What do the poems Churning Day and An Advancement of Learning tell us about Seamus Heaneys childhood Essay Example For Students

What do the poems Churning Day and An Advancement of Learning tell us about Seamus Heaneys childhood Essay Seamus Heaney was born to a rural family, in 1939, in Northern Ireland. Heaney grew up on a farm, as his father was a great farmer. Heaney had great admiration for ordinary farming folk, but did not want to be a farmer himself. His poems often celebrate the skills of the ordinary rural people like the poem Churning Day. He also deals with the loss of childhood innocence and move to adulthood like in An Advancement of Learning. These two poems deal with simple experiences but important. His language is very sensuous. Experiences are evoked by sounds especially onomatopoeia and alliteration. The themes in these poems include family relationships, closeness and security in the family, nature, the love of nature but also the negative view of nature, and moving from childhood to adulthood. For Seamus Heaneys family, Churning Day is an important Day, I say this because Heaney gives the title Day which emphasizes its importance, (for example New Years Day,) it does not happen or occur everyday, (this is just like Churning Day,) it does not take place everyday, so it is special. It is not only the day that is important, but also the time the family spends together. For them Churning Day is the time to make butter but also to spend quality time with their family. It is also a valuable process, because as the title says butter is being made, which is very valuable to them, it is like gold and sunlight to Heaneys family, this is because they can sell the butter, when it is made, and also they can eat it, as they worked very hard to make it and their arms ached and hands blistered. He remembers the day very well, as he describes it in great detail. Heaney gives us a vivid image of what is going on. For example when the butter is made Heaney describes it as gold flecks, which is sight imagery, this goes through the whole poem. And he also takes us through the process (All Stanzas). It is obvious Heaney is writing the poem after the event when he was an adult. This is because he uses complex wording such as gravid ease and also uses past tense moved this shows us that he is narrating the poem after the actual event. And because it is in such detail we can see it was a special day to him, it was one of his memories from childhood. Heaney lived in a simple rural area, in Ireland. His family did not have any machinery to make the butter, they slugged and thumped for hours whereas if they had machinery the work would have been done quick and easier. Heaney had a simple upbringing. Heaney had what he needed and what was necessary, this was because Ireland was slightly behind in Heaneys time. Heaney is exposed to nature quite a lot. Churning Day is all natural as there is no machinery used it starts from the hot brewery which is the cow, this is a metaphor as the cow is not really a hot brewery- but it is what starts the process- to the person churning the butter. Heaneys environment is full of nature coarse-grained as limestone rough-cast this is a simile showing how the thick crust was as rough limestone, which there is a lot of in Ireland. There are no machines to make the butter with; everything is done by hand. They have to do everything by themselves. They put all their hard work into Churning the butter which makes it more valuable. Heaney even contrasts the setting milk to clotting blood, coagulated sunlight, this shows that the milk is beginning to set just like when blood is clotting. There is also a realistic view of the butter, house would stink this shows the smell in the house after the butter was churned, this shows that it was done by hand as if machinery was used then there would not be any smell left over. In Churning Day we can see Heaney is fond of nature as it brings good things, after the hard work, as the butter was made after all the hard work put into it. An Advancement of Learning is very important memory for Heaney as it was when he confronted a rat. We can see it is a very important event, as he would always be deferring the bridge, because it would mean coming face to face with a rat. Compare and Contrast Theater, Poetry and Fiction EssayChurning Day has a slight bit of religion in it, as Heaney uses purified, this is not only for religion but it does remind us of religion. Whereas in An Advancement of Learning there is no mention of religion or there are no words that fit in with religion. Also churning day is like a ritual. And the family is united in the butter making ritual, just like people are united in the church. Heaney appreciates nature in Churning Day as it brings good things, for example butter. Whereas in An Advancement of Learning Heaney does not like nature, he does not appreciate it as much as he does in Churning Day. He thinks of nature as dirty. The atmosphere is very different. Both poems show us that Heaney is from a farming family. There is also a lot of difference in the structure. In Churning Day Heaney uses a full stop at the end of each stanza, his could be to show us the next stage of the process. Also in Churning Day the third stanza is indented, this could be because the butter has gone from liquid to becoming a solid. In An Advancement of Learning Heaney uses a lot of enjambment such as wearing in stanza 1. This could be to continue the poem. But I think he does this to let us imagine the scene before anymore is added. When he uses enjambment in stanza 4 Incredibly then, this builds up the tension and the reader wants to read on. An Advancement of Learning is an allegory. It has two different meanings behind it, not only confronting the rat, but also crossing the bridge from childhood to adulthood. Churning Day is a slight allegory as it brings out ideas of family unity. It shows family closeness as well. There are quite a few differences in the structure of each poem. Churning Day there are only four stanzas, with nine lines in the first and the third and eight lines in the second and last. Whereas in An Advancement of Learning there are eight stanzas with four lines in each stanza. Every line does not start with capital letter and there are very few full stops, they are only there at the change of a stage. Whereas in An Advancement of Learning each line begins with a capital letter. There is an intendment in stanza three this could be because the butter has now turned from liquid to solid. There is not a certain rhyme scheme but the noise and the movement makes up the rhyme scheme, plumping kettles. There is a rhythm but it is difficult to describe. It varies according to what is being described. That is the same as An Advancement of Learning. The poems do not tell us much about Heaneys childhood. Although they do tell us a few points such as his family unity and also his fears. The poem Churning Day does tell us that he is happy in the simple rural life. Both the poems are very different as in Churning Day Heaney is with his family and they go through the whole process together. Whereas in An Advancement of Learning he is alone and has to come face to face with the rat himself. Heaney shows his childhood to be secure in Churning Day. I can slightly relate Churning Day to myself, and that is only the family unity. But I cannot relate An Advancement of Learning to myself, as I have not really come across anything like it. The best element of Churning Day is the family unity and also security because it shows the love the family has for each other. The best element of An Advancement of Learning is when Heaney crosses the bridge and confronts his fear and moves on as it shows bravery and courage, and victory because he stood up to the rat. Both poems are good in their own ways.