"Blackberry-Picking" was written by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney and first published in 1966, in the collection Death of a Naturalist. The poem depicts a seemingly innocent childhood memory of picking blackberries in August. Written from an adult's point of view, the poem uses this experience of picking blackberries and watching them spoil as an extended metaphor for the painful process of growing up and losing childhood innocence.

• Read the full text of “Blackberry-Picking”

• “Blackberry-Picking” Summary

• “Blackberry-Picking” Themes

  • 

    Growing Up and the Transience of Youth

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Before Line 1
    • Lines 1-24
  • 

    Adult Wisdom and Acceptance

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Before Line 1
    • Lines 17-24

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Blackberry-Picking”

  • Lines 1-4

    Late August, given ...
    ... as a knot.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    You ate that ...
    ... Picking.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-10

    Then red ones ...
    ... bleached our boots.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-15

    Round hayfields, cornfields ...
    ... plate of eyes.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 15-16

    Our hands were ...
    ... sticky as Bluebeard's.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-21

    We hoarded the ...
    ... would turn sour.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 22-24

    I always felt ...
    ... they would not.

    

    

    

    

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• “Blackberry-Picking” Symbols

  • 

    Blackberries

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 2-8: “the blackberries would ripen. / At first, just one, a glossy purple clot / Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. / You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet / Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it / Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for / Picking.”
    • Line 10: “briars scratched”
    • Lines 14-15: “green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned / Like a plate of eyes”
    • Lines 15-16: “Our hands were peppered / With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.”
    • Line 17: “the fresh berries”
    • Line 19: “our cache”
    • Line 20: “The juice”
    • Line 21: “The fruit,” “ fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.”
    • Lines 23-24: “all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. / Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.”
  • 

    Wine

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 5: “its flesh was sweet”
    • Line 6: “Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it”
    • Lines 15-16: “ Our hands were peppered / With thorn pricks,”
  • 

    Bluebeard

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 16: “Bluebeard's”

• “Blackberry-Picking” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Extended Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-24

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “F,” “f”
    • Line 3: “f”
    • Line 5: “f,” “f”
    • Line 10: “b,” “b,” “b”
    • Line 14: “b,” “b,” “b”
    • Line 15: “p,” “p”
    • Line 16: “p,” “p”
    • Line 17: “b,” “b”
    • Line 18: “B,” “b,” “f,” “f,” “f”
    • Line 19: “f”
    • Line 21: “f,” “f,” “s,” “f,” “s”
    • Line 22: “f,” “f”
    • Line 24: “kn,” “n”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “v,” “v,” “n,” “n”
    • Line 2: “F,” “f,” “b,” “b,” “n”
    • Line 3: “f,” “t,” “t,” “l,” “p,” “p,” “l,” “l”
    • Line 4: “r,” “r,” “r”
    • Line 5: “t,” “t,” “f,” “t,” “t,” “f,” “t”
    • Line 7: “t,” “t,” “t”
    • Line 8: “ck,” “k”
    • Line 9: “t ,” “t,” “k,” “c,” “t,” “t”
    • Line 10: “b,” “s,” “s,” “ss,” “b,” “b,” “s”
    • Line 11: “f,” “f,” “t,” “t”
    • Line 12: “kk,” “ck,” “c”
    • Line 13: “t,” “t”
    • Line 14: “b,” “b,” “b,” “b”
    • Line 15: “p,” “r,” “p,” “pp,” “r”
    • Line 16: “th,” “th,” “p,” “ck,” “p,” “ck,” “B,” “b”
    • Line 17: “b,” “b”
    • Line 18: “B,” “wh,” “b,” “w,” “f,” “w,” “f,” “f”
    • Line 19: “g,” “f,” “g,” “g”
    • Line 20: “ff”
    • Line 21: “f,” “t,” “f,” “t,” “s,” “t,” “f,” “t,” “s”
    • Line 22: “f,” “t,” “k,” “c,” “t,” “t,” “f”
    • Line 23: “t,” “ll,” “l,” “l,” “l,” “l,” “t,” “t”
    • Line 24: “kn,” “n,” “t.”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “o,” “o”
    • Line 4: “o,” “o,” “o”
    • Line 6: “i,” “i,” “oo,” “a,” “i,” “i”
    • Line 7: “u,” “o,” “u”
    • Line 8: “i,” “i,” “e,” “e,” “i,” “u,” “u”
    • Line 9: “i,” “i,” “a,” “i,” “o”
    • Line 11: “ie,” “ie,” “o,” “o”
    • Line 12: “e,” “e,” “e”
    • Line 13: “i,” “i,” “o,” “o,” “o”
    • Line 14: “o,” “o,” “o”
    • Line 15: “i,” “e”
    • Line 16: “i,” “i,” “i”
    • Line 19: “u,” “u,” “u”
    • Line 20: “ui,” “oo”
    • Line 21: “ui,” “e,” “e,” “e”
    • Line 22: “i,” “y”
    • Line 23: “o”
    • Line 24: “Ea,” “ea,” “ee,” “o”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “a glossy purple clot”
    • Line 4: “Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.”
    • Lines 5-6: “sweet / Like thickened wine:”
    • Line 7: “Leaving stains upon the tongue”
    • Line 8: “red ones inked up”
    • Line 10: “briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.”
    • Line 11: “Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills”
    • Lines 13-16: “the tinkling bottom had been covered / With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned / Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered / With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.”
    • Lines 18-20: “a fur, / A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache. / The juice was stinking too.”
    • Line 21: “the sweet flesh would turn sour.”
    • Line 23: “all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “hard as a knot”
    • Lines 5-6: “sweet / Like thickened wine:”
    • Lines 14-15: “big dark blobs burned / Like a plate of eyes.”
    • Line 16: “our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.”

  • Onomatopoeia

    

    

    

    

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    Where onomatopoeia appears in the poem:

    • Line 13: “tinkling”

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Line 6: “Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it”
    • Line 16: “thorn pricks,” “Bluebeard's”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “sun / For”
    • Lines 3-4: “clot / Among”
    • Lines 5-6: “sweet / Like”
    • Lines 6-7: “it / Leaving”
    • Lines 7-8: “for / Picking”
    • Lines 8-9: “hunger / Sent”
    • Lines 9-10: “jam-pots / Where”
    • Lines 11-12: “potato-drills / We”
    • Lines 13-14: “covered / With”
    • Lines 14-15: “burned / Like”
    • Lines 15-16: “peppered / With”
    • Lines 20-21: “bush / The”
    • Lines 22-23: “fair / That”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “August, given”
    • Line 2: “week, the”
    • Line 3: “first, just one, a”
    • Line 4: “others, red, green, hard”
    • Line 6: “wine: summer's”
    • Line 8: “Picking. Then”
    • Line 9: “cans, pea tins, jam-pots”
    • Line 11: “hayfields, cornfields”
    • Line 14: “ones, and”
    • Line 15: “eyes. Our”
    • Line 16: “pricks, our”
    • Line 19: “fungus, glutting”
    • Line 20: “too. Once”
    • Line 21: “fermented, the”
    • Line 22: “crying. It”
    • Line 24: “keep, knew”

  • Antithesis

    

    

    

    

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    Where antithesis appears in the poem:

    • Line 24: “Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.”

• “Blackberry-Picking” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Clot
  • Thickened wine
  • Potato-drills
  • Tinkling
  • Eyes
  • Peppered
  • Bluebeard
  • Hoarded
  • Byre
  • Fur
  • Glutting
  • Cache
  • Fermented
  • (Location in poem: Line 3: “clot”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Blackberry-Picking”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Blackberry-Picking” Speaker

• “Blackberry-Picking” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Blackberry-Picking”

• More “Blackberry-Picking” Resources

  • External Resources

    • An Introduction to Holy Communion — "Blackberry-Picking" includes religious symbolism referencing the Christian tradition of Holy Communion. Learn about the history and significance of Holy Communion, also called the Eucharist or Lord's Supper. 

    • Seamus Heaney's 1995 Nobel Lecture — The author of "Blackberry-Picking" won the Nobel Prize in 1995. Read his speech upon the occasion, in which he references influences like John Keats.

    • Obituary: Seamus Heaney — Read about the life of the poem's author.

    • History of The Troubles in Ireland — Although "Blackberry-Picking" does not explicitly address the Troubles, these events were ongoing throughout Seamus Heaney's career. Other writings of his do speak to these events. Learn about the history. 

    • The Folktale of Bluebeard — "Blackberry-Picking" makes an allusion to Bluebeard, a folktale about a man who kills his wives one after the other. Read the tale.

    • An Introduction to the Belfast Group — Learn more about The Belfast Group, which informed a new generation of writers in Northern Ireland, including Seamus Heaney. 

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Seamus Heaney

    • Bogland

    • Death of a Naturalist

    • Digging

    • Exposure

    • Follower

    • Mid-Term Break

    • Out of the Bag

    • Personal Helicon

    • Punishment

    • Requiem for the Croppies

    • Storm on the Island

    • The Tollund Man

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