JieWei

= **"Personal Helicon” by Seamus Heaney (1965)** =

**//Jie Wei//** As a child, they could not keep me from wells And old pumps with buckets and windlasses. I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky, the smells Of waterweed, fungus and dank moss.

One, in a brickyard, with a rotted board top. I savoured the rich crash when a bucket Plummeted down at the end of a rope. So deep you saw no reflection in it.

A shallow one under a dry stone ditch Fructified like any aquarium. When you dragged out long roots from the soft mulch A white face hovered over the bottom.

Other had echoes, gave back your own call With a clean new music in it. And one Was scaresome, for here, out of ferns and tall Foxgloves, a rat slapped across my reflection.

Now, to pry into roots, to finger slime, To stare, big-eyed Narcissus, into some spring Is beneath all adult dignity. I rhyme To see myself, to set the darkness echoing.

**Way 1: First Impression**
My first impression about this poem is that Heaney is telling some personal story when he was a child. This can be clearly seen from the first sentence "As a child, they could not keep me from wells"(1). He loved the dark drop, the trapped sky and some strange smells (3). All of these things are quite common for adults, but they are full of interest in the eyes of children. Even the fallen of a bucket can cause great fun for the author. Moreover, the author describes the echoes as "new music"(14), which shows the author is deeply involved with the environment. The sounds, which is somewhat noisy for adults, is as euphonious as music for the child. In the last part of the poem, the author unveils his concern that those behavior in his childhood is "beneath all adult dignity" nowadays. But for him, that is where the real fun lies. Overall speaking, this poem is narrative and easy to understand. The picture that the author displays is common and looks familiar in our daily life. I think the author primarily wants to recall his childhood and express his love for that period of time. But I still have some confusion about this poem. For example, why does his childhood memories dominate the reminiscence of old age so much? What does he mean by saying "darkness echoing"(20)? I want to explore the answers in the following analysis.

**Way 2: Engaging with the Text**
The poem has five stanzas with four lines each. Starting with "As a child (1)", the first four stanzas focus on his past experience. The first stanza expresses his love for wells overall and the rest three stanzas give some detailed examples. In the last stanza, the starting word "Now (17)" indicates the change of stand point. The author is standing at present and is looking back. The clear structure of the poem gives a clear identification of the narrator's standing points. Besides, the poem mixes rhymes and half rhymes in an AbAb pattern, which comprises various descriptions of waterholes that fascinated the child. The clever rhymes make the poem more readable and attractive.

Way 3: A Point about Form and Its Relationship to Content
Heaney's "Personal Helicon" is a brief and narrative poem. It has five stanzas with four lines each. The description follows a chronological pattern, from past to present, from young to old. The breaks between lines are used to emphasis the beginning words of the line. The poem also follows an AbAb rhyming schemes. Besides, the author uses a lot of parallel sentences, such as "to pry into roots, to finger slime, to stare"(17,18). Although the overall form is formal, but the words that the author chose convey a lively and blithe feeling about his childhood, which evokes endless echo when he grew up.

**Way 3: Another Point about Form and Its Relationship to Content**
The poem also uses a lot of figurative language including some metaphor. In the forth stanza, the author said "a clean new music(14)". This is a comparison between the echoes in the wells with music. In most adults' eyes, those echoes could be awful, or sometimes, scary. But for the young child, he thought it was as dulcet as music. Moreover, the echoes are beyond ordinary music. It is clean and new. In this way, we can see the author's deep love to the wells and his childhood. Another worth noting point about this poem is the wide usage of rich sensual images. These images not only include sights, but also cover sounds, smells, color, touch and so on. The vivid pictures make his childhood so colorful and attractive, which composed a clear comparison with his adulthood.

**Way 4: Unpacking An Instance of Figurative Language**
One of the most significant figurative languages appears in the third stanza. The author uses a simile to compare the stone ditch and aquarium(9). The usage of the word "like (10)" clear indicates it is a simile rather than metaphor. In our ordinary understanding, the image of a stone ditch, especially a dry stone ditch, should be dirty, lifeless, and without any interests. However, on the opposite, the image of an aquarium is full of vigor and vitality. How can they be connected? But in the eyes of a children, the stone ditch is just as fructified as the aquarium. This directly reflected the child's naivety. The childishness of the poet beautified everything he saw and felt, which made his childhood such colorful and full of interests. This is the reason why he missed his childhood so much when he grew up.

**Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language**
Another figurative also appears in the third stanza. "A white face hovered over the bottom.(12)" This is also a meaningful metaphor to me. After dragged out the long roots, what is the white face? In my understanding, the white face stands for the white stone on the bottom. Normally, we cannot see the stone on the bottom of the pool with the soft mulch. After removing them, the stone appears and it is white and clean. The veins on the surface of the stone made it looks just like a face. This metaphor is also full of imagination. In this way, the dead stone is cleverly connected with a living face.

**Way 4: Unpacking Another Instance of Figurative Language**
Another important figurative language, as mentioned above, is the metaphor between the echoes and "clean new music (14)". Music is usually prudentially made by people. But echoes are just naturally noisy. This subtle metaphor also indicates the beautiful inside world of children. All of the ordinary things are beautified in their eyes and they look nice and pretty. This is just the most valuable point of child's naivety.

**Way 5: Analyzing the Setting**
The overall setting of this poem gives us a impression of familiar and interesting. The description of wells and pumps are very common to see. This skill reminds every reader of his/her childhood and makes the whole poem easy-going. Some specific images like "Buckets (6)", "ropes (7)", "moss (4)" and "rat (16)"are typical fun of interest for children, especially for boys. The whole poem is based on the author's memory for his childhood. So the descriptive setting is of significant importance. "I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky"(3). A sole adjective word "trapped" makes the sentence colorful and full of imagination. Although this kind of set up is simple and universal, it brings the readers into the picture easily and makes good preparation for later uncover the theme.

**Way 6: Identifying and Analyzing Point of View**
The usage of "I” throughout the poem clearly indicates the first-person point of view. For example, "I loved the dark drop (3)", "I savoured the rich crash (6)", and "To see myself(20)". The narrator here is telling the readers his own story and feelings. Compare with a narrative in the third-person point of view, this technique shortens the distance between the teller and the readers. We can directly read the narrator's feeling and emotions. For example, in the last stanza, "I rhyme to see myself (19, 20)." The narrator expresses that his writing purpose is to seek for himself. In this way, the author can strike a chord with the readers more easily.

**Way 7: Analyzing Complexity, Ambiguity, & Difficulty**
I think one of the most significant complexity and ambiguity appears in the last stanza. "To stare, big-eyed Narcissus, into some spring is beneath all adult dignity.(17,18)" When I first read this sentence, I am questioning about the author's tones. Does he mean to blame the "dignity" of adult, whcih force him to give up his childish? Or he only wants to express his memory for the past happy times? The sources of ambiguity here is the context of "dignity". According to the dictionary, "dignity" refers to the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect. So there appears a balance in the author's heart: one side of the balance is esteem or respect as an adult; the other side is the naivety of childish. Which side values more to you? I think this is the question that the author wants every reader to think about. Afterwards, in the last sentence, “I rhyme to see myself, to see the darkness echoing." I think the author gives us his own answer here: the childish boy who was playing with wells and echoes is himself. The childish boy without any decoration is where himself lies, which he misses most but will never come back.

**Way 8: Considering Canonicity**
This poem should be included in the canons because of its aesthetic and culture values. First of all, the poem talks about the narrator's own experience at his childhood. The language he used is interesting and familiar to the readers. Besides, the poem contains rich figurative languages, such as metaphor, simile, and images, which make the picture vivid. In the last stanza of the poem, the author comes back from his memory and stands at present. This comparison between childhood and adulthood reflects the theme directly. In this way, the poem has rich aesthetic values. Secondly, the author's description about his childhood is common and universal to most people. This writing technique reminds the readers of their own childhood memories. At the same time, the author expressed his sentimental attachment to the past carefree and lighthearted life in the childhood, which is also a common emotion among adults. So this poem is representative and has universal relevance. In brief, the poem satisfies the requirements for canonicity and should be regarded as a canon.

**Way 9: Biographical Context**
Seamus Heaney was born in County Derry, Northern Ireland in 1939. And then he moved from Belfast to the Irish Republic in 1972, ultimately settling in Dublin (Gale Literature Database). This poem belongs to his early works, which focus on lyrical nature poems. Heaney spent his childhood in Ireland. As can be seen from this poem, his childhood was worriless and full of fun. But as he grew up, he had to face the complex and troubled present. Through he uses limpid and simple words, Heaney creates a clear comparison between the past unspoiled rural life and the disappointing present life. In this way, we can understand that Heaney's biographical background laid a foundation for this poem. Because of his rich rural life experience, he loved that unspoiled world so much and was unwilling to let it go. This poem reflects his inside desire very well and is one of his typical early works.

Way 10: Historical and Cultural Contexts
The historical and cultural background of the author may help deepen our understanding of the poem. This poem first appeared in Seamus Heaney's first book, Eleven Poems, in 1965 (Wikipedia). At the time he was writing this poem, he was an English lecturer at Queen's University. (Wikipedia). Therefore, this poem has little to do with politics. On the contrary, as one of his early works, the poem deals with the local surroudings in Ireland, where he was born. As what can be seen from the image "mirror" in the poem, the author wants to seek or uncover himself from the childhood experience. Besides, looking back at the text, I noticed that both the title "Helicon" and the word "Narcissus" come from Greek mythology. I think the usage of these two words also reflects the influence of Greek culture on him.

**Way 11: Theoretical Application**
One of the critical theories we can apply in this poem is Freudian psychoanalytic criticism. As what is mentioned by Brown and Yarbrough, psychoanalysis is a set of theories concerning the relationship between conscious and unconscious thought process. In this poem, the author uses first person point of view and displays a picture of his childhood experience. The whole poem can be divided into two parts: the last stanza stands for the present while the first four stand for the past. However, this switch of time point makes us think which period do his ego and id lie. In Freud's definition, ego is our conscious mind, what we mean when we say "I”. Id is the source of our primal instincts and libido, which is the hidden part of our mind (Brown and Yarbrough, p215). In this poem, the author starts to recall his memory at the beginning word "As a child". He states himself as the word "I", which evidenced the author is under his conscious mind. However, with the beginning word of the last stanza "Now", the memory ends and he comes back to present. The reality is that all the fun he had as a child is now "beneath all adult dignity". At this time, the author steps into his unconscious mind: "to see myself". This state is not real, but exists in the author's id. In my understanding, this transformation from ego to id sharply reflects the theme of this poem: to seek for the real himself in the missing world.

Way 12: Another Theoretical Application
Another theoretical application can be seen in t he psychoanalysis of the author and the reader. As to the author, a common mistake we could make is to mix up the author's psychological makeup with the work of art. Specifically, it is common to treat the protagonist as the author himself in this poem. It is hard to deny this possibility. But as stated by Brown and Yarbrough, this is "essentially to deny the creative process that allows the author to invent characters...that have nothing to do with his or her own direct experience"(p218)．So when the readers are subjectively connecting the work of art with the author's own experience, we are limiting the creativity of the work. Another theoretical application is reader response criticism. It is common that readers tend to understand the work in the way that can meet their psychological needs best. For example, in this poem, the author writes "darkness echoing (20)". "Darkness" is obviously a negative word. But what does it really mean here? Some people who have the similar feelings and anxieties may treat it as an appeal. It may be a good way to express their dissatisfaction through poems. But for some other people, the poem is merely recall for childhood. So the readers' responses may be largely determined by his/her own background and experience, which will further lead to conflicts in understanding this poem.

Way 13: Unifying Interpretation
Seamus Heaney's "Personal Helicon" is one of Heaney's typical early works. At my first reading, I think it is a narrative poem about the narrator's childhood experience. The pictures he depicts are common to see in our life. But in the eyes of the child, the wells, the pumps, and the waterholes became the sources of joys. Even the sound of echoes became a "clean new music(14)". In the last stanza, the author looks back at his present life. All of the fun he had as a child has been suppressed by the "adult dignity". The world around him is full of "darkness echoes(20)". Through the comparison between his childhood and present life, the author wants to seek insight and response from the unenlightened world.

My understanding has been greatly enriched after applying the above twelve perspectives. Aesthetically, the poem uses rich images and figurative languages. Besides visual images, there are widely usages of smells, sounds and feelings such as "the smells of waterweed(3)", "the rich crash(6)", and "to finger slime(17)". This writing technique makes the picture vivid and touchable for the readers. We can feel the child's lively and blithe life as if we were in the pictures. Besides, the author also uses a lot of metaphor and simile, such as "new music(14)", "like any aquarium(10)" and "a white face(12)". These figurative languages provide the readers a better way to understand the images. When look at the overall form of the text, the author uses first person point of view and provides an interesting and familiar setting for the readers. In this way, the readers can understand the author's inside world more easily.

The author's background may deepen our understanding about the theme. Heaney had a worriless childhood in North Ireland and became an English lecturer when he grew up. He had to face the complex and troubled world. The transmission between child's naivety and adult's maturity confused him. Thus he rhymes to discover himself from the seemingly dark world around him. It is not rare to have childhood memories dominated their reminiscence for people like him. Many people may have similar emotions when they first stepped on the stage of adulthood. To this extent, this poem has universal relevance. Although this poem may have some psychoanalysis or reader response criticism problems, it deserves to be regarded as a canon considering its rich aesthetical and cultural values.

** Works Cited and Consulted **  Brown, James S., and Scott D. Yarbrough. __A Practical Introduction to Literary Study__: Upper Saddle River. Prentice Hall. 2005. 

“Heaney, Seamus,(b.1939).” __Granger’s World of Poetry__. Columbia Granger’s Poetry Database. July 24, 2009. []

“Seamus Heaney.” __Contemporary Authors Online__, Gale, 2009. Gale Literature Database. July 24, 2009. []

"Seamus Heaney.” Wikipedia. July 24, 2009. [] 