Evaluating in Context

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1		Read an eminent critic's 1975 review of Seamus Heaney's collection, North, paying attention to her descriptions of Heaney as a "poet of silence" and his use of "weighted monosyllables." How might "Punishment" be interpreted as a poem of silence? Are short syllables important to the poem?



2		Click here to see the diploma awarded to Heaney at the 1995 Nobel Award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. How would you interpret the illustration that accompanies the text? Do you think it resembles something alive or something inanimate? Do you note anything unusual or striking about the image? What do you make of the Swedish calligraphy?



3		Read this review of a reading Heaney gave at Princeton University. What does the author suggest about Heaney's writing style? What do you think of Heaney's use of word-play? How do these details affect your reading of "Punishment"?

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