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*Loss*

the loss is seen throughout most of Heaney's poems, for example, Blackberry picking. This poem shows that his childhood innocence has been lost through the blackberry going 'rotten'; 'rotten' give the image to the reader that Heaney's life is forever ruined but is contrasted with the use of the colour symbolism 'purple'. Purple was an expensive and royal colour so therefore allows us to understand that his childhood meant a lot to him and that he shall cherish it forever. Heaney shows true character within his poems, making them creative and unique as they are personal to him. This makes him an autobiographical poet and therefore more relatable to his readers and audience this way.
This is linked to The Help as childhood is seen to be less important to the fact that the black women care for the white children. In that time period, black woman symbolised a lack of importance and therefore suggests that a child's life lacked importance also. However, Skeeter and Aibileen shows that all life is important as they are key when influencing the next generation on what is deemed right in order to be successful. This may also be seen in the poem limbo as the child was conceived out of wedlock and therefore had no respect from society, this meant that the mother had to punish herself and kill the baby in order to not be expelled from the social norms of society.

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| Heaney Quote about family | Explanation  | Help Quote about family | Explanation | Link
| ‘I’ll dig with it’  | He is going against what his family has done for generations and becoming a poet/writer and not a farmer. He is going to dig up the past with his poetry, just like his father digs up the past of the earth.  | “Why don’t you go down to the bank and apply for a teller job?” | Skeeter is not doing what her mother wants her to do. In many ways Skeeter is rebelling against her mother, she stands up for the black community, she wants to be a writer and she doesn’t want to get married.   | Both children have gone against their parent’s beliefs and heritage, to drive towards their own goals in life.
| “As she stood in the shallows/Ducking him tenderly” | The mother wants to baptise her son to make sure that he gets into heaven but she is drowning him. She loves him and wants him to have a better life with God. ‘ducking him tenderly’ – she doesn’t want to hurt him however, she is killing him.   | “Three years ago, today, Treelore died. But by Miss Leefolt’s book it’s still floor cleaning day”  | Treelore is Aibileen’s son who died in a farming accident. No big fuss was made by anyone else because he was a black boy, not white. Aibileen still loves him and remembers him.  | The love between mother and son is shown differently but it is still there.

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Limbo

Stanza 1: The use of the quoted "netted an infant" not only relates to both youth and the fishing culture of many Irish people, as it can connote to the helplessness and entrapment of children who are abandoned by their parents. On top of this, the use of the words "illegitimate spawning" could refer to the child who was "netted" being born out of wedlock, therefore being an act of sin to the religious institution.
Stanza 2: Pathos is present in this stanza when it says "ducking him tenderly" referring to the abandoned infant, in the way that sympathy is created for both the Mother and the infant due to the idea coming across that the Mother is sensitive to the needs of the child by "ducking him tenderly". This could suggest that the Mother did not want to abandon the infant, but her religious beliefs about the day of reckoning made her feel forced into a reluctant release of the child in the hope that the waters could remove the act of sin due to the purity of water in Baptism.
Stanza 3:

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The Act of Union stated that Ireland would join Great Britain as a single country and the Irish Parliament was abolished. This was decided by the British Prime Minister after the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Ireland was then governed from London for the next 120 years.
After the Easter Rising in 1916, Britain could no longer keep control over Ireland. Catholics wanted Home Rule but the Protestants did not want to split from Britain. This led to the creation of Northern Ireland in 1921 which stayed in the United Kingdom, whereas the rest of Ireland left.

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The Act of Union
1800
United the UK and Ireland and created Northern Ireland
'An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland'
Repealed two laws preventing Catholics from holding public positions and being in parliament
Caused many street fights in Dublin

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The rebellion of 1798/The Battle of Vinegar Hill:

Happened on 21st June 1798 in the south-east of Ireland,

The rebels in general were inspired by the French Revolution and the new American democracy that had been set up after they had won the war of independence,

They wanted to unite all elements of Irish society and try to create a fairer government and reform the Irish parliament, 'the priest lay behind ditches with the tramp'.

Violence became apparent after the society was discovered to be negotiating with France during the war between France and England,

Began when the British General Lake attempted to surround Vinegar hill with 20,000 men to prevent the rebels breaking out,

Act of Union:

A British parliamentary act that brought the two countries together and dictated that they would be run by the same government, this occurred after the battle of vinegar hill because the British were concerned about what was happening in Ireland,

The British government and the Irish government had to vote for it to be passed,

Was finally passed in 1801 but took years to actually incorporate into Irish government,

Was finally passed in 1801 but took years to actually incorporate into Irish government,

They still managed their own finances but were responsible for 1/17th of Britain's expanses.

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Theme of loss in Heaney.

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Loss of innocence in Seamus Heaney poetry

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Historical events in relation to Seamus Heaney