Blackberry-Picking Symbolism, Imagery & Wordplay

The fresh blackberries are the ones in the first stanza and we're going to look at them separately from the harvested, rotting berries because they mean something different in the poem. They're doi...

Here comes the dramatic turn. The second stanza berries are pretty much the metaphoric fall-out of the first stanza berries. Everything that was hopeful, young, and lusty is now just the opposite....

Here's where a little of the author's bio is helpful. Though Heaney is no longer a practicing Catholic, he sure did grow up that way. He was raised going to church and to Catholic school, and while...

Flesh has religious significance too. We've already talked a little about the role it plays in the Eucharist, but it has other religious ties as well. Flesh is often associated with physical desire...

This is a creepy, old fairy tale about a wealthy guy with a blue beard (who knows why) who has been killing his wives and hiding their bodies in a locked room. His murderous tendencies remain a big...