Seamus Heaney, “The Forge” Blog #9

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 and 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 flick

To beat real iron out, to work the bellows. 

     This poem reminds me of medieval times because of the darkness and iron described in the beginning of this poem. Then I believe there is a shift after the eighth line. Heaney starts to talk about "he" in the lines after the eighth and that was confusing to me. I do not really know who that "he" is. But I'm guessing it is most likely a worker that works with the anvil. When I looked up the word "forge" in the title I saw that it meant someone who works with metal, so I guess that is who it is about. In the lines before the shift the setting is described as dark and words like hammer and tough are used. This has a relation to the worker and it seems to be masculinity. "He" is used with the words "grunts" and "slam" as well which represents strength and power. Something like an anvil is very sturdy and tough as well. 

     This poem might be saying that men are designed to do this type of work in that time era. Possibly that these types of jobs are more masculine and therefore only for men.
     When I compare those thoughts to today's world, it is totally different. Today, there are men and women who work in the same fields whether they are considered masculine or feminine jobs. Many women can work with metals, just like men could. A woman can easily be replaced in this poem just by adding "she" instead of "he" and I believe it would be of no shock in this time era, but back when "The Forge" was written it probably would have been abnormal and a huge deal.