“Blackberry- Picking”. For example the poem states, “Late August, given heavy rain and sun”. The use of the word “heavy” depicts the negative, almost sad tone of the poem. This is also exemplified toward the end of the poem. “Each year I hoped they’d keep [alive], knew they would not”. This quote depicts the dying of the fruits and this is associated with the sad tone of the poem. The negative tone is again described in regards to picking the Blackberries. “Big dark

blobs [Blackberries] burned like a plate of eyes”. The word “burned” gives an ominous feeling to the poem along with the death at the end. The clear negative feeling associated with Blackberries is given in a literal meaning through the use of diction and nature imagery.

and intense imagery to portray the beginning and end of life. In the beginning of the poem, the 

author uses words like “glossy purple clot” and “flesh was sweet” to indicate the beauty of nature 

and life among the first stages of a ripened blackberry. The purity and sweetness of the 

blackberries in their early lives shows the innocence in their small bodies. They give off 

happiness and clarity, bringing the characters in the poem to serenity. However, at the end of the 

poem this is shifted 

the imagery gets rather dark, using words such as “rat-grey fungus” and “sweet flesh would turn sour.” The author does this to portray that at the end of a blackberry’s 

life, it quickly becomes rotten and useless, just like how fast one’s life can be regarded as inefficacious. Something that was once beautiful, rapidly turned rotten and distasteful. This is a epiphany for life: something that was once exquisite in life, becomes sour and ruined. The author also uses consonance at the end of multiple lines, such as using words like “drills...full” and “covered...burned.” This harsh sound on the end of each line foreshadows the idea of life and nature becoming difficult and rotten.  Overall, the use of intense imagery, strong language, and harsh consonance conveys the discrepancy of the nature of life by indicating that all beautiful 

things grow to become rotten.

“fermented” have a negative connotation, indicating consequences due to potential actions. Furthermore, in Line 22 the speaker explains that “I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair.” This 

also can convey the figurative meaning of punishment throughout the poem as the negative diction can provide underlying meaning to a more in depth concept not explicitly stated, in this case, punishment and sin. Metaphors are also a very useful tool used by Heaney to convey figurative meaning throughout the text. In Line 17 the author states “we hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.” This is a metaphor indicating a glutton for lust and love, possibly referring to the sin that develops with this greediness as well. Already mentioned, Line 21 reads “The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.” This is another example of a metaphor indicating that as time goes on, physical desire will dissipate and fade away. The desire mentioned could also be a reference to a sin and is developed through the countless metaphors in the text. The figurative meanings of punishment and sin exuberate past the literal meaning of the words on 

the page and manifests itself with dark, negative diction and embedded metaphors.

reveal the relationship between the boy’s expectations and reality. The negativity also displays the repercussions of overindulgence that doesn’t fully reveal itself until the final third of the poem. Additionally, colors are used to display the variety of nature and the enticing nature of the fruits. The colors help give a sense of exoticness to the setting of the story which is meant to be enticing to the boys. Color use is seen at the beginning of the poem when the boys first eat the berries and describe them as purple, red, and green.

blackberries are being described as dying as they reach the end of their life cycle, not many references to nature are being made by the author. At one point the melody of the verses is very fast especially at the point where it says fleeting as describing the blackberries as not being able to last forever. Yet another thing that was present throughout was the singular line that was easily recognizable. Most of the imagery used, if not all, was that of color being used to describe

the different phases through which the blackberries were going through. For example, in the

beginning purple is used to describe the life that the berries had while by the end in death they

are stated as being “dark blond”. As they were deprived of all color that they once had in their fruit.

picked is a representation for the short amount of time life really is. While the poem does additionally link the sudden death of the blackberries to the greed of the blackberry pickers, the theme of heaven-just-within-grasp-before-being-ripped-away is just as prominent and significant. The poem conveys the theme that life is sacred and surprising; life can be given and taken away at any point.

vivid imagery with strong connotations to convey the figurative meaning of the dangers of sin. Heaney works in these examples of vivid imagery such as “its flesh was sweet” and “leaving 

stains upon  the tongue and lust for picking” to convey the sinful nature of the speaker's actions. The imagery used creates the image of picking, the freedom and fresh air of summer, coupled with fresh blackberries, as rich as wine. Heaney also uses imagery such as “ a rate-grey fungus” and “all the lovely candles smell of rot” to convey the consequences of sin. The complete opposite connotation is depicted to explain the nature of sins, and how the pleasure in the 

moment is outweighed by the consequences. The figurative meaning of the dangers of sin are 

expressed throughout the poem, hidden behind the literal actions of blackberry picking.

seem as if the boys are committing a crime. To further this thought, Heaney uses references to both the Bible and a famous French fable. Heaney compares the boys to Bluebeard, a man known for the murder of his wives. He also follows the story of Adam and Eve; upon picking the apple, they were punished for committing a sin. Once the boys have collected all the berries, they find out that the berries have rotted and cannot be eaten anymore, which could be seen as a punishment for the sin they have made.

 by using metaphorical references 

to his past experiences as a child picking blackberries. In the third line, Heaney describes fresh 

blackberries, how they are a “glossy purple clot” and how they are as “hard as a knot.” The fresh 

blackberries refer to a youth when Heaney’s body was young, fresh, and ripe and still able to do and play as a child should. The author mentions how once the blackberries were plucked off of 

the bush, the “sweet flesh would turn sour.” With age, a person would get tired and “rotten” no longer with ripe skin but with wrinkles and blemishes. Heaney end the poem by saying that “Each year I hope they’d keep, knew they would not.” Every person hopes to stay young, 

energetic, but immortality isn’t a reality and people will age and rot just like a blackberry. 

sin. Overall, these metaphors present blackberry picking as a sin, resulting in “palms sticky as 

Bluebeard’s”, or, essentially, hands of murder. Heaney shows hows this supposed sin is punished, as those who pick the blackberries have hands “peppered/With thorn pricks”. To add to that, they don’t ever get the thing they truly desire - ripened backberries. Instead, they end up with “a rat-grey fungus” and fermented fruit. Their ever-so desired “sweet flesh would turn sour”, and their craving never got relieved due to the sins which they committed. As a whole, this shows Heaney’s belief of sins always being punished in some way.

The speakers memory helped convey the valuable lesson learned through the boys action on that summer day. The boys ate their first blackberry of the season claiming “its flesh was sweet” and even later “hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.” The boys eating their first taste gave them a lusting for even more and even drove the boys to start collecting, hoarding and storing them away just as a pirate would collect and hoard their own treasure away. In the end the speaker admits to the readers that each year the boys had hoped the blueberries would keep, lusting after them and trying to store them away, however the boys eventually admit that even though their desire to have the berries as long as possible they knew every year would be a another year for longing.

sin and evanescence of life through the shifts from a bright and hopeful perspective to a dark and anticipating tone. From stanza one through stanza twelve, the narrator 

continuously feels very excited and anticipates the blackberry season. In the seventh stanza,“ Then the red ones inked up in that hunger sent us out... bleached our boots”.The boys going out to pick blackberries provides a foretelling tone as they wait for August to enjoy this seasonal sweetness. Moreover, within stanza two, the poem 

states “You ate the first one and its flesh was sweet...Leaving stains on the tongue and lust for Picking.” This gives connotation of the literal

tone of youth over logic through the usage of diction that describes the negative aspects of blackberry picking while listing the motive that the narrator uses to justify it. Additionally, the last stanza describes how each year the boys hoped the blackberries would avoid being rotten, even though they knew would still happen. The disappointing tone of this stanza shows the evanescence of life because they fear that the blackberries will rot away as the season comes to an end and that the boys will lose the pleasure they had while berrypicking. Heaney’s use of shifts and tone helps to further development the literal meaning of the poem.

punishment in “Blackberry-Picking”.