“The Man of Tollund,” like his “sad freedom,” seems paradoxically revealing in death—“naked” and exposed, but somehow revered as a “treasure” and “husband of the goddess.” It is destroyed, but raised as a sacred symbol of serenity after this sacrifice. This peaceful death is emblematic of Heaney's concerns in this poem, as he conflates the metaphorical meaning of this death with the violent unrest of a socially broken Ireland. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThe description of Tollund Man's head and eyelids as a “peat-brown head” and “soft pods” gives richness to the skin; a sensory description that evokes the organic sweetness of smooth, nutrient-rich clay and the powerful “black juices” which, like “juice,” seem sweet and intense. Heaney thus depicts the bog body in a kind of perverse union in death, a quasi-divine “husband” of the “goddess” of the earth, who “closes her couple around him”. The word "tight" suggests that this relationship is one of ardent devotion, that it is muscular and powerful, and subsequently, Heaney depicts that the bog body is experiencing a kind of sacred rebirth, with new life in death . The alliteration of “tightened his couple” gives this verse a regularity of rhythm which accentuates the impression that this union is peaceful, although fierce and ardent. As Heaney looks at the “soft pods,” this close focus illuminates the scale of the body's preservation, indicating that Heaney is entranced by this nature-defying corpse. The Tollund Man is emblematic of an ineffable force of self-preservation and as such is the precursor to Heaney's later prayer to harness this seemingly supernatural power of the Tollund Man to be reborn into his own circumstances. Unlike the tranquility of Tollund's Man, the "scattered" "flesh" of the workers that Heaney wishes to "germinate" in Part Two smacks of savagery and violence. First, the respect with which Heaney treats Tollund Man because of the extent of its preservation is decimated. By praying that these particles of "flesh" would "germinate" like seeds, Heaney implies that they are like the "seeds" "locked up in [Tollund's man's] stomach." This creates a striking visual image in which the size of Tollund Man completely overwhelms and overwhelms the meager remains of the "younger brothers", whose "skin" is like confetti, "spotted" along the "sleepers" of the railway line on which they were killed. They have been so mercilessly slaughtered that they are reduced to these "spots" which appear paper-like and lifeless in contrast to the richness of the "soft pods" of Tollund Man. Heaney thus implies that the kind of resurrection he hopes for is inconceivable and irrational, since the "scattered, ambushed" remains are so far removed from the wholeness and peace that Heaney advocates in Tollund's Man. As skin and teeth are “dragged for miles along the lines,” the internal rhyme between “miles” and “lines” is evocative and tactile; the extended vowel sounds reflect the dragging and "dragging" of the corpses along the "lines", and in this way the reader is drawn sonically along the "lines", just as the "younger brothers" were, and in this sense in this way Heaney may hope to emphasize the savagery of the act and engender an understanding of this in the reader. The second part of the poem also marks a dramatic change in tone from the first part; verbs »,’.