BoglandBy Seamus Heaney

PRAIRIE/PRAIRIES

! Definition: a large open area of grassland

! Connotations (think historical):

! Sentence: America has a lot of prairies to see, especially near the Mississippi River valley.

CONCEDE/CONCEDED/ CONCEDING

! Definition: admit that something is true after denying it; or admitting defeat in a contest; surrender, yield; it can also mean to grant a right/privilege/demand, or allow a lead/advantage to slip.

! Connotations: losing something special

! Sentence: She always has to concede that every time she overreacts.

ENCROUCH / ENCROUCHED/ENCROUCHING

! Definition: intrude on a person’s territory; also advance gradually beyond usual or acceptable limits.

! Connotations: invasion

! Sentence: Romans often encroached in other’s territories to acquire materials and have more power.

WOO / WOOED/ WOOING

! Definition: try to gain the love of someone (especially with a view to marriage); it can also mean to seek the favor/support/custom of

! Connotations: admiration, wanting a new life

! Sentence: To woo her, he bought her favorite flowers and a ring.

CYCLOPS

! Definition: (in Greek Mythology) a member of a race of savage one-eyed giants; it can also mean a minute predatory freshwater crustacean which has a cylindrical body with a single central eye.

! Connotations: inferiority; weakness or strength

! Sentence: According to Greek Mythology, in the Odyssey, Odysseus escaped death by blinding the Cyclops named Polyphemus.

TARN

! Definition: a small mountain lake

! Connotations: tranquility

! Sentence: If you want to relax, then going to a tarn is the best way, especially to enjoy the scenery and be in peace.

GREAT IRISH ELK

! Definition: it is an extinct species of deer, one of the largest one that has ever lived; most skeletons have been found in bogs in Ireland.

! Connotations: superiority

! Sentence: Ireland is known to have the most remains of the Great Irish Elk in the bogs.

WATERLOGGED

! Definition: (adjective) saturated with, or full of water

! Connotations: invaded

! Sentence: It was dangerous to walk in the streets that day, as many of them were waterlogged.

PULP

! Definition: soft, wet shapeless mass of material; can also be the soft fleshy part of a fruit

! Connotations: softness

! Sentence: This fruit contains many pulps.

PIONEER / PIONEERING

! Definition: a person who is among the first to explore or settle in a new country, or to research and develop a new area of knowledge/activity; (as a verb) develop, be the first to use or apply

! Connotations (think historically): ancestor,

! Sentence: My grandfather was the first pioneer to settle in North America.

BOGHOLES

! Definition: the hole present in bogs?

! Connotations: exploration

! Sentence: The bogholes resemble little lakes.

SEEP / SEEPED / SEEPING / SEEPAGE

! Definition: (verb, of a liquid) to flow/leak slowly through small holes or porous material, (as a noun; in North America) a place where petroleum/water oozes slowly out of the ground; (seepage) the quantity of liquid/gas that seeps out

! Connotations:

! Sentence: There was water seeping from the washing machine, flooding the floor.

PREDICTION

! What do you think the major themes and conflicts in this poem are?

The main speaker, Heaney, is admiring and exploring what things were in the bogs: