"Bogland" is the final poem in Seamus Heaney's second collection, Door into the Dark (1969). It describes the peat bogs (wetlands composed of dead plant matter) that cover a large fraction of Ireland's landscape. Thousands of years' worth of animals and artifacts lie buried in this slippery terrain, which, as the speaker notes, is more cramped than the wild landscapes of other countries. As a result, Ireland's "pioneers" dig down into their country's history rather than expanding outward. Yet Irish history and identity, the poem suggests, are as multi-layered, shifting, and unstable as the land itself.

• Read the full text of “Bogland”

• “Bogland” Summary

• “Bogland” Themes

  • 

    The Irish Landscape and National Identity

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-28

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Bogland”

  • Lines 1-4

    We have no ...
    ... Encroaching horizon,

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 5-8

    Is wooed into ...
    ... of the sun.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 9-12

    They've taken the ...
    ... full of air.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 13-16

    Butter sunk under ...
    ... kind, black butter

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 17-22

    Melting and opening ...
    ... soft as pulp.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

  • Lines 23-28

    Our pioneers keep ...
    ... centre is bottomless.

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

• “Bogland” Symbols

  • 

    Bogs

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-28

• “Bogland” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “We have no prairies / To slice a big sun at evening—”
    • Lines 6-7: “Our unfenced country / Is bog that keeps crusting”
    • Lines 13-17: “Butter sunk under / More than a hundred years / Was recovered salty and white. / The ground itself is kind, black butter / Melting and opening underfoot,”
    • Lines 21-22: “Only the waterlogged trunks / Of great firs, soft as pulp.”
    • Lines 27-28: “The bogholes might be Atlantic seepage. / The wet centre is bottomless.”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “slice,” “sun”
    • Line 6: “country”
    • Line 7: “bog,” “keeps crusting”
    • Line 8: “Between,” “sights,” “sun”
    • Line 16: “black butter”
    • Line 17: “Melting”
    • Line 18: “Missing”
    • Line 19: “millions”
    • Line 22: “pulp”
    • Line 23: “pioneers”
    • Line 25: “strip”
    • Line 26: “Seems,” “before”
    • Line 27: “bogholes,” “be”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “We have no prairies / To slice a big sun at evening—”
    • Lines 3-4: “Everywhere the eye concedes to / Encroaching horizon,”
    • Lines 5-6: “Is wooed into the cyclops' eye / Of a tarn.”
    • Line 8: “Between the sights of the sun.”
    • Line 12: “An astounding crate full of air.”
    • Lines 16-19: “The ground itself is kind, black butter / Melting and opening underfoot, / Missing its last definition / By millions of years.”
    • Line 22: “Of great firs, soft as pulp.”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “prairies / To”
    • Lines 3-4: “to / Encroaching”
    • Lines 5-6: “eye / Of”
    • Lines 6-7: “country / Is”
    • Lines 7-8: “crusting / Between”
    • Lines 9-10: “skeleton / Of”
    • Lines 10-11: “Elk / Out”
    • Lines 13-14: “under / More”
    • Lines 14-15: “years / Was”
    • Lines 16-17: “butter / Melting”
    • Lines 18-19: “definition / By”
    • Lines 21-22: “trunks / Of”
    • Lines 23-24: “striking / Inwards”
    • Lines 25-26: “strip / Seems”

  • Repetition

    

    

    

    

    Unlock with LitCharts A⁺

    Where repetition appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “sun”
    • Line 3: “eye”
    • Line 5: “eye”
    • Line 6: “Our”
    • Line 8: “sun”
    • Line 13: “Butter”
    • Line 16: “butter”
    • Line 23: “Our”
    • Line 27: “The”
    • Line 28: “The”

• “Bogland” 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.

  • Prairies
  • Slice
  • Concedes to
  • Encroaching
  • Wooed
  • Cyclops' eye
  • Tarn
  • Unfenced
  • Bog
  • Crusting
  • Sights
  • Great Irish Elk
  • Peat
  • Crate
  • Definition
  • Waterlogged
  • Firs
  • Camped on
  • Atlantic seepage
  • Bogholes
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “We have no prairies”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Bogland”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Bogland” Speaker

• “Bogland” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Bogland”

• More “Bogland” Resources

  • External Resources

    • The Poem Aloud — Listen to Heaney read "Bogland" in a 2003 studio recording.

    • Heaney Remembered — Watch the Irish national news service's tribute to Heaney following his death in 2013.

    • An Interview with the Poet — Watch a 1980 interview with Seamus Heaney, covering his rural Irish roots and approach to poetry.

    • The Poet's Life and Work — Learn more about the poet in his biography from the Poetry Foundation.

    • Heaney, Nobel Laureate — Check out the Nobelprize.org exhibit on Seamus Heaney, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Seamus Heaney

    • Blackberry-Picking

    • 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

Cite This Page