Punishment

Punishment by Seamus Heaney can almost take the role of a social commentary, with it's enphasis upon a ruined beauty that could have defied the laws of her Catholic church. In the poem Heaney uses the death scene of a lover viewing the ruined corpse of a girl gone astray to emphasize the theme of judgement. In the first stanza we see the imagery of viewing the body, with the halter of what could have been a dress distorted around her body so that she appeared naked. The second stanza blows her nipples to bear a strong resemblance to amber beads, something that is reflective of the rosary for the Catholic church. One of the the metaphors shown in this poem can actually come from the econd stanza as well, with the starved ribs of the girl bearing a resemblance to the rigging of a boat, as the corpse is later revealed to be floating upon a body of water, drowned in a bog to be specific. Her physical description is furthered with metaphors bearing that of ruined beauty, a shaved head and a tar-black face. Seamus Heaney saw a lot in his life involving the fight between Protestants and Catholics within Great Britain, and this poem can be a direct commentary upon that. The adulteress, as she is portrayed in the poem was judged by her sisters, who could have the the sisters, or nuns, of the convent, in which all people of God are required to remain abstinent. Heaney's take on this was that of someone who scapegoated her, being the person to bring her into her final judgement.s