Ministry of Fearby Seamus Heaney A Written Analysis
"The Ministry of Fear"-A Written Analysis Ministry of Fear is a poem written by Seamus Heaney, for his friend and fellow poet, Seamus Deane. ... It shows the difficulties which Heaney experienced at school the intial iscolation which he felt from his family, how he longed to be at home, while simultaneously wanting to move on, to pursue his goal to become, a writer and poet. The poem is written almost in the form of a story, and does not take the usual form of most poems, which are broken up into stanzas of similar length. ... The use of dialogue in particular is very significant, as both times when it is used it is for Heaney to state his name. This reiterating of his name, illustrates the fear which Heaney felt when stating it, both to the priest who taught him, and also the policemen at the checkpoint. This fear is the basis of the poem, and it is evident throughout the poem, that Heaney experienced this intially in the school. "the leather strap went epileptic in the big study", Then in later life he experienced it during the troubles when he would quite often be the subject of intimidation at the hands of the policemen "My fingers tight as ivy on her shoulders" "All moonlight and a scent of hay,policemen Swung their crimson flashlamps,crowding round The car like black cattle,snuffing and pointing The muzzle of a Sten gun in my eye; Whats your name, driver" The tone of the poem, is partly phiolosophical, where Heaney reminises of past events, and how he and Deane aspired to become poets, and their early efforts at trying to do so.