Seamus Heaney - Rural Life.

... Seamus Heaney Rural Life. Rural life in Ireland during the 1940's was based on the old traditions of simple, hard working people, who had no choice but to toil for long hours on the land. They were a community that worked and played together. There was not a lot of money to be had, and whatever little income came into the household would be accounted for. If anything were to hinder that, it had to be dealt with. This included disposing of cats and dogs that would regularly appear around the farm. This way of life is alien too many townsfolk, who are quick to criticise what they consider as acts of cruelty. In the poem The Early Purges, Heaney's description of the kittens scraping the sides of the tin bucket paints a vivid scene of living creatures being intentionally put to their death. Kittens, which we, would generally consider to be

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