Two Lorries

“Two Lorries” is a traditional sestina poem: thirty-nine lines composed of seven stanzas in total — six sets of six lines and a seventh stanza, or envoy, of three lines to finish. In a sestina, every line must end in one of six core repeating words; moreover, they must all appear in a predetermined order, as follows:

1. ABCDEF

2. FAEBDC

3. CFDABE

4. ECBFAD

5. DEACFB

6. BDFECA

7. ECA or ACE

In this poem, the first six end words are ashes (A), lorry (B), coalman (C), mother (D), Magherafelt (E), and load (F). Heaney follows the sestina pattern perfectly; he does, however, at times stretch his word choices. “Load” (Line 6) becomes “lode” (Line 7), “lead” (Line 14), “payload” (Line 22), and “explode” (Line 29); “lorry” (Line 2) becomes “flurry” (Line 30); and “mother” (Line 4) becomes “other” (Line 32). However, even with these accommodations, he retains the cyclical rhythm of the sestina. The lines do not follow a set meter and vary from ten to twelve syllables.