Point of View

This poem is written from the first-person point of view using the pronoun “I”: “On the grass when I arrive” (Line 1). They directly address the blackbird in the garden, giving the reader a sense that they’re listening in on an intimate conversation: “It’s you, blackbird, I love” (Line 6). In between, the speaker looks inwards and considers their own past with phrases like “I think of one gone” (Line 13), as though having a conversation with themself. Towards the end, the speaker again addresses the bird directly. This suggests that the speaker’s focus takes on an arc throughout the poem from outward, to inward, and to outward again.

Language and Meaning

While Seamus Heaney’s poetry is largely colloquial and accessible, it does contain echoes of older works from which he drew inspiration and, later in his career, took on as translations. Here, that...