Bye Child

By Seamus Heaney 

I like this poem because of the language the poet uses , there is a languid mood 'the cobwebs old droppings'. I also like this poem because of its use of sibilance, for example 'vigils, solitudes, fasts' . His use of assonance is very clever ,' something beyond patience'. His use of ________ is to make the reader slow down and gives it a sense of slowness to the poem 'floor', 'moon', 'roots','now you'. There are images of isolation riddled though this poem, all referring to the boy in the hen house, 'Sharp faced as new moons...little moon man...your frail shape luminous, weightless is stirring the dust'. Heaney uses animalistic imagery to describe the child,'glimpsed like a rodent... Kennelled and faithful... Dry smells from your scrapes' 

What I like about Seamus Heaney is how discrete and subtle he is about the structure of his poems for an example in his poem 'Butts' the first two and the last two lines have ten beats in them; an iambic pentameter 'his suits hung in the wardrobe, broad and short... But having,for all that,to keep working.' His poems are  relatable to those who read them. The images he portrays are very memorable. 

By CMW