ANTAEUS ( Seamus Heaney, 1966)
When I lie on the ground
I rise flushed as a rose in the morning.
In flights I arrange a fall on the ring
To rub myself with sand
That is operative
As an elixir.I cannot be weaned
Off the earth's long contour, her river-veins.
Down here in my cave
Girdered with root and rock
I am cradled in the dark that wombed me
And nurtutred in every artery
Like a small hillock.
Let each new hero come
Seeking the golden apples and Atlas.
He must wrestle with me before pass
Into that realm of fame
Among sky-born and royal:
He may well throw me and renew my bith
But let him not plan, lifting me off the earth,
My elevation, my fall.
SEAMUS HEANEY DIALECT
As Seamus Heaney is from North Ireland, I have fixed the study of the language and dialects on the use of language for Northern Irish people
The use of language for Northern Irish geography
Disagreement on nomenclature, and the reading of political symbolism into the use or non-use of a word, also attaches to some urban centres. The most famous example is whether Northern Ireland's second city should be called Derry or Londonderry.
Choice of language and nomenclature in Northern Ireland often reveals the cultural, ethnic and religious identity of the speaker. The first Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Seamus Mallon was criticised by unionists for always calling the state the "North of Ireland" while Sinn F? has been criticised in some newspapers in the Republic for continuing to refer to the "Six Counties". Nationalists have in turn criticised unionist leaders, for constantly referring to the state as "Ulster".
Those who do not belong to any group but lean towards one side often tend to use the language of that group. Supporters of unionism in the British media (notably the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express regularly call Northern Ireland "Ulster" while nationalist and republican-leaning media outlets in Ireland (such as Daily Ireland almost always use "North of Ireland" or the "Six Counties".
State institutions and cultural organisations in Northern Ireland, particularly those pre-dating the 1980s, often used the word "Ulster" in their title; for example, the University of Ulster the Ulster Orchestra. Ulster Hall and Ulster Television, which changed its name to simply UTV so not to offend anyone.
Many news bulletins since the 1990s have opted avoid all contentious terms and use either the official name, Northern Ireland, or the shorter term, "the North". For the North's second city, broadcasting outlets which are unaligned to either community and broadcasts to both, use both names interchangably, often starting a report with "Londonderry" and then using "Derry" in the rest of the report. However within Northern Ireland, print media which are aligned to either community (the Belfast Newsletter is aligned to the Unionist Community while the Irish News is aligned to the Nationalist Community) generally use their community's preferred term. British newspapers with Unionist leanings, such as the Daily Telegraph usually use the language of the Unionist Community, while others, such as The Guardian use the terms interchangably The media in the Republic of Ireland use the nomenclature preferred by Nationalists.
The division in nomenclature is seen particularly in sports and religions associated with one of the communities. Gaelic games and soccer use Derry in club names for example. However, to complicate matters both the largely Unionist Church of Ireland and the largely Nationalist Roman Catholic Church each calls their local Bishop of Derry and Raphoe. Reference.com/Encyclopedia/NorthernIreland.
SEAMUS HEANEY, ANTAEUS
AUTHOR: Seamus Heaney
TITLE OF WORK: "North"
TITLE OF POEM: Antaeus
YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1966
PLACE OF PUBLICATION: Dublin, Ireland
ANALYSIS
The subject of this poem makes reference to the author's land root.
The author uses a mithological figure, Antaeus, and his legend, to explain in a better way, the need and love that he feels for his origins, his land.
First of all, we have to know the Antaeus' myth to understand this poem, so I will try to summarize Antaeus' myth:
"Antaeus, giant, Earth and Neptuno's son. His strength came from his contact with Earth, his mother.Hercules, knocked Antaeus down for three times but he had to kill him strangling and keeping him in the air".( "Norte", traducción y notas de Margarita Ardanaz, Poesía Hiperión, pág 149).
Now, we will analyze the poem stanza by stanza; in the first stanza, the author shows himself as a nature's element, as a rose (line 2)" I rise flushed as a rose in the morning", and links this idea to explain in the second stanza how he needs the contact with earth, it is just like an elixir.( lines 4, 5 & 6) " to rub myself with sand/ that is operative/as an elixir"
He cannot be separated from the earth, because he lives thanks to "her" as he was a vegetable ( lines 11&12) " and nurtured in every artery/ like a small hillock".
As we can see in the fourth stanza, he is determined to defend his loving earth even from heros (allusion to Hercules) ( line 15 & 16) " He must wrestle with me before pass/ into that realm of fame".
In the last stanza, Seamus makes a clear resemblance with Antaeus' ending: he challenges to sky-born and royal but without separating him from the earth. ( lines 13, 17 & 19)" let each new hero come/ among sky-born and royal/ but let him not plain, lifting me off the earth".
Finally, the poem ends with a sentence, the summary of this poem: my elevation, my fall. With this sentence, the speaker warns that his separation from his land will be death.
This poem is complex, it is not its elaborated vocabulary, but its meaning, because it is necessary to know the Antaeus' myth previously.
The poem's tone is strong and reflects power and bravery above all.
Also, we find in this poem a large number of stylistic figures, as for example comparisons, personifications and metaphors. In the first stanza, the speaker is comparing himself with a rose ( line 2) " I rise flushed as a rose in the morning", ( line 11 & 12) "and nurtured in every artery/ like a small hillock". He also uses personifications, he gives to the earth human qualities ( line 7) " off the earth's long contour, her river-veins". And metaphors, as for example his contact with earth as a elixir (line 6) "as an elixir".
This poem is composed by five stanzas, each stanza is composed by four lines and the rhyme scheme is abba cddc effe ghhg ijji.
PERSONAL RESPONSE
In this poem we can find lots of references to the nature of his country, he needs to be in touch with the land, with the nature and also, he defends it against all bravely. His origins, North-Ireland, make Heaney proud of being celtic, and he feels a deep root in his native land and in his culture.
This poem is quite difficult to understand, but it is beautiful when you know its meaning, the country's praise.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
POEM: "Norte" ( north) Traducción , prólogo y notas de Mragarita Ardanaz. Edición bilingue.Poesía Hiperión.
ANTAEUS MITH: " Norte" ( north) Traducción, prólogo y notas de Mrgarita Ardanaz. Edición bilingue. Poesía Hiperión. Página 149.
SEAMUS HEANEY DIALECT: Internet. Google. Reference.com/Encyclopedia/Northern Ireland