Midnight Anvil by Seamus Heaney

Midnight Anvil
By Seamus Heaney
1.) In Midnight Anvil, the poet explores modernization’s negative effects on formerly traditional occupations by observing the blacksmith in a modern industrial setting, devoid of any spirituality, rather than in a traditional, rural setting as he typically does. The poet explores the subjects of devaluation of traditional physical labor by discussing an urban setting, diverging from Heaney’s usual style.

2.) The poet helps the reader understand the characters and subjects of this work by highlighting the lack of spiritual connection between the blacksmith and his trade, rather than focusing on the mutual benefit the two have.

3.) Ideas are presented in a very simplistic fashion, most likely signifying the simple-mindedness of the blacksmith himself and also to highlight the subjugation and devaluation he is suffering at the hands of an ever modernizing world.

4.) The mood is melancholy and lonesome. The blacksmith is sad and rueful that he no longer can feel as fulfilled by his trade as he was in his youth and as his forefathers had been in centuries past. The mood is realized throughout the poem as the poet highlights the loneliness and absence of fulfillment in the blacksmith, the soul that no longer inhabits the products of his labor.

5.) The tone of the poem is foreboding, the poet makes it very obvious that he doesn’t believe there is any hope in believing that the industrialization process will reverse and offer fulfillment to the traditional laborer.

6.) The point of view of the poem is that of a very cynical and hopeless individual. The poet purposefully made the subject of the poem very melancholy and hopeless.

7.) The perspective is that of a third person observer who is reporting what they see from a distance.

8.) Metaphors are used in this piece to accentuate and improve upon the descriptions of grief, finality and hopelessness felt by the main character and all traditional laborers who are losing their place in the world at the hands of a rapidly industrializing world and a society that is apathetic to tradition.

9.) The words chosen in this poem were specifically placed in order to evoke the maximum emotional response from the reader. They were meant to instill empathy and understanding in the reader toward the traditional laborers and keepers of traditions from all societies.

10.) Evocation, stanza, juxtaposition, simile, rhythm, and slight rhyming are used in this piece to embellish the descriptions and create an air of hopelessness and sadness.