Is there life before death? That's chalked up In Ballymurphy. Competence with pain, Coherent miseries, a bite and a sup, We hug our little destiny again.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Heaney questions the meaning of life before death and suggests we accept our shared pain and small destiny.
- In plain terms
- He wonders about life meaning before death and says we just accept our hard fate.
- What can you take from it?
- Accept that life involves shared pain and small destinies.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What is life before death?
- How do you cope with inevitable pain?
Another view
It leans heavily toward pessimism without offering a path forward.
More from Seamus Heaney
God is a foreman with certain definite views Who orders life in shifts of work and leisure.
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Permalink to quote #5 The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge Through living roots awaken in my head. But I've no spade to follo…
Permalink to quote #2
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