The Haw Lantern: Structure & Language Techniques

Summary and Structure

“The Haw Lantern” is a philosophical poem comprised of three six-line stanzas. It explores notions of self-knowledge, testing and loss.
Unusually, the poem doesn’t strictly adhere to a typical poetry structure, instead it chooses to follow an abccba rhyme scheme, adding an element of balance and reflection to the poem.
Although, it doesn’t follow the typical iambic metre of most English verse, it uses a variety of metres including trochee, which adds a rhythmic variation and draws emphasis to the content.

Heaney favours simple and direct language in this poem, making it accessible but inviting further interpretation.
The use of assonance, for example in the phrase “small light for small people” lends a musicality and rhythm to the reading of the poem.
The poet employs the use of alliteration which creates a flow in reading, as seen in the line “who moved the tree and the thaw and the rain”.
Heaney also uses metaphor effectively to express complex ideas; for example the “apple” is a metaphor for knowledge (a throwback to literary depictions of the fruit from the Garden of Eden).

Self-exploration: The poem is a journey of introspection wherein Heaney is contemplating about his role, and the role of poetry in the world. This is particularly evident in the lines where he contemplates the lantern’s “glass, cornelian, empty, a bubble.”
Acceptance: It also contemplates the theme of acceptance of uncertainty which is portrayed in the lines “I am hushed and aware of the mystery in the happening”.
Transience: Themes of transience and mortality are subtly hinted at within the poem, particularly when speaking of the inescapable nature of time in “Who moved the summers of the childhood, of the adulthood.”

“The Haw Lantern” can be linked thematically to Heaney’s another poem “Blackberry-Picking” that also explores themes of transience and physicality.
“A Constable Calls” is another poem that could be linked as it has themes surrounding self-knowledge and introspection, similar to “The Haw Lantern”.

The personal context of Heaney’s work is critical in understanding “The Haw Lantern”. In a time of self-assessment in his personal life and extending uncertainty in his country, this poem, like many of his others, reflects the turbulence.
Secondly, a deeper understanding is obtained by studying the broader context. In this period, there was ongoing political turbulence in his homeland Northern Ireland, often referred to as ‘The Troubles’. However, this backdrop subtly underscores the atmosphere of the poems rather than being a direct theme.