Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Field Work Response

Throughout the entire set of 4 poems I could definitely understand why Heaney chose the title "Field Work" for not only the poem but for the entire book.  Every poem we have read so far has had some correlation to nature in some way, shape, or form.  These connections were especially clear to me in "field work".  The first poem, to me, was one of the better ones.  Not to say that the other ones were not as powerful or anything, it is just that I felt the strongest connection to my previous experiences in this poem.  One word that struck me as powerful in the first poem was the word "blackbird" in the second line.  It could have been the thought of the SR-71 Blackbird, or the Beatles song, or just the color black and how it describes something hard or tough to me.  Whatever it is, it definitely focused my attention on the rest of the poems.
The nature side of it is the easiest to see through all of the references.  There is a reference to a leaf or leaves in almost all of the poems in the book.  Field work specifically has a leaf reference in three of the four poems.  Leaves could represent the growth of a child.  When they are young they are very small and still have a firm hold on their parent, or the tree.  As they grow older, they get larger and the bond begins to break down until at last the leaf falls and becomes free to float on in the wind.  Just a thought.
Whatever you may think of my observation is your own opinion. I never said I was right, its just my thoughts.  Field work is a proper title though.  All the nature references can only be referenced if you spend time in nature.  You must go out and do some field work to gain that knowledge.  Great title with some great poems.

No comments:

Post a Comment