Seamus Heaney: Field Work Three poems that concern his wife.
An Afterwards The Otter. The Skunk
In the first, he argues with his wife. He is a poet, needing to make money. She is the homemaker, lonely. They have very little time together. They resolve this tension, by Heaney relenting, putting his wife and family first.
In the second and third, he is away from his wife, in an American University, she in Ireland.
The metaphors are quite unique. He misses his wife intensely. Otters swimming and entangling, becomes an act of lovemaking. He then uses a creature not usually regarded as an emblem of love. a skunk. In case you are wondering. that is a nightie. a thing of intense sexual appeal
In the first, he argues with his wife. He is a poet, needing to make money. She is the homemaker, lonely. They have very little time together. They resolve this tension, by Heaney relenting, putting his wife and family first.
In the second and third, he is away from his wife, in an American University, she in Ireland.
The metaphors are quite unique. He misses his wife intensely. Otters swimming and entangling, becomes an act of lovemaking. He then uses a creature not usually regarded as an emblem of love. a skunk. In case you are wondering. that is a nightie. a thing of intense sexual appeal
