Seamus Heaney Poem Personal Helicon From the book “THE DEATH OF NATURLIST”

Seamus Heaney
Poem Personal Helicon
From the book “THE DEATH OF NATURLIST”

As a child, they could not keep me from wells
And old pumps with buckets and windlasses.
I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky, the smells
Of waterweed, fungus and dank moss

One, in a brickyard, with a rotted board top
I savored the rich crash when a bucket
Plummeted down at the end of a rope
So deep you saw no reflection in it.

A shallow one under a dry stone ditch
Fructified like any aquarium
When you dragged out long roots from the soft mulch
A white face hovered over the bottom

Others had echoes, gave back your own call
With a clean new music in it. And one
Was scaresome, for there, out of ferns and tall
Foxgloves, a rat slapped across my reflection.

Now, to pry into roots, to finger slime,
To stare, big-eyed Narcissus, into some spring
Is beneath all adult dignity. I rhym
To see myself, to set the darkness echoing

Context:
Seamus Heaney was born in a rural area of Northern Ireland. As we expect he was living in a country side meant that he had more chance of playing in the nature and another important thing to keep in mind is both my grandfather and father were farmers, they had dedicated their whole lives to farming because they were responsible for our family. Although, he admired and had high respect for them farming was just now my thing, instead. He was more into writing poems. Therefore, this led his father and he a relationship.
About Personal Helicon:
Before we look at it as a whole, Helicon can refer to two different things, one of them can mean an instrument while it is also a mountain located in the region of Thespiai in Boeotia, Greece. This mountain is greek mythology is where the muses live. Muses are known as the inspirational goddess of literature, science and art and mountain where Apollo was in and was the source of inspiration of Apollo’s poem and music.
First Stanza:
In the first stanza he is trying to focus on his childhood on the well. He uses dictions that provoke imagery of the features of the well. For example, in line 2, Old pumps, buckets, and windlasses, in line 3, dark drop and trapped sky and in line 4, waterweed, fungus, and dank moss. Therefore, by using these detailed dictions we are able to image the well that Seamus Heaney grew up with in his childhood.
Second Stanza:
In stanza 2, Seamus Heaney brings in a different well into the poem and this time it seems like this well is when Heaney is a little bit older than the first well, showing that there has been a shift of how Heaney’s thoughts have changed from stanza 1 which is more of Heaney wonders and curiosity that Heaney has towards the world, while stanza 2 talks more about the way how Heaney thinks about himself and tries to find who he really is. Seamus Heaney used the word savoured to describe the conflicted thoughts that he was holding inside due to what he wanted to be, but his family tradition from his grandfather to his father kept him from holding in the thought of being a poet. To add in the conflicted thoughts he described the well really deep to show that he cannot see who he really is and what he wanted to be. Rat appears on his face, well, since Heaney and Jay said everything in conclusion, Heaney used realistic diction to talk about the conflicted thoughts Heaney has. For example, savoured, so deep, rotted board top.
Third Stanza  :
In stanza 3, Seamus Heaney bring another well, which shows another shift in the morning. However, in line 11, he mentioned that he has dragged out the long roots from the soft mulch, in this line the long roots symbolize tradition of his family of being a farmer to help the family out. Therefore, it shows that he is trying to be different from his grandfather and father. Also in line 12, he refers his own reflection as a white face. This shows that although I have got the conflict out of my way, I don’t know who he really is still and that he has not made the exact decision of who he wants to be. Well overall, this stanza uses euphemistic diction such a dry stone ditch, fructified, dragged, soft mulch, to show the action that Heaney had towards finding who he wants to be and also it shows the way how Heaney was closed to the nature due to the place where he lived and how he spent more time in the nature because of the conflict he had with his dad, which is not wanting to be a farmer.
Fourth Stanza:
Now in stanza 4,there is another shift which is shown by the changed of the well. This time, Heaney focuses on the life or the journey he went through being a poet. For example, in line 13, he looks into the well and shouts, the well echoes and in return gives back Heaney with ideas of music, which can also mean poems.
It shows that how the wells were the source of inspiration to Heaney’s poem. He actually had an obstacle along the way even if he decided to be  a poet. For example, in line 15, there is another shift that has a different mood compared to the previous one. Inside this well, a rat comes in and slaps the reflection of me. Overall, the 4th stanza stars off with a joyful diction but changes into a dismayed diction to show the troubles that still stand in front of Heaney becoming a poet.
Lastly the 5th stanza brings in Narcissus that who is a figure in the greek mythology who fell in love with himself after looking at his own reflection. Heaney also refers himself as Narcissus and tells that under his reflection , he sees all the dignity that an adult carries. This stanza shows he is finally accepting who he is as a poet and that by rhyming words, which truly shows that who he is between being a poet and a farmer. In addition, the last line shows that when I rhyme, that is how his poems are created.
So to conclude things, Heaney uses multiple wells and to talk about his growth and his source of inspiration as he gets older. Therefore, we can tell what the title represents. The title “HELICON”  is treated as the home of the muses and where Apollo gets his inspiration. Therefore, since this poem talks about the inspiration Heaney for his poems. It is referring the well as Heaney’s personal source of inspiration just like how “Helicon” is an inspiration for Apollo.
Structure:
It is in ABAB CDCD! However, for each stanza the 2nd and the 4th line does not rhyme and this illustrates the conflicted thoughts that is going through Heaney’s head from whether to become a farmer or a poet. However, in the last stanza, all lines are in perfect rhyme, which shows that Heaney finally decided that who he wants and who he is. In addition, this rhyme scheme also makes it sound like an echo, where when I make an echo that is how he gets inspiration for his poems. He used many shifts between time and the setting of the well.
Enjambment
In this poem enjambment suggests that the things in his life does not go the way he particularly wants. Heaney also keeps brining in the reflection that he sees in the well. The purpose of this poem to show the life Heaney went through being a poet and the inspiration that he got from the well. So the author is very reflective through his poem because he keeps looking at his status and the way he is right now.