Blackberry Picking

Seamus Heaney’s “Blackberry-Picking,” expresses desire, hope, and disappointment, through his love for nature. The poem moves eloquently into the last stanza, where he reveals that he is unable to fulfill his desires. The first line of the poem provides the tone, “Late August, given heavy rain and sun” (1). The setting is late August, one of the hottest months of the year, insinuating the poems context as lustful or passionate. Heaney includes that in this …

…truth that things are not always what they seem to be; how the very blackberries that taste sweet can also become the blackberries rotten with fungus. It also reminds me of a romantic relationship; how one person can continue returning to another person even though they know their heart will continuously be broken. Heaney’s last stanza completes the poem’s puzzle and offers an answer to all his subtle hints in the first stanza.