“Blackberry-Picking” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Blackberry-Picking”

“Blackberry-Picking” Summary

“Blackberry-Picking” Themes

• 

  Growing Up and the Transience of Youth

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Before Line 1
  • Lines 1-24
• 

  Adult Wisdom and Acceptance

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Before Line 1
  • Lines 17-24

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Blackberry-Picking”

• Lines 1-4

  Late August, given ...
  ... as a knot.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  You ate that ...
  ... Picking.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 8-10

  Then red ones ...
  ... bleached our boots.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-15

  Round hayfields, cornfields ...
  ... plate of eyes.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-16

  Our hands were ...
  ... sticky as Bluebeard's.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-21

  We hoarded the ...
  ... would turn sour.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 22-24

  I always felt ...
  ... they would not.

  

  

  

  

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“Blackberry-Picking” Symbols

• 

  Blackberries

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 2-8: “the blackberries would ripen. / At first, just one, a glossy purple clot / Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. / You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet / Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it / Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for / Picking.”
  • Line 10: “briars scratched”
  • Lines 14-15: “green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned / Like a plate of eyes”
  • Lines 15-16: “Our hands were peppered / With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.”
  • Line 17: “the fresh berries”
  • Line 19: “our cache”
  • Line 20: “The juice”
  • Line 21: “The fruit,” “ fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.”
  • Lines 23-24: “all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. / Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.”
• 

  Wine

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 5: “its flesh was sweet”
  • Line 6: “Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it”
  • Lines 15-16: “ Our hands were peppered / With thorn pricks,”
• 

  Bluebeard

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 16: “Bluebeard's”

“Blackberry-Picking” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-24

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “F,” “f”
  • Line 3: “f”
  • Line 5: “f,” “f”
  • Line 10: “b,” “b,” “b”
  • Line 14: “b,” “b,” “b”
  • Line 15: “p,” “p”
  • Line 16: “p,” “p”
  • Line 17: “b,” “b”
  • Line 18: “B,” “b,” “f,” “f,” “f”
  • Line 19: “f”
  • Line 21: “f,” “f,” “s,” “f,” “s”
  • Line 22: “f,” “f”
  • Line 24: “kn,” “n”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “v,” “v,” “n,” “n”
  • Line 2: “F,” “f,” “b,” “b,” “n”
  • Line 3: “f,” “t,” “t,” “l,” “p,” “p,” “l,” “l”
  • Line 4: “r,” “r,” “r”
  • Line 5: “t,” “t,” “f,” “t,” “t,” “f,” “t”
  • Line 7: “t,” “t,” “t”
  • Line 8: “ck,” “k”
  • Line 9: “t ,” “t,” “k,” “c,” “t,” “t”
  • Line 10: “b,” “s,” “s,” “ss,” “b,” “b,” “s”
  • Line 11: “f,” “f,” “t,” “t”
  • Line 12: “kk,” “ck,” “c”
  • Line 13: “t,” “t”
  • Line 14: “b,” “b,” “b,” “b”
  • Line 15: “p,” “r,” “p,” “pp,” “r”
  • Line 16: “th,” “th,” “p,” “ck,” “p,” “ck,” “B,” “b”
  • Line 17: “b,” “b”
  • Line 18: “B,” “wh,” “b,” “w,” “f,” “w,” “f,” “f”
  • Line 19: “g,” “f,” “g,” “g”
  • Line 20: “ff”
  • Line 21: “f,” “t,” “f,” “t,” “s,” “t,” “f,” “t,” “s”
  • Line 22: “f,” “t,” “k,” “c,” “t,” “t,” “f”
  • Line 23: “t,” “ll,” “l,” “l,” “l,” “l,” “t,” “t”
  • Line 24: “kn,” “n,” “t.”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 3: “o,” “o”
  • Line 4: “o,” “o,” “o”
  • Line 6: “i,” “i,” “oo,” “a,” “i,” “i”
  • Line 7: “u,” “o,” “u”
  • Line 8: “i,” “i,” “e,” “e,” “i,” “u,” “u”
  • Line 9: “i,” “i,” “a,” “i,” “o”
  • Line 11: “ie,” “ie,” “o,” “o”
  • Line 12: “e,” “e,” “e”
  • Line 13: “i,” “i,” “o,” “o,” “o”
  • Line 14: “o,” “o,” “o”
  • Line 15: “i,” “e”
  • Line 16: “i,” “i,” “i”
  • Line 19: “u,” “u,” “u”
  • Line 20: “ui,” “oo”
  • Line 21: “ui,” “e,” “e,” “e”
  • Line 22: “i,” “y”
  • Line 23: “o”
  • Line 24: “Ea,” “ea,” “ee,” “o”

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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  Where imagery appears in the poem:

  • Line 3: “a glossy purple clot”
  • Line 4: “Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.”
  • Lines 5-6: “sweet / Like thickened wine:”
  • Line 7: “Leaving stains upon the tongue”
  • Line 8: “red ones inked up”
  • Line 10: “briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.”
  • Line 11: “Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills”
  • Lines 13-16: “the tinkling bottom had been covered / With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned / Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered / With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.”
  • Lines 18-20: “a fur, / A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache. / The juice was stinking too.”
  • Line 21: “the sweet flesh would turn sour.”
  • Line 23: “all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

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  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Line 4: “hard as a knot”
  • Lines 5-6: “sweet / Like thickened wine:”
  • Lines 14-15: “big dark blobs burned / Like a plate of eyes.”
  • Line 16: “our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.”

• Onomatopoeia

  

  

  

  

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  Where onomatopoeia appears in the poem:

  • Line 13: “tinkling”

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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  Where allusion appears in the poem:

  • Line 6: “Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it”
  • Line 16: “thorn pricks,” “Bluebeard's”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “sun / For”
  • Lines 3-4: “clot / Among”
  • Lines 5-6: “sweet / Like”
  • Lines 6-7: “it / Leaving”
  • Lines 7-8: “for / Picking”
  • Lines 8-9: “hunger / Sent”
  • Lines 9-10: “jam-pots / Where”
  • Lines 11-12: “potato-drills / We”
  • Lines 13-14: “covered / With”
  • Lines 14-15: “burned / Like”
  • Lines 15-16: “peppered / With”
  • Lines 20-21: “bush / The”
  • Lines 22-23: “fair / That”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “August, given”
  • Line 2: “week, the”
  • Line 3: “first, just one, a”
  • Line 4: “others, red, green, hard”
  • Line 6: “wine: summer's”
  • Line 8: “Picking. Then”
  • Line 9: “cans, pea tins, jam-pots”
  • Line 11: “hayfields, cornfields”
  • Line 14: “ones, and”
  • Line 15: “eyes. Our”
  • Line 16: “pricks, our”
  • Line 19: “fungus, glutting”
  • Line 20: “too. Once”
  • Line 21: “fermented, the”
  • Line 22: “crying. It”
  • Line 24: “keep, knew”

• Antithesis

  

  

  

  

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  Where antithesis appears in the poem:

  • Line 24: “Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.”

“Blackberry-Picking” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Clot
• Thickened wine
• Potato-drills
• Tinkling
• Eyes
• Peppered
• Bluebeard
• Hoarded
• Byre
• Fur
• Glutting
• Cache
• Fermented

• (Location in poem: Line 3: “clot”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Blackberry-Picking”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Blackberry-Picking” Speaker

“Blackberry-Picking” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Blackberry-Picking”

More “Blackberry-Picking” Resources

• External Resources

  • An Introduction to Holy Communion — "Blackberry-Picking" includes religious symbolism referencing the Christian tradition of Holy Communion. Learn about the history and significance of Holy Communion, also called the Eucharist or Lord's Supper. 

  • Seamus Heaney's 1995 Nobel Lecture — The author of "Blackberry-Picking" won the Nobel Prize in 1995. Read his speech upon the occasion, in which he references influences like John Keats.

  • Obituary: Seamus Heaney — Read about the life of the poem's author.

  • History of The Troubles in Ireland — Although "Blackberry-Picking" does not explicitly address the Troubles, these events were ongoing throughout Seamus Heaney's career. Other writings of his do speak to these events. Learn about the history. 

  • The Folktale of Bluebeard — "Blackberry-Picking" makes an allusion to Bluebeard, a folktale about a man who kills his wives one after the other. Read the tale.

  • An Introduction to the Belfast Group — Learn more about The Belfast Group, which informed a new generation of writers in Northern Ireland, including Seamus Heaney. 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Seamus Heaney

  • Bogland

  • Death of a Naturalist

  • Digging

  • Exposure

  • Follower

  • Mid-Term Break

  • Out of the Bag

  • Personal Helicon

  • Punishment

  • Requiem for the Croppies

  • Storm on the Island

  • The Tollund Man