VCE Literature
Ekphrastic responses to Seamus Heaney
VCE Literature - Unit 2
Helen Kent (Teacher - VCE Literature) & Matilda Caffrey (Year 11)
Ekphrasis is a Greek word meaning to “speak out” or respond to a work of art.
As part of their final assessment for Unit 2, Year 11 Literature students were asked to produce creative responses to a poem by Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, and to provide a statement of intention explaining their artistic choices. Students in our class created responses in different mediums including music, spoken word, creative writing, drawings, watercolour, collage, and oil painting. As part of the task, students researched the historical and cultural context of Heaney’s poetry.
Here are some of the responses, accompanied by short sections from each artist’s “Statement of Intention” to contextualise each piece. Click on the artwork to enlarge the piece.
Matilda Caffrey
Year 11
Strange Fruit - Seamus Heaney
“Here is the girl’s head, like an exhumed gourd”
Heaney’s Strange Fruit references a severed head that was exhumed from the Arrhus Bogland. In his poem, Heaney exhibits both a fascination and disgust for the the unnamed female head. Heaney’s language highlights the temporary nature of her beauty. Although she is long gone, She has outlived her culture, outlived her executioners and is indifferent to her spiritual ascension. I drew the woman’s decaying head on a platter surrounded by rotting gourds and explored themes of death and decay.
Imogen Heathcote
Year 11
Strange Fruit - Seamus Heaney
I chose to create an art piece depicting the headless body of the girl whose head was found as portrayed in Heaney’s Strange Fruit. I depicted her in white to emphasise purity and to show that she’s entirely innocent in this scenario. I also included a repeat of ‘why’ in the background to represent the girl, in death, asking why it had been her.
Max McKenzie Fitzpatrick
Year 11
Act of Union - Seamus Heaney
Your back is a firm line of eastern coast/And arms and legs are thrown/Beyond your gradual hills
With this work, I hoped to depict the woman and the country in Act of Union as a character who has the weight of the world on her shoulders and is grappling with pressures and exploitation. I wanted to depict her as someone who is both afraid and brave; as someone who has been hurt but is recovering and empowered.
Layal Tabit
Year 11
Act of Union - Seamus Heaney
The wings are a soft pink to emphasise the beauty of freedom, as they slowly drip into bloodied prison bars that entrap the babies. The babies represent the suppression that people in the feminist movement face, the woman’s freedom being tied down as long as there are victims who’s voices are ignored. The feminist movement are babies to make the point that every female child that is brought into this world will inevitably face harassment and misogyny in their lifetime. Some language from the poem utilised my drawing like the line, “I am the tall kingdom over your shoulder”. The woman in the poem has a looming tower on her shoulder to show that it is her weapon that is not being used against her, contrasting from the poem.
Nora Davis
Year 11
North - Seamus Heaney
“Compose in darkness/Expect aurora borealis”
The inclusion of spray and harsh white waves gives the impression the cliffs are jagged and adds to the thundering and booming of Thor’s hammer and the crash of the ocean. The stacks off the coast remind me of the line about icicles and hidden danger in the ocean.
The ocean is not very realistic, but the swirling suggests something hidden beneath them, I also mixed the blues with black and grey to create the stormy water, which represents the ‘darkness’ of the narrator’s mind.
Isobel Hutchinson
Year 11
The Door was Open and the House was Dark - Seamus Heaney
“Wherefore I called his name, although I knew/The answer this time would be silence”
I wanted to explore this poem through drawing and collage. I wanted to create a piece that reflected the emotions of grief and what remains of the heart after losing loved ones or any significant part of your life… I added some bright red crumpled up rose petals made from paper falling down the page to show the dead flowers that protrude from the arteries and how the life of someone is not only lost in the person but also the people their life impacted.
Eadie Forster-Odgers
Year 11
Blackberry Picking - Seamus Heaney
“Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it/
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for/
Picking”
I used the rotting blackberries as a symbol for aging, the fruit turns sour and loses its vibrancy, it is eventually discarded which is metaphorical for how women are seen as devalued once they grow old. The juice of the blackberries the woman picks drips down her arm and stains her fingers like blood – I did this to reflect the darker themes of the image and emotional and physical pain women go through to feel beautiful and desirable.
Charlie Rolfe
Year 11
The Rain Stick - Seamus Heaney
“You are like a rich man entering heaven through the ear of a raindrop”
In response to the direction to ‘up-end the rain stick’ at the start of the poem, I responded with a musical phrase and subsequent chord that almost feels like it needs to resolve – there is some subtle tension. I aimed to reflect the idea of upending your preconceptions by evoking the sense of slight unease and unfamiliarity that the listener may have with the concept of a rain stick.
Click hereto hear Charlie's musical piece accompany Seamus Heaney's recitation of The Rain Stick.