An Analysis of Blackberry-Picking Anonymous College

In Seamus Heaney’s poem, “Blackberry-Picking”, an interpretation of the poem could lead one to believe that the poem is elegy to the children who will grow up and be made rotten by the world over time. The message is captured in Heaney’s feelings emitted in each stanza, the use of literary devices and on the metaphorical and literal levels of the poem.

The poem is comprised of two stanzas; the first stanza evokes a sense of ignorant bliss while the second stanza acts somewhat as a contrast to the first. In stanza two, there is a hope that the fruit will not rot, but also a realization that there will always be decay. In lines five to seven of the first stanza, it is said that the fruit is “sweet”, but the narrator then goes on to say that it left a “stain upon the tongue”. At this point the speaker is pleased by the taste of the fruit and seems unbothered by the fact that it has permanently tainted him. In line 10, the narrator is running around in search of more berries; however, as he or she and someone else are doing so, they are “scratched” and their boots are “bleached”. Even though they are being hurt, the characters continue in search for more berries. In stanza two, the emotion of despair is echoed in the dreary...