Analyzing Blackberry Picking

“You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet like thickened wine: summer’s blood was in it”.  The rich imagery, complex diction and use of metaphor in this single quotation from Seamus Heaney’s poem Blackberry Picking cause us as readers to fall in love with harvesting this delicious fruit  - as though it was the greatest activity in all the world.

In the poet’s toolbox, the use of vocabulary and syntax can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. In the poem’s first sentence, Heaney relies on the use of complex diction to create a much deeper experience of picking blackberries than simply stating, “blackberries will ripen if it rains”.  Rather, we are set up by sentence structure with a series of events that generate interest and lead up to an unknown climactic event:  “Late August, given the rain and sun, for a full week...”.  Thus, even before the topic of our poem is introduced, Heaney has captured our imagination.  This approach continues throughout the poem as illustrated by phrases such as “Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots”, and “Until the tinkling bottom had been covered”.

Imagery is another tool by which Heaney converts a simple process into a poetic experience.  Phrases such as “a glossy purple clot”, “the red ones inked up”, and “tinkling bottom” contribute to a mental picture of his picking party.  In stark contrast, phrases such as “rat gray fungus” and “canfuls smelt of rot” change our thoughts to imagining the results of berry picking as not so enjoyable after all. By using rich imagery, Heaney forces us to participate in the activity with him, not only in the part of the experience that is beautiful but also the part we would rather leave behind.

Yet another writer’s trick used many times by Heaney to convey his passion is the use of metaphor and simile.  Examples include the description of a blackberry as “flesh sweet like thickened wine”,  “big dark blobs burned like a plate of eyes”, and “our palms sticky as Bluebeard’s”.  In each case, Heaney helps to share with us his personal emotions by asking us to compare the process to other events we have either all experienced or can easily imagine.  This trick works, and the impression is much deeper than a literal description of picking berries.

Almost everyone has experienced the process of picking berries of some kind in their life.  For those who have fought with blackberry bushes, Heaney’s poem provides a vivid reminder of the joy and pain of the process that relies on rich imagery, metaphors, and complex diction.