Scaffolding
by
Seamus Heaney
Masons, when they start upon a building,
Are careful to test out the scaffolding;
Make sure that planks won’t slip at busy points,
Secure all ladders, tighten bolted joints.
And yet all this comes down when the job’s done
Showing off walls of sure and solid stone.
So if, my dear, there sometimes seem to be
Old bridges breaking between you and me
Never fear. We may let the scaffolds fall
Confident that we have built our wall.
Current Writing Prompt
On my first reading of Seamus Heaney's poem "Scaffolding," the meaning that came to me with the title was not that of those structures used on buildings. Instead, I thought of how it was used in teaching and lesson design. That usage of scaffolding is a teaching method where teachers provide support to students as they learn new concepts or skills. One version is known as "I do. We do. You do," where the teacher demonstrates, lets the class try, and then the students practice on their own.
Heaney starts with
the most common meaning of scaffolding as it is used on buildings during construction. By the end of this short poem, he has moved to a more figurative scaffolding - one that holds up a relationship until it can stand on its own.
For this month's call for submissions, we look at words that have double meanings. I say "double" but clearly there are many words with multiple meanings. Your poem should have as its title a single word. The poem should move from one meaning to at least one other meaning. The key is to have the multiple meanings connected. You might use Heaney's model of the commonly accepted meaning moving to another more abstract or figurative one.
The deadline for submissions for the next issue is April 30, 2024.
Please refer to our submission guidelines and look at our archive of 25 years of prompts and poems and follow our blog for more about the prompts and poetry.
Seamus Heaney was born on April 13, 1939 in Castledawson, County Derry, Northern Ireland.
In 1965, he married Marie Devlin, and the following year he published Death of a Naturalist (Oxford University Press, 1966).
Heaney produced numerous collections of poetry, including Opened Ground (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999), which was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and more.
He also wrote several volumes of criticism, and of translation, including Beowulf (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2000), which won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. Heaney was awarded the Lifetime Recognition Award from the Griffin Trust For Excellence in Poetry.
In 1995, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Seamus Heaney passed away in Dublin on August 30, 2013. He was 74.
