anahorish

• the first hill in the world

  where springs washed into

  the shiny grass


  'first... springs washed... shiny grass' - sibilance + sussuration emulates sound of water (lifesource)

  'hill... springs' - rain, hills = common features of Ireland

  NATURE, BEAUTY OF IRELAND
• Anahorish, soft gradient

  of consonant, vowel-meadow 


  'Anahorish' - the name, pronunciation + language takes Heaney back to the landscape

  'soft gradient / of consonant' - soft sounds of consonants in the name

  'vowel-meadow' - vowels reflect undulation of the meadow

  'Anahorish, soft... consonant' - assonance reflects softness

  Connection between language + landscape - colonisation of Irish land by English

  NATURE, BEAUTY OF IRELAND, MEANING, LANGUAGE, CRAFT OF WRITING
• My 'place of clear water'

  ...

  go waist-deep in mist

  to break the light ice 


  'clear water' - water symbolises inspiration, suggests its Heaney first place of clarity + = life-source

  'break the light ice' - effort needed to reach water (life), you have to work hard / search for inspiration

  'wells and dunghills' - humble images of fertility

  MEANING, LANGUAGE, CRAFT OF WRITING
• with pails and barrows

  those mound-dwellers

  go waist deep in mist

  'pails and barrows' - rural practices alive for hundreds of years, separation from Heaney's voice reflects the fact he chose a path of academics and art not farming

  'mound-dwellers... deep' - alliteration emphasises hard life for ancient people

  'mound-dwellers' - people are almost primitive, reflects Celtic ancestors

  RURAL, ANCIENT HISTORY