New/Detailed Analysis of 'Making Strange'

I stood between them,
the one with his traveled intelligence
and tawny containment,
his speech like the twang of a bowstring,

and another, unshorn and bewildered
in the tubs of his Wellingtons,
smiling at me for help,
faced with this stranger I’d brought him.

Then a cunning middle voice
came out of the field across the road
saying, ‘Be adept and be dialect,
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,

call me sweetbriar after the rain
or snowberries cooled in the fog.
But love the cut of this traveled one
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.

Go beyond what’s reliable
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,
these eyes and puddles and stones,
and recollect how bold you were

when I visited you first
with departures you cannot go back on.’
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing
I found myself driving the stranger

through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride
in all that I knew, that began to make strange
at the same recitation.
–Seamus Heaney, “Making Strange”


Stanza 1:
I stood between them,
the one with his traveled intelligence - [history]
and tawny containment,
his speech like the twang of a bowstring, - [intellect]

Speaks of the Reading yard; Rich in history, experienced with the surrounding city, old, wise, etc. Image revealed of 'well-dressed intellectual,' articulate, yet unable to communicate with the city in a continual/adaptive manner

Stanza 2:
and another, unshorn and bewildered
in the tubs of his Wellingtons,
smiling at me for help,
faced with this stranger I’d brought him.

City of Reading, unsure, inexperienced with current state of the site and interactions with it, bewildered, in search of help and unable to decide its next move.

Line 8:
faced with this stranger I'd brought him.} Extensive void of Reading Yard, barrier between east and west

Stanza 3:
Then a cunning middle voice
came out of the field across the road
saying, ‘Be adept and be dialect,
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,

Intervention, connection between the two men (city and site) directions for where to go/what to do to address interactions and program.

Line 11:
saying, ‘Be adept and be dialect,} Details, vernacular, ease of speaking about site and program

Line 12:
tell of this wind coming past the zinc hut,} Winds show a change in program and layout, evolution and change, variety and spotlighting. Zinc: deterioration, reflection, staining, oxidation, etc.

Stanza 4:
call me sweetbriar after the rain
or snowberries cooled in the fog.
But love the cut of this traveled one
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.

Speaks f the site and its age, as well as finding beauty and purpose within that age; a sweetbriar has a prickly stem, but beautiful blooms spotted by raindrops; the site as a gemstone.

Line 15:
But love the cut of this traveled one} - embracing of the void this site has created, and avoiding forced redevelopment, typical solutions.

Line 16:
and call me also the cornfield of Boaz.} - provision of sustenance for many people over many years. The railroad as the former heartbeat of Reading and a very important piece of industrial America / the world (international link to Philadelphia). Much has survived and grown out of this corporation though it no longer exists.

Stanza 5:
Go beyond what’s reliable
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,
these eyes and puddles and stones,
and recollect how bold you were

Line 17:
Go beyond what’s reliable} Surpass comfort zone and what is typical/expected to be placed on the site for economic renewal (hotel, casino, parks, golf courses, etc.)

Line 18:
in all that keeps pleading and pleading,} Pleading - conditions overlapping between city and site; a plea for help (specifically from the site, despite its intelligence and wisdom)

Line 19:
these eyes and puddles and stones,} Those on/near/connected to the site in some manner, and its built forms [stones] and voids [puddles] - Puddles filled with water for lack of program and misuse of site.

Stanza 6:
when I visited you first
with departures you cannot go back on.’
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing
I found myself driving the stranger

Line 23:
A chaffinch flicked from an ash and next thing} Symbolizes his departure, percussive retreat from comfort and natural settings towards the unsure or strange.

Line 24:
I found myself driving the stranger} Departure

Stanza 7:
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride
in all that I knew, that began to make strange
at the same recitation.

Advice taken from middle voice

Lines 25 & 26:
through my own country, adept
at dialect, reciting my pride} Telling of memories and conditions, preserving / surviving through them - "Fuses, rather than conjoins an intimate vernacular with cultural sophistication." (Cadwell, xviii)

Does not give 'adept at dialect a description [voice], this is what the program will become and ultimately address for the site and city.


**"New voice will not make a world intelligible by returning it to the familiar or by linking it to an existing order. New voice will render a new imaginative territory compelling by conserving [preserving] its strangeness" (Cadwell, xviii-xix).**