"The Forge, by Seamus Heaney"

"The Forge"
by Seamus Heaney

All I know is a door into the dark,

Outside, old axles and iron hoops rusting;

Inside, the hammered anvil's short-pitched ring,

The unpredictable fantail of sparks

Or hiss when a new shoe toughens in water.

The anvil must be somewhere in the centre,

Horned as a unicorn, at one end square,

Set there immoveable: an altar

Where he expends himself in shape and music.

Sometimes, leather aproned, hairs in his nose,

He leans out on the jamb, recalls a clatter

Of hoofs where traffic is flashing in rows;

Then grunts and goes in, with a slam and a flick

To beat real iron out, to work the bellows

In the poem "The Forge", Seamus Heaney vividly depicts the work of a blacksmith to reveal the unpredictability of art through visual and auditory imagery.  

Heaney begins the poem with uncertainty and mysteriousness.  The "dark" (Heaney 1) that is mentioned in the opening line implies that the "door" leads to the unknown.  Heaney then contrasts the outside world and the forge.  In the outside world, "old axles and iron hoops" rust.  This rust shows that time has rendered these objects obsolete.  They are but useless artifacts of the past.  Inside the forge, however, the "hammered" (3) anvil still "rings" (3).  The word "hammered" suggests that the anvil has been used often and is also a relic of the past; however, the "short-pitched ring" that emits from the anvil suggests that the anvil is still used.  This contrast between the outside world and the forge as well as the mysteriousness of the forge shows that although an artist's creations might diminish overtime, the source of his artistry remains.

Heaney then continues to add onto the mysteriousness of the forge.  The poem rarely mentions the blacksmith or the operator of the forge, but focuses on the anvil as the source of creation.  The anvil is the "centre" (5) of the forge and acts as "an altar" where the blacksmith "expends himself" to create.  It is almost as though the anvil uses the blacksmith as a medium through which it expresses itself in the form of "shape and music" while chipping away at the blacksmith little by little.  As the blacksmith creates, "unpredictable fantail of sparks" (4) fly about with each swing of his hammer.  Heaney uses the unpredictability and ephemeral nature of sparks to illustrate the lack of control the blacksmith has over his creations.  

The poem's final lines introduces the blacksmith.  The blacksmith's recollection combines images of two differing time periods, the "clatter/ Of hoofs" and "traffic flashing in rows".  This anachronistic comparison shows the changing times that the blacksmith has seen.  The contrast of the changing world with the lack of change inside the forge further adds to the lack of control the blacksmith has on his creation.  Even though the outside world is rapidly changing, the blacksmith is tethered to the forge and continues to work the anvil even though the "old axles" and "iron hoops" he creates are useless in the world.  

The lack of control the blacksmith has and the changing time adds to the power of the forge.  Like an "altar", the anvil keeps the blacksmith working religiously.  The blacksmith has no control over what he creates.  Even though the blacksmith is aware of the changing world outside of the forge, he continues to create useless artifacts and working the forge.