The+Barn

(notes contributed by Soham) //** Threshed corn lay piled like grit of ivory Or solid as cement in two-lugged sacks. The musty dark hoarded an armoury Of farmyard implements, harness, plough-socks.
 * // The Barn

The floor was mouse-grey, smooth, chilly concrete. There were no windows, just two narrow shafts Of gilded motes, crossing, from air-holes slit High in each gable. The one door meant no draughts

All summer when the zinc burned like an oven. A scythe's edge, a clean spade, a pitch-fork's prongs:  Slowly bright objects formed when you went in. Then you felt cobwebs clogging up your lungs

And scuttled fast into the sunlit yard And into nights when bats were on the wing Over the rafters of sleep, where bright eyes stared From piles of grain in corners, fierce, unblinking.

The dark gulfed like a roof-space. I was chaff To be pecked up when birds shot through the air-slits. I lay face-down to shun the fear above. The two-lugged sacks moved in like great blind rats.

// __CENTRAL IDEA:__ // It is a vivid and detailed expression of the persona’s experience in the barn, which, has been characterized by fear, disgust and revulsion. // __CONTEXT:__ // · It is part of his first anthology, which is called Death of a Naturalist. · In this anthology Heaney seems to reflect on the rural set up of Ireland in which he was brought up. In spite of being brought up in a rural area he never seems to be at ease in most of the poems from this anthology. // __TITLE:__ // The title is monosyllabic in nature showing one place in which it is located that is the barn. Moreover the starkness of the title furthers complements the sense of the place that has been created by the poet. //The Barn// has clear connotation of rural life just like the other poems of his anthology. // __THEMES:__ // // __The contrast between light and dark__ //  -  It establishes the setting. (how?)  -  The use of synaethesia is seen in the use of the words ‘musty dark’ has connotations of bleakness and repulsion that supplements the description of the setting.  -  The poet has also describs the adjustment of the eye to the dark, ‘ slowly bright objects formed when you went in’ to demonstrate the contrast between the light and dark imagery.  -  The juxtaposition of the light and dark imagery is further seen in the second stanza where light has been assigned value akin to ‘gilded motes’ to show the minimal light coming in at different angles in the dark and dingy barn.  -  In the fourth stanza the darkness of the barn is contrasted with the ‘sunlit yard’. This contrast is further uncovered by the verb choice where ‘scuttled fast into the sunlit yard’ has been used to show the desperation of the persona to go towards the light. Moreover ‘scuttled’ forms a part of the rat imagery present in this poem. On the other hand darkness is described ‘as bats were on the wing’ showing that the persona is probably traumatized and fearful of his own nightmares.

// __Fear in the persona’s mind:__ // · The alliteration ‘chilly concrete’ in the second stanza represents fear and the coldness in the persona’s mind. · The frequent use of war imagery throughout the poem like armoury, a scythe’s edge, a clean spade, a pitch fork’s prongs shows the fear in the persona’s mind as the persona considers it be a threat. mention the plosive sounds. · The word choice such as ‘fierce, unblinking’ which has been used to describe the ‘bats on the wing’ in the persona’s nightmares highlight the point is incomplete <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· There is no clear rhyme scheme. The existence of half rhymes highlights the uneasiness and discomfort faced by the persona. <span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· The last stanza further accentuates the fear in the persona’s mind of being ‘pecked up when the birds shoot through the airslits’. The defense mechanism that had been adopted by the persona was he lay ‘face down to shun the fear above’. This leads the reader to speculate that the persona was a child from the puerile paranoia that is evident. - the comparison to chaff shows that the persona is feeling worthless in the dark. // __Representation of a child’s perspective:__ // <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; msobidifontfamily: Cambria; msolist: Ignore;"> -  The last line of the poem absolutely confirms the reader’s notion that the persona is a child. A simile ‘like great blind rats’ has been used to describe the ‘two lugged sacks’. The words ‘great blind rats’ clearly demonstrate a child’s perspective as it a part of a nursery rhyme and it is only a child who can think of such extraneous vivid images. Moreover this links back to the fact that the persona is dreaming and his dreams are a magnification of life activities. <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; msobidifontfamily: Cambria; msolist: Ignore;"> -  In the first stanza the simile ‘as solid as cement’ had been used to describe the two lugged sacks showing its stationery nature. The marked change in the description of the same object depending on the state of mind of the persona clearly validates the fact that it is a child’s perspective. <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; msobidifontfamily: Cambria; msolist: Ignore;"> -  In the second stanza the floor has been described as ‘mouse grey’ shows a child’s opinion. It also forms a part of rat imagery drawing parallels to BBP. The description of the floor in such a manner creates a sense of repulsion in the reader’s mind.

// __The revulsion and disgust:__ // // __-__ // the line ‘ you felt cobwebs choking up your lungs’ at the end of the third stanza makes use of a <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">'c' alliteration to create <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">a claustrophobic effect through a cacophony. - The word ‘you’ engages the reader with the text as Heaney wants to make the disgust palpable.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Imagery: (this section needs to be filled in)
 * heat imagery
 * rafters of sleep
 * grit of ivory

// __Structure:__ // <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; msobidifontfamily: Cambria; msolist: Ignore;"> -  There are five stanzas of equal length (four lines each). <span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; mso-bidi-font-family: Cambria; msobidifontfamily: Cambria; msolist: Ignore;"> -  The existence of half rhymes (give a few examples) highlights the uneasiness and discomfort faced by the persona.