'Field Work' by Seamus Heaney

"you are stained, stained/to perfection" (Heaney 27)

Seamus Heaney in his poem Field Work brings in together nature, art, and colors to portray a significant part of life. After many trials of interpreting the poem, it is evident that Seamus Heaney refers to his beloved through out the poem. However, besides the surface level interpretation, there is an underlying idea Heaney is struggling to make throughout the poem.In part I, there are constant references to senses of sight. Furthermore, the mood is quite mysterious and anxious. The references to nature are also vivid as well as the usage of 'eyes'. This suggests Heaney has a keen eye upon his love and like the contradicting seasons, there is a strange feeling.
     In the part II, Heaney uses reference to Greek Mytholoy where he uses 'dryad' which refers to divine spirit. It is further explained as shy. This suggests that Heaney is trying to please her and she might be upset. He uses bodies of water which brings in the calm and relaxed environment as well as the explicit use of mother nature which further reveals the image of his love. In part III, Heaney makes several comparisons but only one resembles his love. The phrase 'pebble-walled' is parallel to what his thoughts are like which are confused and disturbed. Furthermore, he disregards her similarity to winter, summer, and fall. Instead, he compares her to a 'sunflower' which brings in the season of spring, suggesting new beginning and life.
       Finally, the last part is extremely interesting as the layout of the poem is similar to Heaney's thoughts where he is dieing to let everything out. The continuation of this part in 20 lines is extremely significant as he says 'you are stained, stained/ to perfection'. This brings in the sexual references. This suggests Heaney was able to finally interact and their unification is said to be perfection. However, the underlying idea Heaney makes is that, there is constant struggle in order to gain something and during this struggle, there are ups and downs but at the end, there is success. Furthermore, the fact that he unifies life and nature to connect the idea of success is significant since with every element of nature, there is perfection to some extent and that is what Heaney is trying to achieve.