Our shells clacked on the plates.
My tongue was a filling estuary,
My palate hung with starlight:
As I tasted the salty Pleiades
Orion dipped his foot into the water.
Alive and violated
They lay on their beds of ice:
Bivalves: the split bulb
And philandering sigh of ocean.
Millions of them ripped and shucked and scattered.
We had driven to the coast
Through flowers and limestone
And there we were, toasting friendship,
Laying down a perfect memory
In the cool thatch and crockery.
Over the Alps, packed deep in hay and snow,
The Romans hauled their oysters south to Rome:
I saw damp panniers disgorge
The frond-lipped, brine-stung
Glut of privilege
And was angry that my trust could not repose
In the clear light, like poetry or freedom
Leaning in from the sea. I ate the day
Deliberately, that its tang
Might quicken me all into verb, pure verb.
Regular stanza construction. Each stanza exploring a different aspect, showing the use of structure to affect the content.
Narrative about a shared memory, which displays Heaney's maturity and his ability to think about others.
In the third stanza, he returns to a rural area, a more bucolic landscape. This is common with Irish poets.
The poem is from his "Field Work" collection which focuses on the responsibilities that come with fame and his role in society as a poet.
Shared memory rather than a personal one.
Onomatopoeia in order to imagine the sound.
Where the sea comes onto the land.
Metaphor for a magical element. Similar to the "gold flecks" in Churning Day.
A star system.
Pagan God. Suggests that Heaney is moving away from Christianity and perhaps exploring pagan religions.
Water imagery.
Oxymoron. Perhaps suggesting the rape of the "oysters" which represent women.
Defenseless.
Powerless as they are violated.
Technical language.
Related to bedrock, perhaps representative of his heritage. Limestone is also rather practical, instead of being decorative. Similar concept in Churning Day.
Picturing the memory.
Hyphens with harsh sounds. Could suggest that Heaney is angry about the violation of the "oysters" or women.
Greed, glutony, religious imagery.
Supports the idea that he's angry about the violation of women.
Can't relax and enjoy the moment.
Hunger to write poetry.
Taste or something left behind.
Related to procreation, in this case, metaphorically creating the day.
Since he's a poet, he refers to actions as verbs.