Docker by Seamus Heaney

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

There, in the corner, staring at his drink.
The cap juts like a gantry’s crossbeam,
Cowling plated forehead and sledgehead jaw.
Speech is clamped in the lips’ vice.
 

That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic –
Oh yes, that kind of thing could start again.
The only Roman collar he tolerates
Smiles all round his sleek pint of porter.

 
Mosaic imperatives bang home like rivets;
God is a foreman with certain definite views
Who orders life in shifts of work and leisure.
A factory horn will blare the Resurrection.

 
He sits, strong and blunt as a Celtic cross,
Clearly used to silence and an armchair:
Tonight the wife and children will be quiet
At slammed door and smoker’s cough in the hall.

'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.

On one side, there were predominantly Catholic nationalists who sought closer ties with the Republic of Ireland and identified as Irish. Republicans felt that they lived in an occupied country and resented the power exerted over them by the police (the RUC) and the British Army. On the other side, there were mainly Protestant unionists who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom and considered themselves British. Unionists felt that Unionism was under threat and attack from those who were fighting for a United Ireland.

Conflict was characterised by political, religious, and sectarian violence, with paramilitary groups such as the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and various loyalist paramilitary organisations playing significant roles. The Troubles resulted in thousands of deaths, injuries, and extensive social and economic disruption, deeply affecting the lives of people in Northern Ireland.

'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.

"Heaney is aware of employment policies that discriminated against Catholic dockers: shipbuilders Harland and Wolff for example aimed their recruitment policy towards Protestants."

https://fawbie.info/death-of-a-naturalist/docker/

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

In stanza two, we learn about the dock worker’s character and prejudices. Terms like ‘fist’, ‘hammer’ and ‘tolerates’ speak of the docker’s dislike of Catholics and his divisive religious attitudes.

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

The third stanza is full of religious imagery. The Mosaic law, ie the law of Moses, is the law set down for the Israelites. It was immovable and difficult to keep. For the docker, these laws form his ‘definite views’, reflecting the immovable views of this Protestant working class man. Again, the imagery reflects the docks in references to ‘rivets’, ‘foreman’ and ‘shifts’.

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

In stanza four, Heaney makes it clear through the simile ‘strong and blunt as a Celtic cross’ that the docker is as immovable in his home life as he is in his religious and cultural understanding. He spends his evening drinking in a corner of a pub, then slams his door at home as he coughs his way into his home. The verb phrase ‘will be quiet’ is part prediction and part threat. The docker comes across as a threatening presence at home, just as his steely hatred is threatening in the pub.

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’.

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. 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.

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?

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Links to other poems in the Identity Anthology:

Belfast Confetti by Ciaran Carson

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.