SEAMUS HEANEY'S “PERSONAL HELICON” FOR MICHAEL LONGLEY

SEAMUS HEANEY'S “PERSONAL HELICON” FOR MICHAEL LONGLEY

Introduction

In ‘Personal Helicon’, Heaney proclaims that he writes poetry so as ‘to set the darkness echoing’. Heaney’s poems often explore language as a way of examining reality and also the individual’s relationship with the planet, and he once said that ‘words themselves are doors’that open up new ways of understanding. within the final lines of ‘Personal Helicon’ the ‘darkness’is the unknown, the items that remain hidden, concepts that haven't been brought into the sunshine and articulated in words. Whether it's personal fears or social injustices, poetry may be a medium to bring these ‘unspoken’ attitudes to the planet, to create it ‘echo’ and resound with force.

In the poem the ‘Helicon’ may be a relevancy the mountain in Greek mythology where the nine muses live. The streams that run down the mountain have the ability to offer those that drink from it the inspiration to put in writing poetry. it's during this context that the poem explores the character of writing or a minimum of a definition of poetry.
The speaker finds his poetic source within the wells of the farmyard.
It is probably useful to grasp that the Helicon may be a mountain in Greece where, in legend, two springs, sacred to the Gods were to be found. it's also thought that Narcissus, the Greek boy who pined away looking into his own reflection in an exceedingly pool did so at one in all those Heliconian springs. This basic knowledge of the classics then, sets up the understanding of Heaney’s ode to the rather less sparkling and ideal wells and comes he was fascinated by as a baby. the outline within the second stanza of the disused deep well in an old brickyard, where he sends the bucket tumbling down, echoing and rattling, possibly to search out no water at the underside, would be enough to send shivers down the spine of any parent. Then he moves on to the type of well or spring we've got lots of within the West of eire, basically a pool where spring water has come up to the surface. Those reasonably wells, many of us actually getting their potable from even up to maybe fifteen years ago, are often shallow and muddy, and packed with weed - his descriptive - soft mulch - describes it exactly. Others are often deceptively bottomless during this soggy countryside of ours, and that we still marvel that this young water baby grew up to inform his tale. The differences between the primary and also the second well, of course, is that the second gave back his reflection, which seems to be nearly as important to him because it was to narcissus within the Greek legends. and also the Greek theme is found again within the next stanza, with the deep echoeing well. Echo, within the legends, was a maiden who loved Narcissus, but he was too committed in himself and he or she pined away until only her voice remained. And then, within the final stanza we learn that the adult, having survived the risks of falling, drowning or catching typhus or plague in his exploits now scoffs at such childish games and instead views his narcissistic self within the poems he composes. The poem, could be a nostalgia trip into the poet’s boyhood, entwined in an exceedingly mythology with which it's some incidental connections, and a revelation about his self-examining reasons for writing his poetry.

CRITICAL APPRECIATION

Helicon is that the name of a mountain which is taken into account a sacred place and also the dwelling of nine muses. Muses are the pattern of fine arts who inspire the artistic spirit of artists. So Personal Helicon means the private inspiration. The poet asserts that when he was a baby, he was very curious and his curiosity couldn't be restricted by any means. He means to mention that the worldly pressure couldn't dictate upon the soul of the poet. He looked into wells and also the windlasses (a crank or a handle to lift the buckets out of a well). As a baby he accustomed watch the mystery of drawing buckets of water from the well.
It fascinates him that the water was setting out of some mysterious underworld as dark drop here suggests the mysterious flow of water. Trapped sky is additionally a mysterious symbol because the sky is reflected within the water at the underside of the well. This fascinates him that the sky has been trapped in an exceedingly small well. Then there's the smell of water weed, fungus and dank moss. These are pictures of synsthesia—a blending of all the five senses.
He sees, hears, smells, touches and tastes. So his entire physical being is involved within the mysterious experience of the water being drawn from a deep well.
He feels the strange sound of a full bucket that turns at the tip of a rope. The well is so deep that the water is dark. His mystical experience is that something is taking off of darkness. there's also a sound of empty bucket striking against a stone. As a fish moves the aquarium similarly the bucket brings up with it small branches of some plant from the weeds at the underside. Perhaps he sees his own face reflected in some buckets whereas the opposite buckets produce echoes.
He sees his own face within the full buckets and hears his own voice from the empty buckets. So this can be how Heaney tries to clarify the phenomenon of inspiration. Something is revealed from the mysterious and something emerges from the consciousness that two blend and make the inspiration.
Thus Heaney would suggest that inspiration is that the echo of the mysterious within the consciousness. Then suddenly the poet has an experience of fear and a rat jumps out. Perhaps this implies that inspiration is exciting yet as frightening. What he means to mention is that to travel to the main points of inspiration are an immature activity. To him, there's something of the narcissus within the process of inspiration. Actually inspiration is just the echo of one’s own soul. it'll be unwise to analyse the method of inspiration.
Heaney says that he's inspired by his own soul and also the darkness echoes, that's the mystery speaks through his own soul. He says that the poet’s inspiration is that the resonance of his own soul.
This poem suggests: Heaney believes that the poet lives in his own world unconcerned with the planet around him. it's for this reason that Heaney wants nothing to try and do with the politics of suffering. he's only curious about the aesthetics of suffering