"Personal Helicon" was written by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney and published in Heaney’s first major collection, Death of a Naturalist, in 1966. Like many of the poems in this collection, "Personal Helicon" draws on Heaney’s experiences growing up in rural Northern Ireland. The poem's speaker (usually understood to be Heaney himself) describes the joy, wonder, and curiosity he felt while exploring old wells and water pumps as a child. "Helicon" refers to a mountain in Greece that, in ancient mythology, was home to two sacred springs deemed the source of poetic inspiration. The poem suggests that the speaker's childhood experiences became the source of his own poetic inspiration—his own "Helicon."

• Read the full text of “Personal Helicon”

• “Personal Helicon” Summary

• “Personal Helicon” Themes

  • 

    The Innocence and Wonder of Childhood

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-4
    • Lines 6-7
    • Lines 11-12
    • Lines 13-16
    • Lines 17-19
  • 

    Poetic Inspiration

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20
  • 

    Art as Exploration and Discovery

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Personal Helicon”

  • Lines 1-2

    As a child, ...
    ... buckets and windlasses.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 3-4

    I loved the ...
    ... and dank moss.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-7

    One, in a ...
    ... of a rope.

    

    

    

    

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  • Line 8

    So deep you ... reflection in it.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-10

    A shallow one ...
    ... like any aquarium.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-12

    When you dragged ...
    ... over the bottom.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-14

    Others had echoes, ...
    ... music in it.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 14-16

    And one ...
    ... across my reflection.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-19

    Now, to pry ...
    ... all adult dignity.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 19-20

    I rhyme ...
    ... the darkness echoing.

    

    

    

    

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• “Personal Helicon” Symbols

  • 

    Wells

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20
  • 

    Roots

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 11: “When you dragged out long roots from the soft mulch”
    • Line 17: “Now, to pry into roots,”
  • 

    Darkness and Depth

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “I loved the dark drop,”
    • Line 8: “So deep you saw no reflection in it.”
    • Lines 19-20: “I rhyme / To see myself, to set the darkness echoing.”
  • 

    Reflections

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 8: “So deep you saw no reflection in it.”
    • Line 12: “A white face hovered over the bottom.”
    • Line 16: “a rat slapped across my reflection.”
    • Lines 18-19: “To stare, big-eyed Narcissus, into some spring / Is beneath all adult dignity.”
    • Lines 19-20: “ I rhyme / To see myself,”

• “Personal Helicon” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Extended Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 18: “To stare, big-eyed Narcissus, into some spring”
    • Line 20: “to set the darkness echoing.”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “wells / And old pumps with buckets and windlasses.”
    • Line 5: “One, in a brickyard, with a rotted board top.”
    • Line 8: “So deep you saw no reflection in it.”
    • Line 9: “A shallow one under a dry stone ditch”
    • Line 12: “A white face hovered over the bottom.”
    • Line 18: “To stare, big-eyed Narcissus, into some spring”
    • Lines 19-20: “I rhyme / To see myself”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-18

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “the dark drop, the trapped sky, the smells”
    • Line 13: “Others had echoes, gave back your own call”
    • Lines 17-18: “Now, to pry into roots, to finger slime, / To stare, big-eyed Narcissus, into some spring”
    • Line 20: “To see myself, to set the darkness echoing.”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “windlasses.”
    • Line 4: “moss.”
    • Line 5: “top.”
    • Line 7: “rope.”
    • Line 8: “it.”
    • Line 10: “aquarium.”
    • Line 16: “reflection.”
    • Line 17: “slime,”
    • Line 20: “echoing.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “wells / And old pumps”
    • Lines 3-4: “smells / Of waterweed”
    • Lines 6-7: “bucket / Plummeted”
    • Lines 9-10: “ditch / Fructified”
    • Lines 11-12: “mulch / A”
    • Lines 13-14: “call / With”
    • Lines 14-15: “one / Was”
    • Lines 15-16: “tall / Foxgloves”
    • Lines 18-19: “spring / Is”
    • Lines 19-20: “rhyme / To”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “could,” “keep,” “wells”
    • Line 2: “windlasses.”
    • Line 3: “dark drop,” “sky,” “smells”
    • Line 4: “waterweed”
    • Line 5: “brickyard,” “rotted,” “board”
    • Line 6: “rich,” “bucket”
    • Line 7: “down,” “rope”
    • Line 8: “deep,” “reflection”
    • Line 9: “dry,” “ditch”
    • Line 11: “dragged”
    • Line 13: “call”
    • Line 14: “clean”
    • Line 15: “ferns”
    • Line 16: “Foxgloves,” “rat,” “reflection”
    • Line 17: “slime”
    • Line 18: “stare,” “some spring”
    • Line 19: “dignity”
    • Line 20: “see,” “set,” “darkness”

  • Sibilance

    

    

    

    

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    Where sibilance appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “pumps,” “buckets,” “windlasses.”
    • Line 3: “sky,” “smells”
    • Line 4: “fungus,” “moss”
    • Line 6: “savoured,” “crash”
    • Line 8: “So,” “saw,” “reflection”
    • Line 9: “shallow,” “stone”
    • Line 11: “roots,” “soft”
    • Line 12: “ face”
    • Line 15: “scaresome”
    • Line 16: “Foxgloves,” “slapped,” “reflection”
    • Line 17: “roots,” “slime”
    • Line 18: “stare,” “Narcissus,” “some ,” “spring”
    • Line 20: “ see,” “set,” “darkness”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “child,” “could,” “keep,” “wells”
    • Line 2: “old,” “pumps,” “with,” “buckets,” “windlasses”
    • Line 3: “loved,” “dark,” “drop,” “trapped,” “sky,” “smells”
    • Line 4: “waterweed,” “fungus,” “dank moss”
    • Line 5: “brickyard,” “rotted,” “board,” “top.”
    • Line 6: “rich,” “crash,” “bucket”
    • Line 7: “Plummeted,” “rope”
    • Line 8: “deep,” “reflection”
    • Line 9: “shallow,” “one ,” “under”
    • Lines 9-10: “dry stone ditch / Fructified like any aquarium”
    • Line 11: “dragged,” “roots,” “soft”
    • Line 12: “face,” “hovered over”
    • Line 13: “echoes,” “back,” “call”
    • Line 14: “clean,” “music”
    • Line 15: “scaresome,” “for,” “ferns”
    • Line 16: “Foxgloves,” “across,” “reflection”
    • Line 17: “into roots, to,” “finger,” “slime”
    • Line 18: “To ,” “stare,” “Narcissus,” “some,” “spring”
    • Line 19: “adult,” “dignity”
    • Line 20: “see,” “myself,” “set,” “darkness,” “echoing.”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “keep me”
    • Line 2: “pumps,” “buckets”
    • Line 6: “bucket”
    • Line 7: “Plummeted”
    • Line 8: “in it”
    • Line 9: “one under,” “dry”
    • Line 10: “Fructified like”
    • Line 11: “you,” “long,” “roots,” “soft”
    • Line 14: “new music”
    • Lines 14-15: “one / Was scaresome”
    • Line 16: “rat slapped”
    • Line 17: “pry,” “into,” “finger,” “slime”
    • Line 18: “big-eyed Narcissus, into”
    • Lines 18-19: “spring / Is”
    • Line 19: “dignity,” “I rhyme”
    • Line 20: “myself,” “set,” “darkness echoing”

• “Personal Helicon” 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.

  • Helicon
  • Windlasses
  • Waterweed
  • Brickyard
  • Savoured
  • Plummeted
  • Fructified
  • Aquarium
  • Mulch
  • Scaresome
  • Foxgloves
  • Narcissus
  • Spring
  • (Location in poem: )

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Personal Helicon”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Personal Helicon” Speaker

• “Personal Helicon” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Personal Helicon”

• More “Personal Helicon” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Heaney Reads "Personal Helicon" — Listen to the poet read “Personal Helicon,” along with a number of other works, in this recording from a 1971 reading at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.

    • More on Heaney's Life — A biography of Heaney published at the website of the Nobel Prize, which the poet won for Literature in 1995. This particular article details Heaney’s childhood in County Derry, Northern Ireland, and how he continued to view this landscape as the “country of the mind” for his poetry.

    • "HomePlace" — Visit the website of the Seamus Heaney HomePlace, an arts and literature center devoted to Heaney’s life and legacy, to read a range of resources about the poet and his work. The Seamus Heaney HomePlace is located in the village in Northern Ireland where Heaney grew up.

    • "A Poet of Happiness" — Read this article by Stephanie Burt at the New Yorker to learn more about Heaney’s life and poetry, and why he has come to be understood as a “poet of happiness.”

    • Mount Helicon — Read more about the mythical mountain believed to inspire poetry.

    • The Belfast Group — Read more about the group of poets of which Seamus Heaney was a member in the 1960s. This group brought together Northern Irish poets and helped to shape a new generation of Irish writers.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Seamus Heaney

    • Blackberry-Picking

    • Bogland

    • Death of a Naturalist

    • Digging

    • Exposure

    • Follower

    • Mid-Term Break

    • Out of the Bag

    • Punishment

    • Requiem for the Croppies

    • Storm on the Island

    • The Tollund Man

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