"Badgers "and the Troubles: Interpretive Challenges in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney Reid Alavard 12th Grade

To bridge the gap between the inner and outer self, Heaney in "Badgers" evokes a sense of fear through the use of various techniques - namely, through the symbolism of the badgers themselves. What the badgers truly represent is open to interpretation and this concept is central to the key message of the poem.

Initially the badger takes on a mythical quality, especially when introduced in stanza one. Heaney writes that the badger “glimmered” away, indicating that it is only vaguely seen. The excitement of seeing this wild animal is not lost on the observer, who “half-lit with whiskey” sensed they had “disturbed/ some soft returning”. A tone of regret is created here, as if the speaker fears missing a sighting of such an elusive creature. The supernatural depiction of the badgers is furthered in stanza three with the line “visitations are taken for signs”. There is, however, clearly a link between the badgers and the “murdered dead” due to Heaney’s continued use of the personal pronoun “you”. This would suggest that the badgers are acting as messengers, which explains why Heaney intentionally “listened/ for duntings and laurels”. “Laurels” are Roman symbols of martial victory and therefore are connected with the “intimations...