Strange Fruit - A poem by Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney - Strange Fruit

Here is the girl's head like an exhumed gourd.
Oval-faced, prune-skinned, prune-stones for teeth.

They unswaddled the wet fern of her hair
And made an exhibition of its coil,
Let the air at her leathery beauty.
Pash of tallow, perishable treasure:
Her broken nose is dark as a turf clod,
Her eyeholes blank as pools in the old workings.
Diodorus Siculus confessed
His gradual ease with the likes of this:
Murdered, forgotten, nameless, terrible
Beheaded girl, outstaring axe
And beatification, outstaring
What had begun to feel like reverence.

Added: on December 6th, 2005 at 4:31 AM | Viewed: 3305 times | Comments (6)

Strange Fruit - Comments and Information
Poet: Seamus Heaney Poem: Strange Fruit Poem of the Day on: Jan 9 2007 Comment 6 of 6, added on June 25th, 2007 at 6:37 AM. I'm no historian, so all I say is purely conjecture, however I'd say he didn't. What I read from my research was that he was a fairly well-travelled historian (and not a mythological figure...). What I think Heaney is saying is that Siculus admitted he was at ease with these actions, I.E they didn't worry him or upset him unduly, and that perhaps he felt that the punishment was justified? I don't know. But anywys, as I said, I think it unlikely that a historian would have taken up the executioner's axe, so he probably wasn't the one to behead her. Aquain from Australia Comment 5 of 6, added on March 28th, 2006 at 4:26 AM. It was actually the poem Punishment where Heaney calls himself an 'artful voyeur'. That is the one with some eroticism in. alice from United Kingdom Comment 4 of 6, added on December 6th, 2005 at 4:31 AM. I don't think this is the full poem as the one I read in Collected Poems of Seamus Heaney had more eroticism in it. He calls himself a "voyeur" and is strangely attracted to the dead girl. This poem is very like the Willbuy 1 (no.2 was a man) who died in the 1 AD through ritualistic means and possibly because she was an adultress. It implies in the poem that she teaches the poet, a man a lesson in female desire (ie that women have them) and the reader is sympathising with the dead girl. Sorry English Literature Undergraduate here, explaining a bit mroe about the poem. Amy from United Kingdom More Comments >> Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, Strange Fruit, has received 6 comments. Click here to read them, and perhaps post a comment of your own. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Seamus Heaney with others on the Poetry Connection poetry forum!

Poem Info
Strange Fruit Last read: 2008-07-24 08:02:47 Poem of the Day on: Jan 9 2007 Viewed 3305 times. Added on December 6th, 2005 at 4:31 AM.

Heaney Info
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