1999 Q1 essay response
Chris Winters
04/11/14
Period: 4
1999: AP Question #1
Nearly everything in life eventually comes to and end. Seamus Heaney depicts this advancement of time in "Blackberry Picking" by combining both pleasing and harsh words to describe the blackberries at the time they ere picked and at a later date. The poem begins with a straightforward description of the act of the blackberries maturing. "Late August, given heavy rain and sun/ For a full week, the blackberries would ripen" (ll 1-2). These opening lines set a mood of peacefulness and tranquility which ill soon be broken. Just after these opening lines, Heaney incorporates a change in diction to words that do not induce a lovely image in the reader. Such words as "flesh," "blood," and "lust" contrast starkly it the readers conception of an innocent picking of blackberries. Thus, Heaney continues his poem with the sole purpose of showing the darker side of a supposed pleasant occasion and alluding to the inevitable passage of time.
Heaney's use of extremely descriptive imagery is important to rope the reader in. e feel as though e can see the "glossy purple clot" (l 3) and taste the "flesh [which as] sweet/like thickened wine" (ll 5-6). This use of olfactory and visual imagery enhances the reader’s perception of the act being performed. This imagery also allows the reader to become more involved in the story and better able to imagine the emotions of the speaker. After the reader has visualized blackberries "red, green, hard as a knot" (l 4) and "briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots" (l 10) it becomes much easier to also feel melancholy emotions, as does the speaker, hen these berries are gone. "I always felt like crying" (l 22) takes on meaning that the reader can relate to, he can also feel as if he is there.
Heaney's use of extremely odd metaphors such as "plate of eyes" (l 15) and a "rat-grey fungus" (l 19) seem to shock the reader out of an accustomed ay of
04/11/14
Period: 4
1999: AP Question #1
Nearly everything in life eventually comes to and end. Seamus Heaney depicts this advancement of time in "Blackberry Picking" by combining both pleasing and harsh words to describe the blackberries at the time they ere picked and at a later date. The poem begins with a straightforward description of the act of the blackberries maturing. "Late August, given heavy rain and sun/ For a full week, the blackberries would ripen" (ll 1-2). These opening lines set a mood of peacefulness and tranquility which ill soon be broken. Just after these opening lines, Heaney incorporates a change in diction to words that do not induce a lovely image in the reader. Such words as "flesh," "blood," and "lust" contrast starkly it the readers conception of an innocent picking of blackberries. Thus, Heaney continues his poem with the sole purpose of showing the darker side of a supposed pleasant occasion and alluding to the inevitable passage of time.
Heaney's use of extremely descriptive imagery is important to rope the reader in. e feel as though e can see the "glossy purple clot" (l 3) and taste the "flesh [which as] sweet/like thickened wine" (ll 5-6). This use of olfactory and visual imagery enhances the reader’s perception of the act being performed. This imagery also allows the reader to become more involved in the story and better able to imagine the emotions of the speaker. After the reader has visualized blackberries "red, green, hard as a knot" (l 4) and "briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots" (l 10) it becomes much easier to also feel melancholy emotions, as does the speaker, hen these berries are gone. "I always felt like crying" (l 22) takes on meaning that the reader can relate to, he can also feel as if he is there.
Heaney's use of extremely odd metaphors such as "plate of eyes" (l 15) and a "rat-grey fungus" (l 19) seem to shock the reader out of an accustomed ay of