Brambles and Verses: Blackberries in Poetry
As the peak of blackberry season begins to roll away and the time of driving summer fruit in from hundreds of miles away is on the horizon, I reminisce on the warm mornings I spent in my backyard this summer with a bowl of fresh fruit. The most notable (photogenic) of the assortment were the blackberries glistening on the sides of the bowl. But time and time again, I was met with this pattern: sweet, tart, bitter, tart, bitter, sweet, sweet, bitter.
Don’t like blackberries? I feel that way, too. They’re too unpredictable, despite their popularity as a summer berry. Not to mention, their incredibly thorny bushes make it tricky to pick your own berries, where (I find) there is more consistency with taste. It’s a gnarly situation all around. The good news is, there is a solution! If, like me, you’d rather enjoy the concept of a blackberry rather than the physical fruit, here are some poems to get you started.
One of the most famous poems “about” blackberries is “Blackberry Picking” by Seamus Heaney. If you somehow avoided seeing this in high school English, you should definitely read it now. Set in a fleeting week of late August, this poem explores childhood in the blackberry fields. Initially the blackberry is, “just one, a glossy purple clot / Among others, red, green, hard as a knot,” but later “The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.” Quickly, the blackberry becomes a complex image of possibilities–a yummy treat, a cloying memory, rotting childhood optimism. Heaney’s work is a must-read for anyone that has a multifaceted relationship with this fruit.
Even if it’s not one of her most popular works, “Blackberrying” by Sylvia Plath is a well-regarded poem that is worth a read. Though blackberries begin as the center of a wondrous atmosphere, “A blackberry alley,” Plath steers the poem in a melancholic direction. When the blackberries “end” at “the hills’ northern face, and the face is orange rock / That looks out on nothing, nothing but a great space,” the speaker ponders the human experience. Like much of Plath’s work, this poem can be read in so many ways that you will probably be spending more hours with it than you anticipate.
Though this one was new to me, it’s definitely a valuable addition to your reading list. “Blackberries” by Yusef Komunyana delves into a boy’s experience with the fruit. Despite his wanting to enjoy them or get “pulled me into early morning's / Terrestrial sweetness,” Komunyana meticulously reveals the burdens the boy carries. While he “balanced a gleaming can in each hand, / Limboed between worlds,” the boy is reminded of his realities and considers where he fits in. A painful but necessary read, blackberries bear the weight of reality in this poem.
Just like their varied taste experiences, blackberries hold a range of poetic symbolism, too! Whether or not you’re a fan of blackberries, these poems are worth the time (unlike getting pricked by blackberry thorns, per say). Happy reading!
Written by Louisa Varni
Louisa Varni is a student-athlete at Smith College studying English Literature with a poetry concentration. Louisa enjoys connecting with friends in nature and writing lyric prose on the “mundane” details of daily life.
