Fodder: Key Quotes

Fodder: Key Quotes

Key Quotes from “Fodder”

Description of the Hay

• “Its warm wheaten breath”: This quote deeply captures the nourishing essence of the hay, symbolising life and sustenance. It’s also personified, which indicates a close relationship between the farmer and the fodder.

• “And the piled sheafs writhed in their ties, straining”: The emotive verbs highlight the almost human struggle endured by the fodder in its confinement, representing perhaps, the farmer’s hard toil.

Imagery

• “Cold corrugated iron, its scales raked by the wind”: Heaney’s use of sea imagery here illustrates the harshness of the countryside environment.

• “Rainwater sloshed in the swilled earthenware gulley”: An interesting mixture of sensory and tactile language paints an immersive and vivid image of rural life.

On the Passage of Time

• “Outliving their seed-time, the mildewed years”: This metaphor highlights the enduring, cyclical nature of farming. The “mildewed years” also suggests decay and the passage of time.

• “And the timbers groaned in time”: Again showing the cyclical nature of farming, the personification of the timber gives it a timeless presence.

On the Cycle of Life

• “And there it remained, fully bulbed and cooling”: Represents the end of the process. The strategic use of imagery symbolises the end of life, but with a promise of regeneration.

• “Digested into dunghill or dug ground”: Depicts the ultimate destination of the fodder, which will nourish new life, showing that in nature, nothing is wasted. This is representative of the theme of the cyclical nature of life.