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The poem Punishment by Seamus
Heaney was inspired by the discovery
of a dead body of a young girl
who was believed to be killed
on the charge of adultery. Heaney
takes this discovery as an ancient
example of brutality and links
it with the modern form of brutality
which is evident of Irish rebel’s
killing of Irish girls who marry
British soldiers. This poem
putting brutality at the center
links past and present, history
and modern time then and now
and there and here. What continue
from ancient time to modern
time are cruelty/ brutality
and primitivism.
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“Bog” in
the poem serves as the
central metaphor that
is symbolic of continuation
of inhumanity, brutality,
cruelty, and killing
of innocent people throughout
the human history. In
the first, second, and
third stanzas the poet
using his sympathetic
imagination describes
the way the girl was
punished on the charge
of adultery. He creates
the picture of a weak
and fragile girl and
seems to be suffering
her pain and agonies.
When the girl was punished,
she was pulled her with
a rope from her neck,
she was made naked.
The girl was trembling
with cold, her whole
body was shaking. |
She was behaved as if she was
not human and non-living. They
used old knife to share her
head. Her eyes were blind folded
so that she could not see the
world. Instead of ring they
gave her a noose. And finally
she was buried alive. The stones,
rods and boughs were used to
cover the bog. In the fifth
and seventh stanza the poet
beautifies the dead body and
attempts to create a mental
picture of the girl, when she
was alive. He compares ‘shaved
head’ to ‘stubble
of black corn”, the noose
to a “ring” and
he imagines a beautiful picture
of the girl as flaxen (silky)
haired and with a beautiful
tar-black face. The poet shows
his sorrow and pity to the girl
by saying “My poor scapegoat”
which indicates she alone is
the victim of the so-called
crime of adultery since her
partner is not punished because
he is male. She alone is punished
for their so called criminal
act, she became a scapegoat.
In the sixth stanza the poet
makes it clear that she was
killed on the charge of adultery,
but this adultery for doing
“love” is not a
crime. In the 8th stanza the
poet shows his ambivalent attitude
regarding his relation to that
girl. On the one hand he claims
to be in love with that girl
but on the other hand he shows
his helplessness that he could
do nothing to save the girl.
This stanza raises the serious
question about the role of an
artist in a situation in which
innocents are victimized. For,
Heaney this role is role of
a “voyeur” who can
observe the scene from a distance
only to draw it artistically.
In the last two stanzas of the
poem, the poet repeats the same
role of passive observer and
links past and present. He compares
the brutality of tribal men
of first century AD and brutality
of Irish Revolutionary Army.
What he observes is that the
perpetrators are different but
the form of brutality is the
same. In both past and present
innocents are victimized for
the crime. In Ireland Irish
girls who married British soldiers
were brutally killed by Irish
Revolutionary Armies. The marriage
between and Irish girl and British
soldiers was viewed as an act
of betraying Irish nationalism
or Irish Revolution as suggested
by the term “your betraying
sisters”. The poet seems
to be mocking the claim of modern
men being civilized. Though
there is a constant claim of
civilization but the base of
it is constituted by atrocity,
brutality, inhumanity and cruelty.
The poet is Irish, mostly he
engages with Irish culture,
tradition or the convention.
Others celebrate it but he talks
about it to point out its internal
contradictions. He explores
the dark sports of human history
in Irish culture. He always
relates the individual Irish
culture to general theme of
humanity.
Punishment - Poem by Seamus
Heaney
I
can feel the tug
of the halter at the nape
of her neck, the wind
on her naked front.
It
blows her nipples
to amber breads,
it shakes the frail rigging
of her ribs.
I
can see her drowned
body in the bog,
the weighing stone,
the floating rods and boughs.
Under
which at first
she was a barked sapling
that is dug up
oak-bone, brain-firkin:
her
shaved head
like a stubble of black corn,
her blindfold a soiled bandage,
her noose a ring
to
store
the memories of love.
Little adulteress,
before they punished you
you
were flaxen-haired,
undernourished, and your
tar-black face was beautiful.
My poor scapegoat,
I
almost love you
but would have cast, I know,
the stones of silence.
I am the artful voyeur
of
your brain’s exposed
and darkened combs,
your muscles’ webbing
and all your numbered bones:
I
who have stood dumb
when your betraying sisters,
cauled in tar,
wept by the railings,
who
would connive
in civilized outrage
yet understand the exact
and tribal, intimate revenge. |
