Yesterday in class we briefly discussed “The Haw Lantern,” but none of us (and we should all be embarrassed about this) had looked up the story of Diogenes, so I asked that by Monday, all of us look further into the poem and write something on the blog about it. I came home and re-read the poem several times, then looked up the reference to Diogenes, then read the poem a few more times. I won’t talk about the entire poem because I want to leave some ground for you to furrow, but I’ll get us started:
Diogenes was an Athenian beggar who championed self-sufficiency and rejected all the comforts of so-called civilization (a house, utensils, prepared food, etc.). He is most famous for walking through the streets of Athens carrying a lamp, looking for an honest man among the masses.
As I re-read “The Haw Lantern,” it became clear that the lantern in the poem is a metaphor; the “haw” is a hawthorn bush, and the “lantern” is the large red berry, or fruit, that grows on it (see pictures). The lantern-berries, the size of crab apples (“crab of the thorn”), are shining, but they are doing so in winter, bearing fruit “out of season":
Diogenes was an Athenian beggar who championed self-sufficiency and rejected all the comforts of so-called civilization (a house, utensils, prepared food, etc.). He is most famous for walking through the streets of Athens carrying a lamp, looking for an honest man among the masses.
As I re-read “The Haw Lantern,” it became clear that the lantern in the poem is a metaphor; the “haw” is a hawthorn bush, and the “lantern” is the large red berry, or fruit, that grows on it (see pictures). The lantern-berries, the size of crab apples (“crab of the thorn”), are shining, but they are doing so in winter, bearing fruit “out of season":
The wintry haw is burning out of season,
crab of the thorn, a small light for small people
An organic process, the seasonal cycle, has become corrupted. On a literal level, this could mean that bushes don’t norm
ally fruit in winter, so seeing them do so is atypical. But of course it is more than this. This is Ireland’s winter, its bleak season (The poem was written during the Troubles), and any lantern that shines in that season, particularly the lantern of Diogenes, looking for a “just man,” is not going to give off much light. In fact, it can’t, or doesn’t want to, give off too much light…just enough to “keep the wick of self-respect from dying out.”
But even this proves difficult. Indeed, at the end of the poem, the metaphorical Diogenes (appearing in the poem as the berry on each branch) “moves on,” signifying that no just man can be found (not even the reader). Both the light, and the people it is supposed to illuminate, are “small.” This is more than a reference to Northern Ireland being a relatively-small country in terms of its size. The implication is that its people can also be narrow-minded, near-sighted, petty, etc.
The Haw Lantern was published in 1987, during a time when Sinn Fein was actively seeking to negotiate an end to the Northern Ireland conflicts, but those conflicts were still bloody and ongoing, if less frequent than they had been in the 70s. Thus, there is definitely a political undercurrent to the poem that we can’t ignore. But like so many of Heaney’s poems, the politics are not addressed head-on; that is, he is not going to take a determined political stance here. Indeed, the fact that there is no honest man to be found is a denunciation of everyone involved. Heaney's stance is that no one is blameless (think of the story we discussed from his Nobel Lecture). He is more concerned with the wrong-ness of a climate that creates and allows bloodshed, taking Ireland "out of season." In fact, if the hawthorn, like Yeats’s laurel tree, or his rose, can be seen as a symbol of Ireland, then the reference to a “blood-prick” is much more than a haw-thorn pricking you. It may also be the realization, as you look at its blood-red fruit, that the fruit of wrong-seasoned, present-day Northern Ireland is bloody. This should indeed prick us. The prick is a blood test (whenever I’ve had my blood checked, it requires a pricking of the finger), a test that stands in for Diogenes with his lantern, asking you if you are honest, if you are just, if you are honest enough to allow yourself, your conscience, to be pricked. You want that prick to "clear you," much like a clean blood test can tell you you don't have an infection, or a disease. But you are found wanting. You are not cleared. Heaney’s use of the second person is telling:
But sometimes when your breath plumes in the frost
it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes
This has several implications, one of which is that the test, the introspective look, comes from within us. If we let ourselves be pricked, we will be honest enough to admit that we are by no means blameless.
I’ve said enough to get us going. Calling all critics…
An organic process, the seasonal cycle, has become corrupted. On a literal level, this could mean that bushes don’t norm
ally fruit in winter, so seeing them do so is atypical. But of course it is more than this. This is Ireland’s winter, its bleak season (The poem was written during the Troubles), and any lantern that shines in that season, particularly the lantern of Diogenes, looking for a “just man,” is not going to give off much light. In fact, it can’t, or doesn’t want to, give off too much light…just enough to “keep the wick of self-respect from dying out.”But even this proves difficult. Indeed, at the end of the poem, the metaphorical Diogenes (appearing in the poem as the berry on each branch) “moves on,” signifying that no just man can be found (not even the reader). Both the light, and the people it is supposed to illuminate, are “small.” This is more than a reference to Northern Ireland being a relatively-small country in terms of its size. The implication is that its people can also be narrow-minded, near-sighted, petty, etc.
The Haw Lantern was published in 1987, during a time when Sinn Fein was actively seeking to negotiate an end to the Northern Ireland conflicts, but those conflicts were still bloody and ongoing, if less frequent than they had been in the 70s. Thus, there is definitely a political undercurrent to the poem that we can’t ignore. But like so many of Heaney’s poems, the politics are not addressed head-on; that is, he is not going to take a determined political stance here. Indeed, the fact that there is no honest man to be found is a denunciation of everyone involved. Heaney's stance is that no one is blameless (think of the story we discussed from his Nobel Lecture). He is more concerned with the wrong-ness of a climate that creates and allows bloodshed, taking Ireland "out of season." In fact, if the hawthorn, like Yeats’s laurel tree, or his rose, can be seen as a symbol of Ireland, then the reference to a “blood-prick” is much more than a haw-thorn pricking you. It may also be the realization, as you look at its blood-red fruit, that the fruit of wrong-seasoned, present-day Northern Ireland is bloody. This should indeed prick us. The prick is a blood test (whenever I’ve had my blood checked, it requires a pricking of the finger), a test that stands in for Diogenes with his lantern, asking you if you are honest, if you are just, if you are honest enough to allow yourself, your conscience, to be pricked. You want that prick to "clear you," much like a clean blood test can tell you you don't have an infection, or a disease. But you are found wanting. You are not cleared. Heaney’s use of the second person is telling:
But sometimes when your breath plumes in the frost
it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes
This has several implications, one of which is that the test, the introspective look, comes from within us. If we let ourselves be pricked, we will be honest enough to admit that we are by no means blameless.
I’ve said enough to get us going. Calling all critics…
I don't know that I can add any more illumination to poem after reading what Daniel posted. I was thinking that Diogenes was a myth, so I was surprised to read that he had been real and a philosopher.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting that Diogenes believed in a life of self-sufficiency and disdained the artificiality of human civilizations.
In connection with Heaney's poem, I am wondering if Heaney is saying that Ireland should be self-sufficient, seperate from
Britain? I don't know. By bringing in Diogenes, is Heaney also saying that Ireland should use the "haw lantern" to do a little soul searching?
Like I said, I can't add a lot more to the great insight that Daniel provided. But those questions were just a couple of musing that I had. After reading about Diogenes, Heaney's poem gained more depth, at least for me.
I also looked into the "haw" and diogenes, and found essentially the same info as what Daniel wrote about. The "haW" is a berry. that really surprised me because i thought it would be some kind of more literal light. I was thinking of some kind of lantern post or lighted branch like Melissa said as well. I think that the berry as a symbol of that light is really cool. it is so bright and shiny. I appreciate the pics for the realism they provide. the poem also took on a lot more profundity to me upon learning these things. i also read about the political overtones underlying the poem at the time. so it seems to have a lot of implications in the turmoil going on in northern ireland. i think, in answer to brandon's question, that heaney is definitely asking that ireland do some intense soul searching. that, i think, is the primary message of the poem. just like the poem "briny"? i think thats the name. we are all implicated, even if we dont actually cast a stone, or arent actually there. we're implicated by our silence as well as our voice. he wants us to consider that.
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