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Michael Longley: Heartsease

Poem Title

Original Publication

CP Page no

Heartsease

Weather in Japan, London: Jonathan Cape, 2000.

251

Length / Form 10 lines; colloquial language - 'pegs out', 'Slipped the lads a Mickey Finn', local names for heartsease / pansy; contemporary references -  'bumped off / On the doorstep'

Relationship to Classical text Odyssey 4.220 ff -  Alludes to episode in Odyssey, contrasts Homeric scene with contemporary Northern Ireland