Seamus Heaney Act Of Union Essay

Relationships in Seamus Heaney’s Act of Union

In my essay I am going to analyse Seamus Heaney’s poem, Act of Union. It is important to know the background of the author in order to understand the poem. Seamus Heaney was one of the major poets of the 20th century. He was from Northern Ireland. His upbringing made a great impact on his poetry, as his most common topic was Ireland, and how English rule ruined its culture, and its language. He wrote Act of Union during the Troubles, the conflict in Northern Ireland which lasted from 1968 till 1998, and in which over 3600 people were killed. The constitutional status of Northern Ireland was at the heart of the conflict.

Despite that he was against the English overrule, he wrote his poems in English,

The tone of the last three lines is kind of sympathetic, though. It is almost like England feels sorry for Ireland, because of the things he had done to her. The “opened ground” metaphor can be associated with that Ireland is “open” for the English, they can go there freely, and the author is certainly not happy about it.

The poem appeared “near the heart of North”, Heaney probably put emphasis on the poem this way. In North, most poems are written in a free verse, but Act of Union consists of two standard English sonnets. Heaney uses the English pattern sonnet as a form of ironic gesture towards the English.

The poet took a risk in creating a both political, both rape poem, as these two topics are very controversial. He still managed not to become too political, but he let us know his inside thoughts about the matter. He describes women as weak, as someone who is easily oppressed. His use of words like “battering ram” and “boom burst” are creating even more suspense. As a woman, I found the poem very unsettling. He writes about rape in a very blunt way, he is very expressive and that made the poem quite disturbing to