You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet / Like thickened wine
-- Speaker (Lines 5–6)

Importance: This is the only line that uses the second-person pronoun “you,” alluding to Heaney’s teacher mentioned in the epigraph, or, in another interpretation, the reader. This brings the reader closer to the speaker, allowing them to share this rural childhood experience together. The speaker compares the blackberry juice to “thickened wine,” a sensual and adult image that also brings to mind the Christian communion. This moment highlights the intimate, sensory voice of the poem.

Our hands were peppered / With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's
-- Speaker (Lines 15-16)

Importance: This is another moment that references blood without stating it overtly. The thorns carry a subtle religious allusion similar to the preceding quote, which leads into a fairy tale motif: Bluebeard was a murderous bridegroom who infamously killed all his wives, and (presumably) would have had sticky, bloody hands quite...