Seamus Heaney’s “Punishment” seeks to comment upon cultural and cyclical violence in the past and present. This poem is particular within the context of Heaney’s other “bog body” poems because it focuses specifically on violence perpetrated against women during times of cultural, social, or political strife. In “Punishment,” Heaney remarks upon the vengeful cruelty of cultural revenge and violence against women (See: Themes); his reference to a female bog body—thought at the time to have been killed as punishment for a sexual affair—speaks not only to ancient revenge and sexual violence, but also to modern examples of the policing of women’s bodies. In particular, the poem criticizes the IRA’s use of tarring and feathering as a revenge tactic against Northern Irish women who fraternized with British soldiers during the Troubles. However, Heaney’s focus on the policing of female sexuality in ancient and modern times remains largely topical in the poem. At its core, Heaney’s “Punishment” is preoccupied with the constancy of violence in the past and present (See: Themes) and his personal role as a liable participant in and voyeur of cultural violence for the sake of “art.” “Punishment” asks its audience to consider the role of the artist in a larger sense; it addresses the morality of exploiting violent acts and human suffering for the sake of personal interest and the creation of “art.”

It is important to note the focus on female sexuality in “Punishment,” even if its relevance remains understated within the poem itself. Although many of Heaney’s bog body poems were named after the bodies they addressed, “Punishment” does not overtly name the bog body the speaker observes. It is thought, based on the speaker’s description of the body, that Heaney is referencing the bog body once called Windeby Girl, which was discovered in Germany in the 1950s (See: Further Reading). Initially, the Windeby Girl bog body was thought by archaeologists to have been killed as a punishment for adultery. It is under this assumption that Heaney writes “Punishment,” and so, for the purposes of thematic analysis, that is the assumption under which the reader must also operate.

Heaney describes the bog body in “Punishment” with almost-sexual intimacy, focusing on in-depth descriptions of her “naked front” (Line 4), with “nipples” (Line 5) blown to “amber beads” (Line 6). The speaker also calls her “flaxen-haired” (Line 25) and “beautiful” (Line 27). The descriptions themselves speak to a troublingly sexual view of the bog body; as does the speaker’s use of strange, almost violent, endearments for the body: “Little adulteress” (Line 23) and “My poor scapegoat” (Line 28). Heaney’s speaker at first seems unaware of his sexualization and belittlement of the body; calling her “little” (Line 23) serves to infantilize the body and make her seem less than or smaller than other, male bog bodies, and using the term “my” (Line 28) allows the presumably male speaker to mark ownership of the female body. Heaney’s use of sexualized language speaks to the violent aggression to which female bodies are subjected, in both ancient and modern times.

Heaney’s speaker pivots from the female bog body to an image of modern Northern Irish women being tarred and feathered by the IRA for sleeping with British soldiers, admitting he “stood dumb / when your betraying sisters, / cauled in tar, / wept by the railings” (Lines 37-40). This shift highlights two of the key themes of the poem: the constancy of violence over time and the use of revenge and violence against women due to perceived sexual improprieties. The implication is that the bodies of women belong solely to the men and societies in which they live, which makes their sexual choices a traitorous act of insubordination, rather than personal choices made for particular, personal reasons. Heaney chooses to focus on the former rather than the latter within the poem. The IRA’s tarring and feathering of women is an echo of the Windeby Girl’s punishment for a sexual affair, now immortalized by the bog—both acts represent for Heaney the constancy of cultural violence.

Ultimately, Heaney’s concern is with the role of the artist as a kind of violence-monger, seeking to exploit atrocities and human suffering for artistic gain. Heaney’s “Punishment” focuses squarely on the speaker—a representation perhaps of Heaney himself—as the artistic voyeur (See: Themes). The connotation of voyeur is often sexual in nature, so that the speaker’s sexualization of the bog body becomes an extension of the voyeur concept. In “Punishment,” the speaker seems to gain some sort of sexual pleasure and artistic esteem from the terrible suffering of the Windeby Girl and the violence done to certain Northern Irish women during the Troubles. The artist’s role is heavily questioned and criticized by Heaney’s speaker, who chooses to go along with and profit from the violence perpetrated against women during his own time; he connives “in civilized outrage” (Line 42) for the suffering of the Windeby Girl, while accepting and even claiming to understand “the exact and tribal, intimate revenge” (Lines 43-44) of what is done to the women of Northern Ireland who engage with British soldiers. Ending the poem with this ironic juxtaposition of modern “civility” and ancient violence, Heaney leaves the reader to ponder these images of violence against women and question how far humanity has truly evolved.