Diction And Imagery In Seamus Heaney's Blackberry Picking

“Blackberry-Picking,” by Seamus Heaney uses diction and imagery to convey a deep understanding of blackberry picking. Heaney’s passionate diction and detailed imagery allows the readers to understand the blackberry picking experience. Heaney uses passionate diction when describing the berries. The line “You ate the first one and its flesh was sweet,” reveals an appreciation the speaker has for the berry picking once he eats the first one. The line “We trekked and picked until the cans were full,” reveals how important picking berries was to the speaker; the word “trekked” reveals that they traveled far to get the berries. The word “glutting” reveals the speaker's distaste towards the spoiled berries for ruining what he's picked. Heaney’s passionate diction reveals how each step of the process affected him and gives the reader a deeper understanding of the whole experience.

The line “At first, just one, a glossy purple clot,” reveals how the speaker knew when a berry was ready to be picked. The line “Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots,” reveals the setting where the speaker would go to pick the berries. The line “Like a plate of eyes, our hands were peppered,” reveals how the process of picking berries was a messy one. The line “That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot,” reveals the smell that the spoiled berries left. Heaney’s use of passionate diction and detailed imagery conveys a deep understanding of blackberry-picking. The detailed diction reveals how the process of picking blackberries made the speaker feel. The detailed imagery reveals how the berry picking process looked, felt, and smelled. Together the two give the audience a deeper understanding of the whole experience, by revealing how passionate the speaker is about picking