Exploring poetic effects through the lens of conversational implicature in Seamus Heaney’s poetry

5.1 Implicatures of poetic metaphors violating the Cooperative Principle

Metaphor is considered as both a rhetorical device and a way of thinking on which human beings rely for survival (Lakoff and Johnson 1980). This study mainly explores the relationship between the metaphors in Heaney’s poems and the Maxim of Quality, and further interprets the profound connotations of Heaney’s poems.

Based on the five steps of analyzing the conversational implicatures of poetic metaphors proposed by Chen (1993) and taking the poem “The Haw Lantern” as an example, the title initially appears to refer to an ordinary object. However, Heaney’s combination of “haw” and “lantern” is not meant to be taken literally – after all, a hawthorn berry is too small to be fashioned into a lantern, unlike, say, an orange. This deliberate incongruity violates the Maxim of Quality, as it intentionally departs from factual accuracy. Secondly, there is no reason for the poet not to cooperate with the readers, but rather to express other meanings by writing about the “haw lantern.” Thirdly, the poet and readers share common knowledge about the winter haw and the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes. The poem’s opening line states that “The wintry haw is burning out of season.” Heaney deliberately chooses the winter haw rather than, say, an autumn apple. This is because the haw, having endured wind and snow, symbolizes resilience, tenacity, and the ability to withstand hardship. Its fiery red hue starkly contrasts with the bleak, cold winter, heightening its symbolic weight. Meanwhile, the “lantern” alludes to Diogenes, the Greek philosopher famously known for carrying a “lantern seeking one just man” (line 8). In addition, the readers assume that the poet is cooperative, so the poet must have conversational implicatures. Fourthly, if the poem’s title were “Diogenes’ Lantern,” it would not have produced such effects on the readers and would lack expressiveness (failing to observe the principle of expression). Therefore, the use of the metaphor of The Haw Lantern by the poet is more appropriate. Finally, readers interpret the poet’s intention as an exploration of whether human morality and justice can endure the unflinching scrutiny symbolized by The Haw Lantern.

As another example, the poem “A Peacock’s Feather” was composed as a blessing for the poet’s newly baptized niece, Daisy Garnett. Daisy was the daughter of Polly Devlin, Heaney’s sister-in-law, who had married an Englishman and settled in the Cotswolds (Fawbert 1972). Firstly, the poet uses “A Peacock’s Feather” as the title. Literally, this metaphor describes the feathers representing the beauty and wealth scattered in the British garden, which has nothing to do with religious ceremonies, thus violating the Maxim of Relation. Secondly, there is no reason for the poet not to cooperate with the readers, but instead, the poet intends to convey deeper layers of implicature through the image of a peacock’s feather. Thirdly, the shared cultural understanding between poet and readers transforms the peacock feather into a rich symbol. Beyond representing luck, splendor, and delicacy, it conveys warmth and benediction. This metaphor stands in sharp contrast to Heaney’s memories of his modest Irish childhood, reflecting both his nostalgia for homeland and his unease with England’s “neatly trimmed” propriety. Fourthly, if the poet had titled the poem “Blessing,” it would have lost this profound symbolic resonance. Through the metaphor of a peacock’s feather, Heaney subtly expresses his restrained discomfort in English surroundings while simultaneously meditating on cultural integration – embodied in Daisy’s mixed heritage – and offering his baptismal blessings.

Another example is the poem “The Wishing Tree,” written in memory of Eileen Devlin, his wife Mary’s late mother. Firstly, the poet uses “The Wishing Tree” as the title. Literally, this metaphor represents a medium for communicating with the gods, carrying the power of nature and good luck. In fact, it is a comparison to Mary’s mother, thus violating the Maxim of Quality. Secondly, there is no reason for the poet not to cooperate with the readers, but the poet intends to express extended implicature through the image of the wishing tree. Thirdly, drawing on shared cultural knowledge between poet and readers, the wishing tree evokes the archetype of the mother goddess, symbolizing wisdom, compassion, protection, and benediction. Fourthly, in the transactional interaction between the poet and the readers, by taking the wishing tree as the theme, the poet intends to convey the profound connection between human beings and their mothers reflected by the metaphor of the wishing tree, enabling the readers to realize that the “wishing tree” is the guardian of nature, and the “mother” is as broad-minded and tolerant as the “wishing tree.” Finally, through the poetic context and shared knowledge, the readers can perceive and understand the poet’s intention, and the wishing tree is in line with the theme, connotation, and tone of the whole poem.

In the poem “The Spoonbait,” the poet employs the “spoonbait” as a metaphor for the human soul through the lines, “So a new similitude is given us / And we say: The soul may be compared” (lines 1–2). Literally, spoonbait is a kind of fishing bait in the shape of the bowl of a spoon, designed to attract fish. Firstly, the spoonbait is not the human soul, so the poet violates the Maxim of Quality. Secondly, there is no reason for the poet not to cooperate with the readers, so by writing about the “spoonbait,” the poet intends to express the extended implicature. Drawing on shared knowledge between poet and reader, the spoonbait’s characteristics – its gleaming surface and fluid underwater movements (swaying, spinning, darting) – mirror the soul’s qualities: freedom, allure, and evasiveness. Through this metaphor, Heaney explores humanity’s complex relationship with the soul – both drawn to understand it and yet unable to grasp it fully, much like fish pursuing an artificial lure. Through the description of the “spoonbait,” the poet intends to convey the deep connection between human beings and their own souls, enabling the readers to understand that the “spoonbait” is the fishing tackle that lures the fish to bite, and the “soul” is like the “spoonbait,” which is out of reach but evokes the human desire to explore the soul deeply, both yearning for and wanting to escape from it, thus deepening the theme of the poem about the journey of human beings in search of the soul. Finally, through this metaphor, the readers can understand the poet’s intention, highlighting the expressive power of the poem.

The above analysis of metaphors in the titles of four representative poems – rooted in Chen’s (1993) analytical framework and Gricean conversational implicature theory – reveals two key insights aligned with the study’s core intentions. First, Heaney’s title metaphors typically generate particularized conversational implicatures by deliberately violating the Maxim of Quality (e.g., the incongruous “haw lantern” or symbolic “peacock’s feather”), allowing him to condense profound thematic connotations (e.g., resilience, moral scrutiny, familial blessing) into concise poetic language. Second, these metaphors exemplify the “rich depth” of Heaney’s metaphorical practice: they are not merely decorative rhetorical devices, but core carriers of poetic effects – bridging the poet’s intended meanings and contextual cues, and the readers’ interpretive processes to deepen the emotional and aesthetic impact of the work. This analysis lays a foundation for exploring the broader metaphorical landscape within Heaney’s poems, as it confirms that his metaphor use consistently serves to enrich conversational implicatures and reinforce the thematic core of his poetic discourse.

5.2 Conventional implicatures of poems triggered by specific words

Conventional implicatures are not derived from Grice’s Cooperative Principle and its component maxims, but are attached by convention to particular lexical items or linguistic constructions (Huang 2014). Grice (1989: 46) himself pointed out that “in any case the nature of conventional implicature needs to be examined before any free use of it, for explanatory purposes, can be indulged in.” Conventional implicature is a non-truth-conditional inference that is not derived from the maxims of the superordinate pragmatic principles but is simply attached to specific lexical items or expressions by convention (Levinson 1983). Grice (1989: 25) pointed out that in some cases the conventional meaning of the words used will determine what is implicated, besides helping to determine what is said. If we take, for example, the sentence, “He is an Englishman; he is, therefore, brave,” the word “brave” is presented as a trait associated with being an Englishman, implying a causal relationship between the speaker’s previous and subsequent propositions – consistent with Grice’s original illustration of conventional implicature triggered by the conjunctive adverb therefore. The triggers of conventional implicature include specific lexical items such as conjunctions, adverbs, and demonstratives, or syntactic structures. For example, Levinson (1983: 127) notes that the conjunctions but and and share the same truth-conditional content, yet but carries an additional conventional implicature – specifically, a contrastive effect (this analysis originates from Grice’s early work in 1961). The triggers include still, yet, only, although, but, yet, actually, also, anyway, barely, besides, however, manage to, on the other hand, only, though, too, etc.

In the 31 poems of Heaney’s poetry collection The Haw Lantern, there are 23 instances of but, 20 instances of then, 19 instances of so, 16 instances of still, 4 instances of only, and 3 instances of too. In the poem “The Haw Lantern,” Heaney strategically employs the conjunction but twice to create meaningful shifts in the poem. The first stanza opens with the striking image of “The wintry haw is burning out of season, / crab of the thorn, a small light for small people,” highlighting a small light for ordinary people. The subsequent lines (3–5) – “wanting no more from them but that they keep / the wick of self-respect from dying out, / not having to blind them with illumination” – reveal the crucial pivot where but serves as both a structural and a thematic turning point. This conjunction marks a subtle yet significant transition: from the gentleness and humility of the “small light” and “small people” to the introspection and restlessness of maintaining self-respect, sketching a picture of not seeking anything from the small people, but preventing the wick of self-respect from going out.

In these lines, the word but also plays a crucial turning role in the structure and meaning of the poem in terms of tone, focus, and theme, transitioning from the gentleness and humility of the “small light” and “small people” to the introspection and restlessness of maintaining self-respect, sketching a picture of not seeking anything from the small people but to prevent the wick of self-respect from going out. The trigger word of conventional implicature but here conveys that the only expectation of the poet for these “small people” is that they maintain their self-respect.

Then, the second stanza of the poem opens with the lines (6–8): “But sometimes when your breath plumes in the frost / it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes / with his lantern, seeking one just man.” The poet again uses but, further complicating the artistic conception, thus leading the reader to Diogenes’ unrelenting search for truth and integrity. This presents the reader with a deeper level of self-examination and moral challenge, that is, the just man that Diogenes is looking for. Here, but increases the depth of the poem’s exploration at the moral and self-reflective levels, emphasizing the poem’s scrutiny of morality. Combined with the observations made in Section 5.1, the image of Diogenes and the lantern is a metaphor for the internal search for truth and integrity, indicating that in the moment of reflection, especially in a cold environment (symbolizing harsh reality or difficult times), a person’s thoughts may turn to profound and in-depth questioning of morality.

Another example is the poem “A Peacock’s Feather,” where but appears in the first, third, and fourth stanzas, in lines 4, 16, and 23, respectively. Lines 4 to 6, in the first stanza, state: “But now your life is sleep and food / Which, with the touch of love, suffice / You, Daisy, Daisy, English niece.” Here, the but describes Daisy’s transition from the baptism ceremony to real life, marking her shift to ordinary daily life centered around simple needs like “sleep and food.” This contrast not only reflects the symbolic meaning of the baptism, but also highlights the purity and simplicity of the newborn’s daily life. In lines 16 to18, in the third stanza, the but introduces a contrast: “But here, for your sake, I have levelled / My cart-track voice to garden tones, / Cobbled the bog with Cotswold stones.” Here, the poet is juxtaposing his rural background with the aristocratic environment in which Daisy will grow up. Meanwhile, he also makes a concession, that is, of adapting to English elegance for Daisy’s sake. In lines 22 to 24, in the fourth stanza, the but connects two concepts: “We’ll weave / An in-law maze, we’ll nod and wave / With trust but little intimacy – / So this is a billet-doux to say.” The trigger word of conventional implicature “but” serves to link “trust” with “little intimacy,” expressing the notion of trust but with little intimacy, which resonates with Heaney’s position as an “in-law” within a wider family network (rather than the immediate family circle). While there is mutual dependence among in-laws, the emotional connection lacks deeper intimacy – an observation that aligns with the poem’s focus on the “in-law maze” and the subtle distance inherent in extended familial ties. At the same time, the poet also emphasizes the complexity of interpersonal relationships and the subtle nature of family relationships through his use of but.

In addition, the trigger words of conventional implicature then and so are used in the latter part of the poem “The Haw Lantern.” Lines 7 to 10 state: “it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes / with his lantern, seeking one just man; / so you end up scrutinized from behind the haw / he holds up at eye-level on its twig.” The conjunction so used by the poet first indicates that a causal relationship is formed between Diogenes observing with his lantern and the scrutiny experienced by the speaker or the reader. Here, the trigger word of conventional implicature so implies that due to Diogenes’ search, the individual becomes the object of moral scrutiny. Secondly, so also marks the transition of the metaphor of “Diogenes” from observing to scrutinizing the individual, shifting the focus of the poem from the philosophical idea of pursuing truth to specific judgement and direct experience. This shift enhances the role of personal introspection, making the speaker or the reader a participant in the scene. Thirdly, the conjunction so emphasizes that the natural consequence of encountering Diogenes’s lantern is being scrutinized, which is inevitable, indicating that anyone who thinks about moral or philosophical issues (represented by Diogenes) will eventually have to face self-examination. Therefore, the trigger word of conventional implicature so plays a crucial role in advancing the narrative of the poem and expounding the theme of the poem, strengthening the poet’s exploration of moral self-reflection.

Another example is found in lines 11 to 12 of the poem “The Spoonbait,” which state: “Then exit, the polished helmet of a hero / Laid out amidships above scudding water.” Here, the poet uses the trigger word of conventional implicature then. Firstly, it marks the transition in the poem from the scene of water droplets falling into the abyss to the scene where the polished helmet of a hero is placed in the middle of the ship above the rushing water. Since the spoonbait is a metaphor for the soul, the use of then helps to guide the reader through the different stages of the journey of the soul. Secondly, the conjunction then implies a causal relationship between the two scenes, that is, the falling into the abyss leads to the disappearance of the helmet, intending to express that after this fall, what is left is only the memory or symbol of a once arduous task. Thirdly, the conjunction then also introduces a new image, shifting from the dynamic feeling of endless falling to the static state of the hero’s helmet having been placed on the ship, emphasizing the transition from life to commemoration. Finally, the conjunction then marks the soul entering a new stage. After the mysterious and abstract images of falling and fleeing, the poem turns to a more explicit and symbolic depiction of the “departure” of the soul, that is, changing from an active and elusive state to a more stable and lasting image.

In conclusion, conventional trigger words such as but, so, and then in Heaney’s poems respectively imply transitional and causal relationships, playing multiple roles such as emphasizing, transitioning, and transforming. They enable the shift between different images, different narratives, and different emotions, making the connotation of the poems more ideological, historical, and cultural. By examining these three representative trigger words, this study reveals how such linguistic devices enable Heaney to construct profound meaning, deepen thematic resonance, and amplify the aesthetic and intellectual impact of his work. Collectively, these findings illustrate that conventional implicature trigger words are not mere structural elements in Heaney’s poetry but vital tools for shaping nuanced poetic meaning, fostering multi-dimensional interpretive spaces, and reflecting the poet’s engagement with personal, social, and cultural landscapes.

5.3 Non-entailment scalar implicatures in Heaney’s poetic discourse

According to the categories of non-entailment scalar implicature in Hirschberg’s (1991) classification of scalar implicatures, our study counted the frequencies of logical connectives, numerical orderings, and (in)definite determiners in the two poetry collections. As shown in Table 1, the selective coordinating conjunction or is used 25 times in The Haw Lantern and 39 times in Electric Light by Heaney.

According to Hirschberg’s (1991) classification of scalar implicature, certain specific words (such as or) trigger contextual implicatures. When a speaker chooses a weak-term word (such as “or”) instead of a strong-term word (such as and), scalar implicature occurs, implying that only one option is relevant or true, rather than both. For example, in the poem “The Clothes Shrine,” the poet describes a simple and daily family scene. In lines 4 to 7 “On a see-through nylon line / Drip-drying in the bathroom / Or a nylon slip in the shine / Of its own electricity – ,” the coordinating conjunction or is used, and its usage implies an exclusive disjunction (that is, one or the other, but not necessarily both). The poet presents two independent and different pictures: one is the nylon line with clothes drip-drying and the other is the nylon slip shining while drying. The coordinating conjunction or implies that readers can imagine either of the two scenes separately, but both scenes can evoke the same memory, namely, the light, the nylon fabric, and the family space. However, the poet’s use of or makes the readers’ visual experiences alternate rather than occur simultaneously. Thus, it is reflected that the two scenes may both be part of the same overall atmosphere (that is, the happy family space), but there are different ways of experiencing it, that is, the visual or sensory moments are sufficient to evoke the domestic tranquility and vitality that Heaney pursues.

In terms of the use of numerical order, Heaney’s poems use ordinal words that generate scalar implicature such as <one, two> and <first, second>. However, the lower-ranked words one and first are obviously used more frequently. The marker word one appears in The Haw Lantern and Electric Light with a frequency of 25 and 27 respectively, while two and second appear 5 and 11 times, respectively. The marker word first occurs with a frequency of 12 in both, while second appears 3 times and 1 time, respectively. For example, in the poem “The Haw Lantern,” the quantifier one generates scalar implicature in lines 6 to 8: “But sometimes when your breath plumes in the frost / it takes the roaming shape of Diogenes / with his lantern, seeking one just man.” Here, one refers to a single individual, that is, a person of upright integrity that Diogenes is seeking. This indicates that Diogenes doesn’t care about finding numerous just people, but would be content to find even one person who meets the standard of being honorable. Based on Hirschberg’s (1991) classification of scalar implicature, in the numerical hierarchy, one is of a lower rank than two, three, some, many, and all. By using one, the poet implicitly conveys that it would be surprising or rare even to find one just person. Here, it implies that there may be only one just person, or perhaps there is not a single just person at all, which also emphasizes the scarcity of upright individuals.

For another example, in the first stanza of the poem “Clearances,” the poet uses first twice, which generates scalar implicature. According to Hirschberg’s (1991) classification of scalar implicature, first can imply a range of possible choices (such as first, second, third), which indicates that “first” is not the only event but the beginning of a sequence or a larger set of events. In the lines “A cobble thrown a hundred years ago / Keeps coming at me, the first stone / Aimed at a great-grandmother’s turncoat brow” (lines 1–3), “the first stone” implies that there will be more stones. However, the first stone has a special significance, symbolizing both the initiation of violence and the beginning of the persecution that the great-grandmother faced due to her “betrayal” (becoming a “traitor”). Here, “the first stone” serves as a symbol, indicating that this persecution has a lasting impact, and the violent acts, conflicts, and memories of the past metaphorically keep “coming” to the poet. The “first” here does not mean “the only one.” Therefore, the first stone represents the beginning of personal and group hostility and hatred, suggesting that a series of similar or more serious acts will follow. Similarly, in the lines 5 to 7 “She’s crouched low in the trap / Running the gauntlet that first Sunday / Down the brae to Mass at a panicked gallop,” “first Sunday” implies that this is not the only Sunday of such persecution but the beginning of many such Sundays. Here “first Sunday” triggers a cycle of continuous or repeated hostile events related to her religious conversion. The word first divides the event as part of a sequence and marks it as a crucial moment that will lead to more similar experiences, revealing the attacks and persecutions that the great-grandmother endured when she was regarded as a “traitor.” The first stone is also a wake-up call for the poet. It is a symbol that carries both shame and family memories. At the end of the poem, the first stone contributes to the reconciliation between the historical events related to the great-grandmother and reality.

5.4 Entailment scalar implicatures in Heaney’s poetic discourse

The entailment scalar implicatures in Heaney’s poetic discourse mainly involve temporal implicatures, spatial orderings, different types of color degrees (type/subtype), and part/whole relationships. Firstly, in the use of markers indicating temporal sequence, the poet uses words with scalar ranges like tried in the poetry collection Electric Light to convey the conversational implicatures they imply. For example, in the second stanza of the poem “Red, White, Blue,” the word tried in the line 16 “I tried to call you back” belongs to the range of verbs related to efforts, forming a scalar relationship of <tried, succeed>. By using the weaker word tried, the poet indicates that he made an attempt, but was not successful in fully achieving the goal.

This further implies that the poem’s speaker sincerely and earnestly tried to emotionally connect with his wife Mary – a reading grounded in the autobiographical nature of Red, White, Blue and corroborated by scholarly and biographical sources. Heaney’s late poetry, including works in Electric Light (where this poem is included), is widely recognized for drawing directly on his personal life with his wife Mary Devlin (Hickey and O’Brien 2024; O’Donoghue 2021). Biographically, Heaney details his experience of Mary’s childbirth in his memoir Stepping Stones (Lei 2019: 211), describing his own feelings of helplessness and anxiety in the face of his wife’s pain – emotions that align closely with the speaker’s demeanor in the poem. While the speaker and poet are not inherently interchangeable, these overlapping details support the autobiographical framing of the work. From the stanza’s content, we can infer the speaker’s timidity and cowardice: as Mary endures the agony of childbirth, the speaker is overwhelmed by fear and feebly “fled the battlefield.” In contrast, Mary persists through the pain with unwavering strength. The poem concludes with the line, “What you still could not help making yourself see / Was the Knight of the White Feather turning tail.” This shows that “what Mary couldn’t turn a blind eye to was the knight wearing a white feather deserting “the battlefield,” and this “deserter” refers to the poet himself. This also shows that while Heaney tried to soothe his wife, he was also prepared to be a deserter. The word “tried” only indicates making an effort, proving that Heaney did not successfully soothe his wife. Therefore, the notion of successfully soothing Mary that would be represented by the strong-term verb succeed does not hold. By using the weaker verb tried, the poet emphasizes his sense of powerlessness and predicament, which contains the scalar implicature that the result did not meet the poet’s expectations under the implicit contrast between attempt and success, adding emotional depth to the poem.

In addition, all forms of the word start (starting, started) appear 5 times and 10 times respectively in The Haw Lantern and Electric Light. For example, the poem “The Little Canticles of Asturias” depicts the industrial landscape of Gijón, a city in northern Spain, conveying a sense of urgency and danger. The poem begins with “Midnight came” to outline an ominous premonition, emphasizing the dark and tense scene. In the first stanza, “And then at midnight as we started to descend / Into the burning valley of Gijón, / Into its blacks and crimsons, in medias res” (lines 1–3), the poet uses “started” to express the beginning of an action or journey which is not yet complete. The use of this word implies that the city is entering a world of heat, fire, and transformation. According to Hirschberg’s (1991) classification of scalar implicature, started belongs to the initial stage of the completion scale, forming a scalar relationship of <start, finish>. Within this scalar range, the word “started” leaves more room for readers to interpret the poem, which also means that the city at this stage of the industrialization process may only be in the early stage of more difficult or long-lasting transformations. The line “Into its blacks and crimsons, in medias res” further describes being caught in a chaotic or tense situation. Here, “crimsons” refers to shades of dark red, a color which usually carries negative connotations such as “bloodshed” forming a scalar relationship of <crimson red, red> in terms of the intensity of red. Additionally, “red” encompasses multiple shades such as “orange red” “cherry red” “scarlet red” and “rustic red,” while “crimson red” is a relatively deep and rich shade of red. The combination of “blacks” and “crimson” in the verse symbolizes the extreme contrast between darkness and fire, industry, and even bloody violence. The Latin phrase “in medias res” (meaning “into the middle of things”) refers to the urgency of the situation, implying that people are thrust into this dangerous and fiery center without preparation, further conveying the complexity and challenges that lie ahead in the next stage of industrial development.

In terms of the scalar relationship between whole and partial elements, in the poem “The Wishing Tree,” the poet uses several partial concepts related to “tree” to generate scalar implicatures, including <wishing tree, tree>, <root, tree>, <branch-head, branch, tree> and <bark, tree>. For example, in the line “And saw it lifted, root and branch, to heaven,” “root” represents the fundamental and underground part of the “tree,” symbolizing the hidden desires of human beings or the submerged roots, and also representing the latent power that supports various aspects of human beings, as well as traditional, past, or subconscious motives. This poem is a tribute to Heaney’s wife’s deceased mother, Eileen Devlin (Fawbert 1987). This line makes the readers feel a sense of elevation and transcendence, indicating that the tree and what it represents have become something spiritual or eternal, even in the face of death, and conveys a deep connection between human beings and their mothers. The root provides support for the tree and the branch extends toward the light, growing upwards, conveying that the “wishing tree” serves as a medium for communication with the divine, carrying the power of nature and good luck. The branch is a part of the tree, representing visible and outward growth, extending toward the sky, embodying ambition and hope. In the line “Sap-wood and bark: coin and pin and nail,” “sap-wood” is the soft younger outer layers of the wood of a tree, located between the bark and the heartwood, and “bark” is the protective layer of the tree, situated on the surface. Here, the poet’s choice of the weaker term “bark” in the categorical hierarchy implies that people may only focus on the surface of things while ignoring the core. At the same time, the use of “sap-wood” reveals the structure of the tree from the outside to the inside, also implying that both the external defense and the internal core of the tree, similar to the material and spiritual aspects of life, deserve attention.