Title: Seamus Heaney and his political point of view trough his poem “Act of Union”

Act of Union by Seamus Heaney

To-night, a first movement, a pulse,
As if the rain in bogland gathered head
To slip and flood: a bog-burst,
A gash breaking open the ferny bed.
Your back is a firm line of eastern coast
And arms and legs are thrown
Beyond your gradual hills. I caress
The heaving province where our past has grown.
I am the tall kingdom over your shoulder
That you would neither cajole nor ignore.
Conquest is a lie. I grow older
Conceding your half-independant shore
Within whose borders now my legacy
Culminates inexorably.

II

And I am still imperially
Male, leaving you with pain,
The rending process in the colony,
The battering ram, the boom burst from within.
The act sprouted an obsinate fifth column
Whose stance is growing unilateral.
His heart beneath your heart is a wardrum
Mustering force. His parasitical
And ignmorant little fists already
Beat at your borders and I know they're cocked
At me across the water. No treaty
I foresee will salve completely your tracked
And stretchmarked body, the big pain
That leaves you raw, like opened ground, again

http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6714&poem=31188

In the poem “Act of Union” Seamus Heaney shows us the political conflict between Britain and Ireland. This conflict remains nowadays as Northern Ireland, and it still belongs to the United Kingdom. The historical context and the poet’s birth place will also be taken into account as both are essential for the comprehension of the poem. There are two determining historical facts to point out, such as the unification of Ireland and Britain forming the United Kingdom under the Act of Union in 1801 as well as the signing of the Anglo- Irish Treaty in 1921, which divided Ireland in two- the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland-. The latter, it is a remaining part of the United Kingdom, place in which Seamus Heaney was born within a catholic nationalist family.

The poem “Act of Union” by Seamus Heaney is composed by two stanzas of 14 verses each and its rhyme is a b a b c d c e f e f g g, therefore it is sonnet. However, despite of being a poem it gives the impression of being a first person story narrated by Britain as it is easy to follow due the easy language used by Heaney.

The title of the poem “Act of Union” makes a clear reference to the first historical fact previously mentioned, the Act of Union in 1801 but the entire poem is related to the second one, the Anglo- Irish Treaty of 1921. However, Seamus Heaney seems to play with the double meaning of Act of Union, and can also be interpreted as the act of marriage between Ireland and Britain.

The whole poem is a metaphor in which the narrator, the personified Britain, is represented as a dominant and oppressive male “I am the tall kingdom over your shoulder” (l. 9) “I am still imperially… Male” (l. 15-16). Ireland is also personified as a woman “Beyond your gradual hills”. The word “hills” have the connotation of the curves of a woman.

The first verse, “to-night, a first movement, a pulse” implies a first physical contact, “A gash breaking open the ferny bed” (l. 4) “ferny bed” connotes a sexual relationship, however “ gash breaking open” tells us it hurts. “your back is a firm line of eastern coast” makes a clear reference to Ireland, so at this point we know that the narrator is Britain and the interlocutor Ireland. It is in line 9 “I am the tall kingdom over your shoulder” when it can be deduced that Britain is a male “tall kingdom” who is physically oppressing the female, the fragile Ireland “over your shoulder”. In lines 11 and 12 “I grow older conceding you half-independent shore”, Britain is talking in a superior tone, saying that concedes to Ireland “half- independant”, it sounds like it was a favour. In the next two lines, “…. My legacy… culminates inexorably”, the male Britain tells to Ireland that despite of having concede her half- independant, he still has the power. It makes reference to the Anglo- Irish Treaty of 1921. Here, it can be interpreted as the first allusion to Northern Ireland, Seamus Heany’s birth place.

In the first and second verse of the second stanza “And I am still imperially Male, leaving you with pain” there is a violent treat of Britain towards Ireland, as Britain leaves Ireland in pain. On a metaphorical level, this pain can be interpreted as mistreatment from Britain to Ireland. Because of the following verses, it could be even interpreted as a rape. Then, Heaney uses an alliteration imitating the sounds of several beats to reinforce the violence used by Britain, the male “the battering ram, the boom burst from within”. “The act sprouted an obsinate fifth column” (Line 19). “act” can be the rape, because of the sexual connotations of “act” and the “pain” in which Britain leaves Ireland. As a result of the rape, this forced marriage there is a baby. This metaphorical baby is Northern Ireland, place shared by both, the protestant British and the catholic Irish. Next verse “whose stance is growing unilateral” is quite noteworthy as it means this baby rejects his “father”, in other words, it refers to the disagreement of the catholic Irish people who leaves under the British government in Northern Ireland. This verse is very significant, as the author recognises his nationalism and expresses his protest against the British control. “his heat beneath our heart is a wardrum” (l. 21)”mustering force” (line 22) refers again to the baby ( Northern Ireland) who is inside the mother ( Ireland). This baby is becoming stronger as he is mustering force, and again, it shows the protest of the catholic Irish against the British control. In the next verses from lines 22 to 26 “ his parasitical And ignmorant little fist already Beat at your borders and I know they’re cocked at me across the water” show us an undeveloped rage that is just longing to burst forth. That these fists are "cocked at me across the water" (lines 24-25) clearly shows that this violent offspring, the result of the violent union, is only concerned with wreaking violence back upon the British aggressors. It basically means violence begets violence .In the last verses of the poem, “no treaty I foresee will salve completely your tracked And stretchmarked body, the pig pain That leaves you raw, live opened ground, again” Haney here, describes the tracked and stetchmarked body of the mother Ireland after the Childbirth. These lines clearly show that the pain made to Ireland has no cure. Any taken measure will be able to heal the wounds. In other words, no matter what political or religious measures Britain take, the pain is already done and it will never disappear.

Paradoxically, Seamus Heaney shows in this poem his Irish nationalism in the language of the imperialist Britain. While the Gaelic language is seen as a feminine tongue consisting mostly of vowels, the guttural consonants of English are used effectively on the poem, coinciding with the masculine personification of England.(ciao)

Essentially, the entire poem is a metaphor which shows the political relationship between Britain and Ireland, specially the relationship between Britain and Northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney birth place. The relationship between Britain and Ireland is seen as a marriage whereas Britain is the male and Ireland the Female. Northern Ireland is described as “ an obstinate fifth column” (l. 19) and it is also seen as a parasite, in other word,s as a bastard child. Seamus Heaney shows his nationalist ideas as he conceives Northern Ireland and Ireland as a unique Country. He also makes clear that the pain they made, can take their backs on them “ I know they’re cocked at me across the water. In the last verses, Heaney gives a subliminal message: no matter what they do now or in the future, the pain has already be done and the wounds of that pain will never heal.

Bibliography

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Open_Ground_Poems_1966_1996_Seamus_Heaney__Review_5336983 (25-04-2006)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_Treaty (24-04-2006)

http://www.answers.com/topic/act-of-union-1800-1 (24-04-2006)

http://www.poemhunter.com/p/m/poem.asp?poet=6714&poem=31188 (24-04-2006)

Back

Academic year 2005/2006