Testimony
Testimony - meaning Summary
War Meets Slaughterhouse
Heaney sets a farmyard scene against the approach of American soldiers on their way to Normandy. The speaker is slaughtering pigs when the troops arrive, and the two kinds of violence briefly overlap. The poem captures a moment of wartime encounter, showing the soldiers as young, unfamiliar visitors and the workers as part of a harsh daily routine in rural Ireland.
Read Complete AnalysesWe were killing pigs when the Americans arrived. A Tuesday morning, sunlight and gutter-blood Outside the slaughterhouse. From the main road They would have heard the squealing, Then heard it stop and had a view of us In our gloves and aprons coming down the hill. Two lines of them, guns on their shoulders, marching. Armoured cars and tanks and open jeeps. Sunburnt hands and arms. Unknown, unnamed, Hosting for Normandy. Not that we knew then Where they were headed, standing there like youngsters As they tossed us gum and tubes of coloured sweets.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.