Nat+CURTIN+Poetry+Analysis



 By Seamus Heaney Fishermen at Ballyshannon Netted an infant last night Along with the salmon. An illegitimate spawning, media type="googlemap" key="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Main+St%2FR231&daddr=Unknown+road&geocode=FVCfPwMd7geD_w%3BFeTAQwMdiK-b_w&hl=en&mra=mi&mrsp=1,0&sz=9&sll=54.594345,-7.396545&sspn=1.160028,2.463684&ie=UTF8&ll=54.594345,-7.396545&spn=1.160028,2.463684&output=embed" width="425" height="350" align="right"
 * __Limbo__ **

A small one thrown back To the waters. But I'm sure As she stood in the shallows Ducking him tenderly

Till the frozen knobs of her wrists Were dead as the gravel, He was a minnow with hooks Tearing her open.

She waded in under The sign of the cross. He was hauled in with the fish. Now limbo will be

A cold glitter of souls Through some far briny zone. Even Christ's palms, unhealed, Smart and cannot fish there. A= Ballyshannon B= Castledawson (very close to Heaney's birth place)

I found this poem while I was skimming through the poetry book ‘lines to time’. The title attracted me so I thought I would read it. At first I couldn’t make much meaning out of the poem, I could only guess what it was actually trying to say. After researching the meanings of some of the words I gathered the poem involved a meaning associated with a mother giving up her son. These words were Ballyshannon, illegitimate and briny, I found that Ballyshannon was a town in Ireland that was located close to the place of birth of the author; this adds reality to the poem as it could involve a true story. Illegitimate means not recognised as lawful offspring i.e. born of parents not married to each other, this indicates that the mother was getting rid of her child because she was not married and couldn’t support the child. When I researched briny I found it was equivalent to salty, indicating the ocean. As I retained these meanings while reading the poem again, I further discovered a meaning that involves a mother giving up her child to the ocean but in so was baptising her child this is gathered from ‘ducking him tenderly’ and ‘now limbo will be’. This means that the baby was not baptised and died at infancy, the child was too young to have committed personal sins, but wasn’t freed from original sin. This poem relates to the Christian teaching because of its relevance to baptism through limbo and the reference of ‘even Christ’s palms, unhealed, smart and cannot fish there’. It also relates as it takes a fascinating look at infanticide at the hands of the church. In making having a child out of marriage so forbidden by the church, it has driven a mother to drown her son. Even Christ would not allow this. The mother didn’t want to give up her son, she was forced to, and this is illustrated by the woman’s pain when Heaney uses the line about fish hooks tearing at her as she committed the crime. .
 * ANALYSIS **