Blackberry-Picking By Heaney
Seamus Heaney in his poem Blackberry picking conveys the experience of picking blackberries by using imagery, metaphor and diction. In this poem, he states the steps used during blackberry picking and how upsetting it is to have your hard work go to waste. Heaney opens the poem by describing the weather condition which shows what time of the year is usually good for berries to be picked. Then, he goes further to describe the condition of berries and then states what to expect when you pick the right berries. By using simile he compares the ripened berries to thickened wine which also refers to blood. “Then red ones linked up and that hunger sent us out with milk cans, pea tins jam pots’ Heaney’s use of diction in this line shows that despite