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The Haw Lantern
The wintry haw is burning out of season,
crab of the thorn, a small light for small people,
wanting no more from them but that they keep
the wick of self-respect from dying out,
not having to blind them with illumination.
But sometimes when your breath plumes in the frost
it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes
with his lantern, seeking one just man;
so you end up scrutinized from behind the haw
he holds up at eye-level on its twig,
and you flinch before its bonded pith and stone,
its blood-prick that you wish would test and clear you,
its pecked-at ripeness that scans you, then moves on.
By Seamus Heaney
From "The Haw Lantern", 1987
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The Haw Lantern: In Celtic mythology the hawthorn tree, which bears a fruit called a haw is associated with faeries and the faery realm. However the Catholic Church , in trying to obliterate Celtic mythology, linked the hawthorn to bad lick and witches.
"...it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes": There is a story that Diogens of Sinope (forth Centuary BCE), a cynic and a man who believed in self-sufficiency, wandered Greece looking for an honost man.
From: The Nelson Introduction to Literature(Second Edition)- Al Valleau & Jack Finnbogason
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This is a page I used to plan out a comparison of the two poems mentioned in the notes. It’s from an English 1100 exam at Kwantlen. This was one of the best courses I’ve ever took. The professor, Al Valleau was what made the class so engaging. The book from where this poem was from was compiled by him, and he did a very good job at it. The foot-notes are from his book as well (very useful indeed)
The Haw Lantern is pretty intelligently written: thought with the guy’s heart and felt through his brain. To really understand this one must know a little Irish history which can be learnt at Kwantlen.
The real reason why I’m posting this is because of this post and the following comment: “What a bogus bunch of crap blog. Seriously...”
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