Docker by Seamus Heaney explores identity in the shipyards, pubs and behind closed doors of Belfast in the religiously divided city. Read on for full analysis of the context, language and form of the poem.
This study guide is aimed at teachers and students of CCEA’s English Literature Identity Anthology. Check out the full list of poems and study guides at the bottom of this post.
What is 'Docker' about?
In the poem ‘Docker’, Heaney paints a picture of the divisions in Northern Ireland. He does this through the titular ‘Docker’, a working-class Protestant man with deep-seated intolerance towards Catholics.
Heaney also builds a picture of shipbuilding, one of the main industries in mid-20th Century Belfast, through imagery of the docker.
The dock worker’s home life is also alluded to in the final stanza, where the suggestion is clear that his attitude at home is no more generous to his family than it is to members of the Catholic community.
Overall, Heaney’s depiction is a very negative one. There is an underlying sense of worry for the future of the country, rather than any positive hope for change.
Docker
'Docker' Context
Docker is part of Heaney’s 1966 poetry collection entitled ‘Death of a Naturalist’, perhaps Heaney’s best known collection.
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney (1939-2013) was a renowned Irish poet born in Mossbawn, County Derry, Northern Ireland. Heaney grew up in a large family in rural County Derry at a time of civil unrest and mounting political and social disruption. Born in 1939, he was both a witness and a participant in the shifting tides of his homeland’s history, and it is no surprise that his poetry often reflects his personal experiences and the landscapes of his homeland and the turbulence of his home. Indeed, the publication of ‘Death of a Naturalist’ in 1966 means it emerged in the very beginnings of the time in recent Northern Irish history known as The Troubles.
'The Troubles' in Northern Ireland
‘The Troubles’ in Northern Ireland was a complex conflict that lasted for roughly three decades, from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. It primarily revolved around nationalist and religious divisions in the country of Northern Ireland and spilled over into the Irish Republic and parts of Great Britain.
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'Docker' as a comment on cultural, political and religious tension
Seamus Heaney’s poem ‘Docker’ is published against the backdrop of this turbulent period. Heaney, often explored the themes of identity, conflict, and reconciliation in his work. In the context of the Troubles, ‘Docker’ likely reflects the experiences of ordinary working-class individuals who were affected by the violence and tensions in Northern Ireland. The poem may offer a glimpse into the lives of those who had to navigate the complexities of their religious and political identity and allegiance.
Another poem in Heaney’s ‘Death of a Naturalist’ collection is ‘Storm on the Island‘ which also explores the impact of violence and conflict on the island of Ireland. Check out the poem and study guide by clicking the image.
Summary of 'Docker'
Stanza One Summary
At the start of the poem, the reader meets the poem’s protagonist. He is a dock worker who stares at his drink in a bar, likely after work and likely in Belfast in the 1960s. Stanza one focuses on the docker’s physical appearance: Heaney describes the docker’s clothing and his facial expressions in ship-building terms, making the character seem strong, tough and impenetrable like the ships he works with.
Stanza One Glossary
- Gantry: a bridge-like structure which supports a moving crane. Gantry can also refer to the part of a bar which holds spirit bottles upside down for quick service.
- Cowling: the hard metal casing of an aircraft or vehicle engine.
- Vice: a clamp-like tool used in workshops
Stanza Two Summary
Stanza Two Glossary
- Roman collar – the white dog collar worn by priests
- Porter – a pint of dark ale with a white foam top
Stanza Three Summary
Stanza Three Glossary
- Mosaic – small pieces that fit together to create a pattern. Also could be a reference to Mosaic law, the law of Moses in the Old Testament.
- imperatives – commands
- rivets – tools to fasten metal to metal
- foreman – the boss of a site e.g. shipyard
- Resurrection – rebirth, a reference to the Bible and the raising of Jesus from the dead, or to the restart/rebirth of another working day
Stanza Four Summary
Stanza Four Glossary
- blunt – not sharp, brutalist, uncompromising
- Celtic cross – an ancient Irish symbol of religion, cast or carved and strong
Analysis of Form, Structure and Language
Form and structure
‘Docker’ is composed of four four-line stanzas. Most of the poem is written in ten/eleven/twelve syllable lines and in typical Heaney style, it does not follow a regular rhyme scheme. Instead, the use of assonance drives the subtle sounds, such as ‘forehead’/’sledge head’/’speech’, ‘collar’/’tolerates’ or ‘imperatives … like rivets’.Â
The conversational style (‘Oh yes, that kind of thing …’) and occasional enjambment create the informal, earthy, colloquial voice we know of Heaney.
Language
Shipbuilding
The language reflects the central context of shipbuilding: gantry, crossbeam, cowling plated, sledge head, vice, hammer, rivets, foreman, shifts, factory horn. This semantic field of shipbuilding language paints a vivid picture for the reader, not just of the importance of shipbuilding in Northern Ireland in the 1960s, but of the steely, hard and implacable personality of the docker.
Violence
The language of this poem is both implicitly and explicitly violent. Subtle hints such as ‘juts’, ‘clamped’ and ‘strong and blunt’ suggest the nature of the docker, but there are less subtle hints too: vocabulary choices such as ‘fist’, ‘hammer’, ‘bang’ and ‘blare’ make it clear how the docker behaves. The insidious threat of ‘Tonight the wife and children will be quiet’ suggest their fear of him, and their familiarity with this situation of his return from the pub and slamming the door.
Imagery: similes and metaphors
Heaney uses imagery throughout Docker. The image below helps students to visualise the pictures Heaney wants us to see. Similes give us images of the docker’s physical features and his personality, such as ‘The cap juts like a gantry’s crossbeam’, ‘Mosaic imperatives bang home like rivets’ and ‘He sits, strong and blunt as a Celtic cross’. Heaney also uses metaphors such as ‘Cowling plated forehead and sledgehead jaw’ and ‘God is a foreman’, which maintain the authoritative voice of the poet, giving us little room for interpretation.
Themes
Identity
This poem forms part of CCEA’s Identity Anthology. The identity of the docker is bound up in the two main features of his life: his occupation as a dock worker, and his religion as a Northern Irish Protestant. Â The descriptions of the docker as part of the metal he rivets together during the day give an impression of his identity as steely, hard and immovable. This subtly reflects the other part of his identity: the hard, immovable and negative attitude he has towards Catholics. In this picture, we read Heaney’s observations of the attitudes of people around him, and his fear of the potentially explosive environment of hatred and resentment around him.
Religion
Religion and identity have been bound together in Northern Ireland for many generations. Education and culture in the country today is seeking to untangle one from the other, but in ‘Docker’, Heaney reflects the context with sharp, cynical clarity. The explicit reference to the docker’s intolerance of anything related to Catholicism is intended to reflect the wider culture of intolerance between Protestants and Catholics, Unionists and Republicans, in Northern Ireland in the 1960s.
Conflict
As mentioned above, the language of this poem is violent both implicitly and explicitly. Conflict in Northern Ireland in a recurring theme in Heaney’s poetry, as he grapples with the country he was born and raised in. The theme of conflict spills over from the docker’s attitude to Catholics to his attitude towards his own family. In this way, Heaney’s poem finishes with a worrying quiet, and a sense of threat. It is not just those outside of the docker’s own community who should fear his bullying, but those within his home. Conflict is everywhere.Â
Comprehension Questions on 'Docker' by Seamus Heaney
- How does the speaker describe the physical appearance of the docker?
- What does the imagery of the “gantry’s crossbeam” suggest about the docker’s demeanour?
- What is implied about the person’s attitude towards Catholics?
- What is the significance of the phrase “Mosaic imperatives” in the context of the poem?
- How does the speaker portray God in the poem?
- What does the comparison of the person to a Celtic cross suggest about their demeanour?
- How does the poem convey the theme of silence and its implications within the household?
- How does Heaney explore the theme of identity in ‘Docker’?
- In what ways does the poem explore the themes of tradition, religion, and societal tension?
- Which other poem in the Identity anthology would work best to pair with ‘Docker’ for a compare and contrast essay?
Links to other poems in the Identity Anthology:
Violence and conflict in Northern Ireland is the shared theme in both ‘Belfast Confetti’ and ‘Docker’. While ‘Docker’ explores attitudes, ‘Belfast Confetti’ explores the outcome and consequences of those attitudes. In terms of structure, ‘Docker’ reads with a slow pace compared to the fast, chaotic pace of ‘Belfast Confetti’, which uses punctuation to symbolise shrapnel and explosions.
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