Bone Dreams by Seamus Heaney – An Analysis
Bone Dreams is an obscure and difficult poem to understand. In all my
searching on the internet, I found very little to help me in my
analysis of this poem and so the ideas are basically my own. I might
be wide of the mark, but for anybody struggling to understand this
poem, it might at least give you some ideas of your own. I make no
apology for asking questions or for sounding vague or even muddled in
places. I hope that this essay is of help to somebody, somewhere.
The poem begins in a thoughtful mood; the voice is relaxed, “White
bone found/on the grazing” suggesting that the speaker is walking in
the countryside when he discovers a piece of bone in the grass. He
uses tactile imagery to describe his find, the bone is “rough, porous”
and has “the language of touch”. This image would be powerful if not
for the mildness of the language, which conveys a musing quality in
its passivity, for example, “found” and “grazing” - these words have
nothing of a hurry about them and suggest a peacefulness of mind in
the opening stanzas.
He continues to describe the piece of bone, making comparisons with a
“ship-burial” and notes the impressions in the grass as “yellowing,
ribbed”. The word “ribbed” is suggestive, with its subject matter of
bone, to a rib-cage.
The bone takes on a significance which is greater than its intrinsic
worth – which is nothing – because the speaker equates it with
treasure; it is, “flint-find”, a “nugget of chalk”, the word nugget
being quite often associated with gold, and therefore he says it has a
value in itself. “Flint” suggests history, a link to the stone-age and
the find is, in fact, described as being, “as dead as stone”. So here
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... little points were the eyes”, as if to
say that he had never really seen anything. Furthermore, if he is
“identifying” with the English (if he is the mole) then this poem
could be about trying to see through the eyes of the invader and
coming to a new understanding through this identification process.
The closing lines are highly optimistic, as if the sun has come out
from being behind a very large, black cloud; “I touched small distant
Pennines, /a pelt of grass and grain/running south”.
The final section as a whole is highly suggestive of discovery or of
realisation, of altered perception and of forgiveness for past sins.
The poem begins in Ireland with a piece of yellowing bone, but ends in
England with a dead mole. The bone found on Irish grass has taken him
through a series of thoughts and memories. At the end he seems altered
by the experience.
Darryl’s life is worth fighting for. “You can’t buy what I’ve got.” ‘The Castle’ directed by Rob Sitch, about one man, his family and neighbours on the verge of being homeless. Darryl Kerrigan, the “backbone of the family” won’t stand for that. Of course no one can buy what he has. He’s spent almost his entire lifetime building what he has, why should he give it up? Darryl’s way of life is simple yet filled with family values. 3 Highview Crescent is the home to Darryl, his wife Sal and their 3 children: Wayne, Steve, Tracy and Dale. (Wayne currently being in jail.) The house is made up of love, and simple family values. Darryl’s also added bits and pieces to it. He’s added on so much to the house, his own personal touch. His neighbours, also in the same bout are almost family to the Kerrigans. Jack and Farouk are another reason why Darryl’s ready to take matters into his own hands.
The Broken Spears is a book written by Miguel Leon-Portilla that gives accounts of the fall of the Aztec Empire to the Spanish in the early 16th century. The book is much different from others written about the defeat of the empire because it was written from the vantage point of the Aztecs rather then the Spanish. Portilla describes in-depth many different reasons why the Spanish were successful in the defeat of such a strong Empire.
Full Body Burden by Kristen Iversen is a book about a family living near a nuclear
Michael MacDonald’S All Souls is a heart wrenching insider account of growing up in Old Country housing projects located in the south of Boston, also known as Southie to the locals. The memoir takes the reader deep inside the world of Southie through the eyes of MacDonald. MacDonald was one of 11 children to grow up and deal with the many tribulations of Southie, Boston. Southie is characterized by high levels of crime, racism, and violence; all things that fall under the category of social problem. Social problems can be defined as “societal induced conditions that harms any segment of the population. Social problems are also related to acts and conditions that violate the norms and values found in society” (Long). The social problems that are present in Southie are the very reasons why the living conditions are so bad as well as why Southie is considered one of the poorest towns in Boston. Macdonald’s along with his family have to overcome the presence of crime, racism, and violence in order to survive in the town they consider the best place in the world.
Of course I do not consider myself to be a racist, or a bigot, but I am aware of socially conditioned stereotypes and prejudices that reside within. That awareness, and the ability to think for myself, has allowed me to approach issues with clarity of mind and curiousness at the social interactions of various movements. Buried in the Bitter Waters, by Elliot Jaspin, has easily awakened my sensibilities and knowledge of modern era race relations in the United States. I read each chapter feeling as if I had just read it in the pages before. The theme of racial cleansing - of not only the colonizing of a people, but the destruction of their lives and livelihood – was awesome. The “awesome” of the 17th century, from the Oxford English Dictionary, as in “inspiring awe; appalling, dreadful.” Each story itself was a meditation on dread and horror, the likes of which my generation cannot even fathom. It is with that “awe” that I reflect in this response paper.
What make a novel good? If a novel has important insights, it is worth reading. Therefore, the novel Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley is a good novel. Firstly, the novel talks about how loss is unavoidable in life. Secondly, it shares a variety of insights on hope. Lastly, the novel shares insights on the journey of life. The novel, Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley, shares important insights about loss, hope, and journey.
The book Unwind by Neal Shusterman is about the concept of unwinding an human being. Unwinding is the concept or process in which a child or teen’s organs and other parts of the body are taken out. These organs and body parts are then used to save other people’s lives. For example if a person doesn't have an arm then they could get an arm from an unwind. If someone is missing an organ then they could get one from an unwind. Many people may say or think if you unwind a person you are killing the person. However the government of this society says that they are still alive but just in a different way.
The character I choose from the novel Lovely Bones is Mr. Harvey. His role in this novel was that he is a serial Killer. What is a serial killer? A serial killer is someone that killed more than three people over a period more than a month. Mr. Harvey killed Susie the main character in this novel. He rapped her, and cut her body up, and packaged it, and drove 8 miles and dumped it in a sinkhole.. Mr. Harvey doesn't really have a family. His dad abandons his mom after the argument that they next to the car in the streets over truth and consequences in Mexico. His mom was desperate that she taught him how to steal and shoplift. We know that his father was an abusive person. He also taught him about buildings. We know that Mr. Harvey’s life and Susie’s are the not exactly the same. In fact we know its the total opposite. Mr. Harvey never know what love is, since his father was abusive and his mother was a thief. Susie always had a loving family. Her dad and mom loved her and was overly protective.
In The Hungry Soul we find an interesting blend of subjects, methods, and traditions. This book is a fascinating exploration of the cultural and natural act of eating. Kass intensely reveals how the various aspects of this phenomenon, restrictions, customs, and rituals surrounding it, relate to collective and philosophical truths about the human being and its deepest pleasures. Kass argues throughout the book that eating (dining) is something that can either cultivate us or moralize us. My question is, does Kass succeed in arguing for the fact that eating is something that can moralize us as human beings? Although I agree with some of the things that Kass discussed in the book, in this paper I will argue mainly against some of his claims.
In Under a Cruel Star, Heda Margolious Kovaly details the attractiveness and terror of Communism brought to Czechoslovakia following WWII. Kovaly’s accounts of how communism impacted Czechoslovakia are fascinating because they are accounts of a woman who was skeptical, but also seemed hopeful for communism’s success. Kovaly was not entirely pro-communism, nor was she entirely anti-communism during the Party’s takeover. By telling her accounts of being trapped in the Lodz Ghetto and the torture she faced in Auschwitz, Kovaly displays her terror experienced with a fascist regime and her need for change. Kovaly said that the people of Czechoslovakia welcomed communism because it provided them with the chance to make up for the passivity they had let occur during the German occupation. Communism’s appeal to
“Dead Men’s Path” by Chinua Achebe. In this short story “Dead Men’s Path,” Chinua Achebe gives the protagonist an exciting chance to fulfill his dream. Michael Obi was officially headmaster of Ndume Central School, which was backward in every sense. He had to turn the school into a progressive one, however the school received a bad report when the supervisor came to inspect.
Aaron Woolf is the director/producer of the documentary King Corn. In the documentary Woolf followed Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis a yearlong to understand where their food comes from by growing it. While filming the documentary Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis tried to go corn free for a month they discovered that it was not feasible to do. They released the documentary for us to see what happens to the food that we eat and the process it goes though before we buy it at the supermarket. By doing the research to write this paper it made me realize that the food industry and the government are not protecting humans or the animals. If the government are the ones that are “protecting us”, then who is? I am disturbed by all the things that I read and it seems that government is okay by it are they trying to control the life span of the human race? It brings too many questions to my head now I know why I can’t lose the weight I need to lose.
Prejudice is an issue that cannot be easily avoided in today's society. It has and always will have a huge impact on the discrimination that some people face based on religion, appearance, background, mental/physical disabilities and etc.
I read the book Lonesome Howl, which is a drama book and a love story. The book was about two main character whose names are Jake and Lucy. They lived with their family in two different farms, but in the same community besides a mountain covered in a big wicked forest where many rumors took place. The farmers around the place lost many sheep’s since a feral beast. It was a quite small community and a lot of tales was told about it to make it even more interesting. Lucy was 16 years old and lived with her strict father and a coward of mom who didn’t dare to stand up for her daughter when she were being mistreated and slapped around by her father. Lucy was a retired and quite teenager because of that. She had a younger brother whose name was Peter. Peter was being bullied in school and couldn’t read since the education of Peter was different compare too Lucy’s. She helped him in school and stood up for the mean bullies, although all she got in return was him talking bullshit about her with their cruel dad which resulted with her getting thrash.
The nineteenth century was a time of economic, technologic, and population growth. These changes created problems in everyone’s daily lives. Two examples of things that affected the lives of many were disease and sanitation. Disease and sanitation led to high mortality rates in Nineteenth- Century England. This relates to North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell as it takes place during nineteenth century England and multiple characters died presumably due to disease.