The blackbird is a symbol of death. It carries several associations with this idea in myth and folklore, and the poem highlights this through the superstitious neighbor who “never liked yon bird” (Line 24). The neighbour (who is based on a real person from Heaney’s childhood) believed that the bird portended the child’s death and viewed it with mistrust. Whether the bird truly instigated the misfortune, or if it was simply an observer of something it foresaw, is left to interpretation. In the present day, another blackbird watches over the speaker. This implies that, like the child of the past, the speaker will soon be facing their own end. Unlike the neighbor, however, the speaker takes a measure of peace from this. This shows that the blackbird is not an antagonistic force, but a natural element of the cycle of life.