Reading Response - A Dog Was Crying Tonight in Wicklow Also

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/167/1#20604557

I chose to review A Dog Was Crying Tonight in Wicklow Also because I enjoyed Digging, and I wanted to see some other writing by Seamus Heaney.

The poem is about the death of a friend, but expressed as a retelling of a Nigerian fable. In this, it departs from the almost explicit conversational manner in which Digging is presented. The entire poem is wrapped up in the title. It's almost as if he wrote the poem solely to elucidate his loss. There is a lot of imagery in the poem. I didn't read the fable, but I suspect that a lot of it is bleed-over from the retelling aspect. The human soul is represented as a black bird imagining of death, a construct which the humans have created for themselves, contrary to the traditional concepts of death (such as the burnt wood into smoke or ashes). The dog, who represents the easily distracted will and imagination of the people and the toad, who represents the real world and the truth.

The depiction of the dog as the will of the people imbues in the reader those feelings typically associated with personal pets. It's clear that we can't judge or get terribly angry with the dog, even for dropping such an important task. It is, in a manner, fated to be dropped as soon as the task is given. The toad, as something slimy and, well, gross, is a perfect nemesis. Very few people keep toads as pets, so such creatures (also the purveyor of warts and poison) are a suitable nemesis.

The central conflict is man's attempts to overcome death in a world largely beyond our control. This poem was in response to the death of a friend (as it is attributed to the memory of Donatus Nwoga), but is general enough that we all can understand and appreciate certain aspects. Fear of death is a consistent human trait across many cultures.

The general nature of the fable is made specific and tragic when we again consider the title. The Dog Was Crying Tonight in Wicklow Also. When we consider that Saemus resided in Wicklow for the later part of his life, then the point comes home. The dog is the poet himself, crying for the permanence of death.