Amanda Sellers

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Mr. White
AP English 12 P3
12 January 2015
who needs titles
Temptation is the gateway to mortal sin. In Blackberry-Picking, the poet
Seamus Heaney creates a complex euphemism for the repercussions of giving into
temptation, committing a sin, and what types of circumstances would later turn
sour. (Line 21) Heaney is able to splendidly use colorful diction, subtle sound
devices, and thoughtful symbolism to convey his message of shining purity being
tainted by greed. His use of each of these elements in his poem bring this subtle but
profound meaning to life.
The poet uses his vivid diction to clearly paint a picture of his main theme of
temptation. In the first eight lines of the poem, we are met with words that connote
refreshing and enjoyable feelings of a normal harvest day in late August. Words like
rain and sun (Line 1), ripen (Line 2), glossy (Line 3), sweet (Line 5), and
thickened wine and summer (Line 6) create a clean and light mood and
represent the face value of temptation itself, as it always has a nicer exterior then
interior. As you get further into the poem, you start to see words which could incite
brutish images such as flesh (Line 5), stains (Line 7), and hunger (Line 8).
The poet uses these words to give small hints that maybe what you thought you
saw was not actually true, as if a small scent of evil is meant to be left behind to

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further warn you of the trouble that awaits you. The way that they are intermingling
with the positively connoting words makes it seem like a gradual shift into
something darker and more profound. In the second stanza, you have grotesque
imagery language to liken the picking of fresh, ripe fruit to the mutilation and
decomposing of a human body. The last ten lines of the poem really give more
detailed wording as to what really lies behind the mask of the blackberries.
Phrases and words like burned like a plate of eyes (Line 14-15), sticky (Line 16),
hoarded (Line 17), fungus and glutting (Line 19), stinking (Line 20),
fermented, flesh, and sour (Line 21), and rot (Line 23) give a gory and
disgusting imagery which can be likened to a rotting corpse. The overall diction
helps to give a shift to the mood of the poem where it starts as something as
innocent as picking blackberries, and it turns into something darker and more
profound.
In some of the lines, there is a subtle bit of sound device to help better create
a visual image. In Line 14, big dark blobs burned give an emphasis to the letter
b. In Lines 14 and 15 there is peppered with thorn pricks, our palms sticky which
give an emphasis to the letter p to give the impression of thorns impressing
themselves while working in bushes. It lends to the image that something is really
pushing at the skin of the narrator.

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Throughout the poem is an extensive line of symbolism. It lends to help make
the theme more profound in the things that are being symbolized. The first symbol
we can establish is the role of the blackberries. The blackberries can be likened to
the biblical forbidden fruit. Once Eve picked the fruit from the tree as she was
tempted to do, she was branded as a sinner for the duration of her and mankinds
time. The value of the fruit was suddenly likened to that of trash because of the
consequences it had imposed on her. The blackberries are picked when they are
ripe and then they turn to a rat-grey fungus, glutting in the cache. They start to
ferment and rot, in the same way a human body would, and are no longer of value.
Another interesting thing within the poem, is that regardless of where blackberries
are being mentioned in the lines of the poem, they are always referred to as sweet
flesh like in its flesh was sweet (Line 5) and again in the sweet flesh would turn
sour (Line 21). This lends to the fact that even the object has not changed, the
connotations attached to that object, have indeed changed, and now the
atmosphere around the object is considerably negative compared to before.
Summers blood (Line 6) can also be an example of a symbol within the first
stanza. Summers blood is the first temptation of the season. It is like a virus that
spreads among the people. It leaves stains (Line 7) upon people and incites a
lust (Line 7) for more. It passes from one person to another through the spread of
talk that the berries are delicious and sweet, like thickened wine. (Line 6) The

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temptation rises and so when they pick them, they are giving into the temptation an
committing a grave sin. The fingers of human beings have tainted the fresh
berries (Line 17) and as a result, the black berries have turned to rot.
Ultimately, this poem is a metaphor for the temptations in life and the
innocent purities being corrupted by greed and soiled by the hands of other
humans. Maybe the universal truth that we take from this poem is that human
hands destroy and that humans are eternally destined to taint natural things with
their ideas. His use of each element in the poem certainly lends to teach about the
dangers of temptation and sin and that one can never take things seriously at face
value.