poet,

Approximate Word count = 869
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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