Gifts of Rain :: English Literature

Gifts of Rain Seamus Heaney's poem Gifts of Rain is divided into 4 sections. These 4 sections could symbolise the stages of life which consists of birth, childhood, adulthood and death. It could also symbolise the stages of the river in which it suggests the development of the river from it's source to where it gets strong. Or of course, it could symbolise the stages of the water cycle. Water is the symbol of life, but i can also be seen as purity, freshness or youth. In this mysterious poem, Heaney takes a simple view of life and it seems almost documentary-like. The title of the poem 'Gifts of Rain' gives it a positive feeling, but although water has it's positive aspects such as lifegiving and growth, it also has it's negative aspects, such as being dangerous or even deadly. The first section of the poem has no direction and the rhythm is irregular. This suggests that the rain may come unexpectedly and starts off somewhat jaggedly. The rest of the poem flows and has rhythm and there is regularity in each section. This mimics the movement as the rain as it comes down from the clouds. The running on in the stanzas give the sense that the rain is overflowing. Although the title of the poem gives a positive feeling, the opening line "Cloudburst and steady downpour now for days" gives the effect of a monotonous image and a depressing persistance. "He begins to sense weather by his skin" portrays nature and the sense of a survivor. The animal-like image continues for the rest of the first section and the movement of that animal continues as the animal goes "uprooting" which gives the sense of nature being destructive. Heaney may have included this deliberately to show that nature is not as angelic as people may think. The end of the section highlights the poem as "Sounding. Soundings." is what Heaney's poems are all about and more precisely, what this poem is about. "A man wading lost fields breaks the pane of flood" which starts the second section gives the effect of pain and hurt. The man survives by going along with nature and resisiting it, but it also gives the effect of danger at the same time. "Like a cut swaying" carries on the effect of being deliberate, sharp and precise and "it's red spoors" and "his hands grub" continues with the theme of the animal sort of world. The "sunken drills" give the effect of digging deep and the atlantis "he depends on" gives a hint of an insecurity of life, as if