I have sent an email to you all with an annotated walk-through of this poem. Themes that are explored include childhood, memory, the creative process.
Other things you should note:
The poem is in iambic pentametre - five iambic beats (ti-TUM; light - HEAVY) in each line.
And by the time he'd reappear to wash
The use of enjambment within this regular rhythm maintains the flow between lines, creating a conversational tone:
And by the time he'd reappear to wash
Those nosy, rosy, big, soft hands of hisIn the scullery basin,
One of Heaney's favourite tricks is to use enjambment and caesura (a break in the middle of the line) to create an emphasis on key words by putting them at the beginning of the line following the enjambement, and reversing the light-heavy beat, often using the enjambement to mirror the meaning of the words themselves:
Then like a hypnotist
Unwinding us, he'd wind the instruments
Back into their lining,Unwinding us, he'd wind the instruments
or
The baby bits all came together swimming
Into his soapy big hygienic hands
Look at the use of the vowels i and l in these lines, followed by the use of o and then the final ol:
skimmed
Milk and ice, swabbed porcelain, the white
And chill of tiles, steel hooks, chrome surgery toolsMilk and ice, swabbed porcelain, the white
And blood dreeps, in the sawdust where it thickened
At the foot of each cold wall.
This is painting with words - quite literally - as he moves from the sterility of the imagined laboratory i and l)to the awful vision of the blood which must accompany his "baby making",
(o and oo) coming together as it "dreeps" - seeps and drips - down the "cold" walls. Genius.
I
All of us came in Doctor Kerlin's bag[EC1]
He'd arrive with it, disappear to the room[LC2]
And by the time he'd reappear to wash
He'd arrive with it, disappear to the room[LC2]
And by the time he'd reappear to wash
Those nosy, rosy, big, soft hands [LC3] of his
In the scullery basin, its lined insides
(The colour of a spaniel's inside lug)
In the scullery basin, its lined insides
(The colour of a spaniel's inside lug)
Were empty for all
to see[LC4] , the trap-sprung mouth
Unsnibbed and gaping wide. Then like a hypnotist
Unwinding us, he'd wind the instruments
Unsnibbed and gaping wide. Then like a hypnotist
Unwinding us, he'd wind the instruments
With the bag in his hand, a plump ark by the keel [LC6] ...
Until the next time came and in he'd come
In his fur-lined collar that was also spaniel-coloured
Until the next time came and in he'd come
In his fur-lined collar that was also spaniel-coloured
And go stooping up to the room again, a whiff
Of disinfectant, a Dutch interior [LC7] gleam
Of waistcoat satin and highlights on the forceps.
Of disinfectant, a Dutch interior [LC7] gleam
Of waistcoat satin and highlights on the forceps.
Getting the water ready, that was next—
Not plumping hot, and not lukewarm, but soft,
Sud-luscious, saved for him from the rain-butt[LC8]
Not plumping hot, and not lukewarm, but soft,
Sud-luscious, saved for him from the rain-butt[LC8]
And savoured by him afterwards, all thanks
Denied as he towelled hard and fast,
Then held his arms out suddenly behind him
Denied as he towelled hard and fast,
Then held his arms out suddenly behind him
To be squired and silk-lined into the camel coat.
At which point he once turned his eyes upon me,
Hyperborean[LC9] , beyond-the-north-wind blue,
At which point he once turned his eyes upon me,
Hyperborean[LC9] , beyond-the-north-wind blue,
Two peepholes to the locked room [LC10] I saw into
Every time his name was mentioned, skimmed
Milk and ice, swabbed porcelain, the white
Every time his name was mentioned, skimmed
Milk and ice, swabbed porcelain, the white
And chill of
tiles, steel hooks[LC11] , chrome surgery
tools
And blood dreeps[LC12] in the sawdust where it thickened
At the foot of each cold wall. And overhead
And blood dreeps[LC12] in the sawdust where it thickened
At the foot of each cold wall. And overhead
The little, pendent,[LC13] teat-hued infant
parts
Strung neatly from a line up near the ceiling—
A toe, a foot and shin, an arm, a cock
Strung neatly from a line up near the ceiling—
A toe, a foot and shin, an arm, a cock
A bit like the rosebud in his buttonhole.
Poeta doctus Peter Levi[LC15] says
Sanctuaries of Asclepius[LC16] (called asclepions)
Were the equivalent of hospitals
Sanctuaries of Asclepius[LC16] (called asclepions)
Were the equivalent of hospitals
In ancient Greece. Or of shrines like Lourdes[LC17] ,
Says poeta doctus Graves[LC18] . Or of the cure
By poetry that cannot be coerced[LC19] ,
Says poeta doctus Graves[LC18] . Or of the cure
By poetry that cannot be coerced[LC19] ,
Say I, who realized at Epidaurus
That the whole place was a sanatorium
[LC20] With theatre and gymnasium and baths,
That the whole place was a sanatorium
[LC20] With theatre and gymnasium and baths,
A site of incubation, where "incubation"
Was technical and ritual, meaning sleep
When epiphany occurred and you met the god[LC21] ...
Was technical and ritual, meaning sleep
When epiphany occurred and you met the god[LC21] ...
Hatless, groggy, shadowing myself
As the thurifer I was in an open air procession
In Lourdes in '56[LC22]
As the thurifer I was in an open air procession
In Lourdes in '56[LC22]
When I nearly fainted from the heat and fumes,
Again I nearly fainted [LC23] as I bent
To pull a bunch of grass and hallucinated
Again I nearly fainted [LC23] as I bent
To pull a bunch of grass and hallucinated
Doctor Kerlin at the steamed-up glass
Of our scullery window, starting in to draw
With his large pink index finger dot-faced men
Of our scullery window, starting in to draw
With his large pink index finger dot-faced men
With button-spots
in a straight line down their fronts
And women with dot breasts, giving them all
A set of droopy sausage-arms and legs
And women with dot breasts, giving them all
A set of droopy sausage-arms and legs
That soon began
to run[LC24] . And then as he
dipped and laved
In the generous suds again, miraculum[LC25] :
The baby bits all came together [LC26] swimming
In the generous suds again, miraculum[LC25] :
The baby bits all came together [LC26] swimming
Into his soapy big hygienic hands
And I myself came to[LC27] , blinded with sweat,
Blinking and shaky in the windless light.
And I myself came to[LC27] , blinded with sweat,
Blinking and shaky in the windless light.
III
Bits of the grass I pulled I posted off
To one going into chemotherapy
And one who had come through[LC28] . I didn't want
To one going into chemotherapy
And one who had come through[LC28] . I didn't want
To leave the place or link up with the others[LC29] .
It was mid-day, mid-May, pre-tourist sunlight
In the precincts of the god,
It was mid-day, mid-May, pre-tourist sunlight
In the precincts of the god,
The very site of the temple of Asclepius.
I wanted nothing more than to lie down
Under hogweed, under seeded grass
I wanted nothing more than to lie down
Under hogweed, under seeded grass
And to be visited in the very eye of the day[LC30]
By Hygeia, his daughter[LC31] , her name still clarifying
The haven of light she was, the undarkening door.
By Hygeia, his daughter[LC31] , her name still clarifying
The haven of light she was, the undarkening door.
IV
The room I came from and the rest of us all came from
Stays pure reality where I stand alone[LC32] ,
Standing the passage of time, and she's[LC33] asleep
Stays pure reality where I stand alone[LC32] ,
Standing the passage of time, and she's[LC33] asleep
In sheets put on for the doctor, wedding presents[LC34]
That showed up again and again, bridal
And usual and useful at births and deaths.
That showed up again and again, bridal
And usual and useful at births and deaths.
Me at the bedside, incubating for real[LC35] ,
Peering, appearing [LC36] to her as she closes
And opens her eyes, then lapses back
Peering, appearing [LC36] to her as she closes
And opens her eyes, then lapses back
Into a faraway smile whose precinct [LC37] of vision
I would enter every time, to assist and be asked
In that hoarsened whisper of triumph,
I would enter every time, to assist and be asked
In that hoarsened whisper of triumph,
[EC1]Heaney
was eldest of 9 children. He is
remembering (but giving the child’s perspective) the birth of his younger
siblings. The “child” imagines that the
babies came out of the Doctor’s bag like the instruments.
[LC2]|Notice
the use of euphemism – the child is not sure what is happening, the births are
shrouded in mystery, “the room” (his parents’ bedroom) becomes a mysterious,
sacred place – an “inner sanctum” as in a temple.
[LC3]Highly
sensual imagery. Internal rhyme focuses on the parts of the Doctor most
relevant to his task. “Nosy” suggests
that his hands have been where they should not. He is washing up after the
birth.
[LC4]Follow
the syntax – the bag is empty once the birth is over as he has used the
instruments to deliver the baby.
[LC5]The
child is fascinated. The taking out of
instruments (like the taking out of the child from the uterus) seems to
happening in reverse as the instruments are put back in place in the bag
[LC6]Look
up a picture of a Gladstone bag. “Ark”
is not just Noah’s ark, but also a storage space for holy relics – as in “Ark
of the Covenant”
[LC7]Reference
to Dutch Old Masters’ paintings – such as Vermeer.
[LC8]Rain
water lacks calcium so is softer and makes better lather
[LC9]Greek
for a people who lived “beyond the North Wind” – suggesting a mythical
person.
[LC10]The
child looks through (peep-holes) the Doctor’s eyes to imagine the room he works
in, like some kind of Frankenstein laboratory where he creates babies out of
parts.
[LC11]The
laboratory seems to be mixed up with the scullery in the child’s mind. Probably hooks to hang meat/bacon.
[LC12]Drips
and seeps
[LC13]hanging
[LC14]Switches
to present day. Heaney now talking as
the adult.
[LC15]Poeta
doctus is a title Heaney has given to the poet/writer Peter Levi. It means a learned poet who refers to the
classics. Levi wrote extensively on Greece
[LC16]God
of Healing
[LC17]Our
Lady of Lourdes is a major Catholic shrine visited by people seeking healing.
[LC18]Robert
Graves poet/writer who translated the Greek Myths
[LC19]Heaney
claims that poetry can cure ills
[LC20]A
place sick people were sent to get better
[LC21]Epidaurus
is a major Greek archaeological site in northern Greece and the town was
dedicated to Asclepius. Poetry is
commonly held to be divinely inspired. This could be the “epiphany” or
revelation that Heaney is referring to. “incubation”
is also a word used for the period between laying and hatching eggs – another
reference to birth.
[LC22]He
is now recalling a visit to Lourdes in 1956 (also a site associated with
healing) where he fainted from the “heat and fumes”. A thurifer is an incense burner carried at
religious processions
[LC23]Back
in Epidaurus he bends to pull up some grass and nearly faints – hallucinating
for a moment that he sees Dr Kerlin again.
[LC24]He
imagines Dr Kerlin drawing the kind of picture of men and women that children
do, in the steam on the scullery window
[LC25]A
miracle!
[LC26]The
pieces of baby that were previously imagined as hanging from hooks now “come
together” as if by a miracle as the Doctor washes his hands, as if performing a
religious ritual.
[LC27]He
recovers from his fainting fit
[LC28]He
sends off the bits of grass to people who are sick – as visitors to shrines
would do in ancient times.
[LC29]He
wants to cut free from the tour group
[LC30]midday
[LC31]Hygeia,
daughter of Asclepius, brings continued good health free of the shadow of death?
[LC32]In
spite of his adult perspective now, the childhood fantasy remains real to him.
[LC33]His
mother
[LC34]Wedding
present sheets were kept for “best” in many working class households as they
were often higher quality than those bought for everyday use and therefore kept
for special occasions, as they were irreplaceable.
[LC35]Refers
back to his vision at Epidaurus. Either
he is making this poem (Heaney looking back sees that this was the inspiration
for the poem) or awaiting the revelation of where these babies really come
from.
[LC36]The
child peers, and appears to his mother as she slips in and out of sleep.
[LC37]Entrance
place
[LC38]The
cat is not let out of the bag – the mother keeps her “secret” from the child,
pretending that the Doctor did indeed bring the baby in his bag.
