Postscript: Structure & Language Techniques

Postscript - Structure

Postscript is written in free verse, meaning it doesn’t subscribe to any consistent metrical or rhyming patterns. Nevertheless, the poem moves fluidly, mirroring the winding movements of the landscape.
The poem is arranged in three distinct stanzas, each contributing to the development of the theme and painting different aspects of the panorama.
The first stanza establishes the location and introduces the journey. The second goes into detail about the scene, painting pictures with descriptive imagery. And the third stanza concludes the poem with personal reflections and emotional resonance.
The line lengths vary considerably throughout the poem. This creates an unsettling rhythm that reflects the speaker’s journey and the unpredictable nature of the landscape he is exploring.

Postscript - Language Techniques

As typical with Heaney’s work, imagery is highly prevalent throughout Postscript. The first stanza paints vivid pictures of the landscape, “a high road”, “a sky”, “the ocean” and natural elements like “wind” and “light”.
Heaney makes use of simile to describe the nature such as “like blown froth in the grey west” and towards the end, for self-reflection, “as big soft buffetings come at the car sideways/And catch the heart off guard and blow it open” to inspire sensation in the reader.
Alliteration appears in phrases like “big soft buffetings,” which creates a sensory effect by imitating the sound of wind.
Heaney employs sensory language to create vivid images and evoke emotions. He describes visual (‘blue and glossy purple’) and tactile elements (‘blow it open’) of the scene.
The landscape’s effect on the speaker is conveyed through a powerful metaphor and emotive language like “catch the heart off guard and blow it open”. This suggests the landscape’s unexpected and profound impact on the observer’s emotions.
Interestingly, the poem also explores the changing nature of landscapes and human experiences through its language of dynamism. Words such as “drifts”, “break”, “roll”, and “blow” all imply movement and transience.
It perfectly captures his use of local dialect and colloquialism with words like ‘bogland’ and ‘boreen’ which additionally grounds the setting in Ireland.
The final line is powerful and emotive, which closes the poem with an intensely personal and transformative moment. It epitomises the poem’s exploration of the potent emotional power that can be found in nature’s simple beauty.