English Literature - Poems - Punishment - Revision Cards in GCSE English Literature

Punishment - Seamus Heaney - Context

Written at the hight of 'The Troubles' in Ireland.
'The Troubles' was a major political conflict between North and South Ireland over whether or not Ireland should remain loyal to the British throne.
Irish women who fratenised with the British soldiers during 'The Troubles' would be tarred and feathered.
Heaney links these women to 'The Windeby Girl' - archaeological discovery of the preserved body of a woman in a bog. Archaeologists assume that the woman had been punnished for adultery.
The Windeby Girl...

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"I can feel the tug of the halter at the nape of her neck" - ("halter" = strap placed on a horses head to lead it) ("nape" = back of the neck) - Represents how The Windeby Girl has been a victim of oppression, similar to the women of 'The Troubles'.

"It blows her n*pples to amber beads, it shakes the frail rigging of her ribs" - "frail" suggests weakness (perhaps malnourishment*) and youth. - *"amber" may link to jaundice, further enforcing the impression that the body was malnourished. - "rigging" references controls on a ship, further emphasising that the woman had been a victim of oppression.

"she was a barked sapling" - ("barked" = stripped) ("sappling" = young tree) - Refering to her as a "sappling" again emphasises her youth. - Refering to her as a "barked sappling" shows that she had been stripped, perhaps as a form of humiliation.

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"oak-bone, brain-firkin" - ("oak-bone" - stong bones) (brain-firkin = skull) - These are kennings. Kennings were compound expressions used primarily by Anglo Saxons. Use of this old technique shows how Heaney views the atrocities that the girl was subjected to as purely primitive.

"shaved head" - The remains of the woman had a shaved head as women were often shaved as a method of humiliation for adultery.

"her blindfold a soiled bandage" - Referring to the woman's blindfold as a bandage suggests that it aids her. Perhaps this indicates that it is an assistance to her as she cannot see the horrible things she has been subjected to.

"her noose a ring" - The woman was hanged for her crimes. - Referring to her noose as a ring perhaps links it with married life, symbolising the entrapment of married life that the girl was condemned to, leading her to commit adultery.

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"Little adultress" - This makes note of the fact that the girl committed adultery. Referring to her as "little" makes emphasises her youth and vulnerability.

"tar-black face" - The assumption is that the girl's face is "tar-black" because of the bog. - Use of the adjective "tar-black" connects this girl to the girls that were tarred and feathered during 'The Troubles' when caught fraternising with British soldiers. This shows that Heaney views this heinous punishment as ridiculously outdated.

"My poor scapegoat" - ("scapegoat" - someone who is blamed for all that goes wrong, regardless of others' contributions (also, (in the Bible) a goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it)) - Referring to her as a scapegoat emphasises how it takes more than one person to commit adultery and therefore, how she has been unfairly condemned given that she was not alone in her crime, nor were the women of 'The Troubles' who fratenised with the British soldiers.

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"I almost love you but would have cast, I know, the stones of silence." - A common punishment for women who committed adultery used to be for them to be stoned. - This phrase suggests that despite his love for her he would still have cast a stone, perhaps due to the oppression of the government. - The phrase "stones of silence" indicates that the stones are a metaphor for his silence. He states that though he loved her he would have done nothing to prevent her punishment which is just as bad as casting a stone himself. - The fact that he does nothing to save her is later reinforced in the phrase "civilized outrage". - The oxymoron used here suggests that outrage should not be civilized and that he should have done something.

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"I am the artful v*oyeur" - ("v*oyeur" = a person who gains sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity / a person who enjoys seeing the pain or distress of others) - This perhaps represents how he stands idle and does nothing to interfere.

"I who have stood dumb" - ("stood dumb" = didn't speak out) - Again enforces how he did nothing to prevent the punishment of the women.

"I who have stood dumb when your betraying sisters, cauled in tar, wept by the railings" - "betraying sisters" again links the women of 'The Troubles' to the Windeby Girl yet instead of betraying their husbands they are supposedly betraying their country. - ("caul" = membrane surrounding newborns) - Saying that the women were "cauled in tar" suggests that their punishment (of being tarred and feathered) was a life-changing experience and also emphasises their innocence in Heaney's eyes.

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