her tribe Then the poet connects this cruel punishment to the unfair punishment of women during the Northern Ireland conflict known as The Troubles He criticizes how Irish people unfairly punished women for sleeping with British soldiers during the conflict They poured tar on their heads beat them and tied them beside public railings So here Heaney is expressing his concern for the oppressed women He is criticizing people who wear a mask of civility But deep down they are misogynistic just like the ancient people Remembering the Oppressed In Requiem for the Croppies Heaney writes about the Irish peasants who fought and died in the rebellion against British soldiers These rebels were called croppies for their short haircut They fought bravely with only pikes and scythes In this poem the speaker is one of the croppies He says they eat grain out of their coat pockets because they couldn't stop to cook in a kitchen or to make a fire while running from the approaching British soldiers When they were killed and buried by the British soldiers the barley from their coats sprouted from the ground The speaker says Barley grew up out of our grave This line means that their deaths gave life to the Irish freedom movement Through this poem Heaney honors them as national heroes He shows that their sacrifice still speaks through the land of Ireland In this way he gives Irish freedom fighters a place in memory and respect Voice of the Common Man In Casualty Heaney tells the story of a simple fisherman who dies in a bombing during the Northern Ireland conflict The man was quiet friendly and innocent He did not take sides in politics He only drank in a pub But he was blown to pieces by the bombing He was blown to bits Out drinking in a curfew After his death Heaney feels deep sadness and guilt Through this poem Heaney gives the simple man a voice He honors him as a symbol of ordinary people who become victims of political hate History of Violence In The Tollund Man the speaker imagines he would visit the Tollund Man a famous Iron Age body that was found almost perfectly preserved in a peat bog He imagines the man was a religious sacrifice The poet connects this sacrifice with the religious violence of Northern Ireland known as The Troubles The poem suggests that religious violence is nothing new The Tollund Man becomes a symbol of all innocent victims of religious killing So this poem shows Heaney s concern for all those who are being oppressed in the name of God To sum up Seamus Heaney s poetry gives voice to the silent and oppressed He uses his poems to speak for them mourn them and honor their dignity Through his simple yet powerful words Heaney criticizes cruelty and violence