Analyzing Context and Investigating Speech Acts of Seamus Heaney's "The Forge"

1. Ahmed 1
Sheikh Saifullah Ahmed
Student Id-MA-191402
English Discipline
Khulna University
Discourse Analysis-Eng 5201
24 March 2019
Analyzing Context and Investigating Speech Acts of the Following Discourse
All I know is a door into the dark. (1)
Outside, old axles and iron hoops rusting; (2)
Inside, the hammered anvil’s short-pitched ring, (3)
The unpredictable fantail of sparks (4)
Or hiss when a new shoe toughens in water. (5)
The anvil must be somewhere in the centre, (6)
Horned as a unicorn, at one end and square, (7)
Set there immoveable: an altar (8)
Where he expends himself in shape and music. (9)
Sometimes, leather-aproned, hairs in his nose, (10)
He leans out on the jamb, recalls a clatter (11)
Of hoofs where traffic is flashing in rows; (12)
Then grunts and goes in, with a slam and flick (13)
To beat real iron out, to work the bellows. (14)
It is a scientific discourse because it includes rhyme, rhythm and other stylistic features.
It is poetic in nature. It seems to be a sonnet with a clear division into an octave (the first eight

2. Ahmed 2
lines) and a sestet (the final six lines) including the rhyme scheme abba cddc efgfef. It seems to
be a departure from the standard Shakespearean (abab cdcd efef gg) or Petrarchan (abba abba
cde cde) sonnet.
However, in this paper (assignment), I have tried to explore the proper meaning of the
discourse like a formalist. Therefore, I have considered the text all in all.
Contextual Analysis
Contextual analysis includes three areas:
1. Linguistic Context
2. Situational Context
3. Cultural Context
1. Linguistic Context
In this segment, the analyst investigates the relationship between words, sentences, phrases and
paragraphs.
It has three sub-sections:
i. Deictic: It indicates pronouns.
References of person: all, I, he, himself, his
References of time: when, sometimes, then
References of place: somewhere, there, where
ii. Co-text: “door into the dark” is the reference to the dark cave of Etna in which the
Roman God of the forge, Vulcan was beating out Achilles’s shield. “unicorn” refers to a

3. Ahmed 3
horned mythical beast serving to emphasize its mysterious nature. “leather-aproned, hairs
in his nose” evokes Vulcan, the Roman God of the forge. He does not speak, but only
grunts.
iii. Collocation: “the hammered anvil’s short-pitched ring”, “unpredictable fantail of sparks”,
“an altar”, “Horned as a unicorn”, “The anvil”, “leather-aproned”, “hairs in his nose”,
“flashing in rows”, “To beat real iron out”. Discourse maker uses these phrases to refer to
some sorts of senses that can convey the proper meaning of the discourse.
2. Situational Context
It covers three segments:
i. Field: The poem indicates a modern setting, as there is the reference of “traffic”, a
symbol of modern civilization.
Time: It seems morning, as the discourse maker can see the old axles and iron hoops are
rusting at the outside of the forge with the presence of sunlight. The discourse maker tries
to contrast a forge’s inside darkness with its outside brightness. If the time is evening or
night, the contrasting would not be sharp enough. Then both the sides would be dark.
It is morning because traffic (vehicle) is flashing in rows. Generally, people are in a hurry
to reach their workplace in the morning. For the reason, they are flashing their cars’ horn.
Place: a blacksmith’s workshop, a forge
ii. Tenor: It seems that discourse maker is one of the clients of the blacksmith, as he enters
into the blacksmith’s workshop so that he/she can have a new shoe for his/her horse.
Therefore, their relationship seems to be reciprocal which can be termed as a client-
consultant relationship. The discourse maker also has a relationship with his/her silent

4. Ahmed 4
receiver/ listener/reader. As a discourse receiver, I have also formed a listener-speaker
relationship with him/her.
iii. Mode: nostalgic, energetic, creative, optimistic.
3. Cultural Context
It essentially indicates the customs and costumes of the discourse maker and discourse
receiver. In this poem, there is no direct reference to a specific culture. There are no names,
addressings, specific activities or dress patterns which may suggest a specific culture. There are
the descriptions of a forge and the working process of a “leather-aproned” blacksmith that may
belong to any culture.
However, the horse’s shoe is the reference to agriculture-based society. Horses are regularly
used for transportation, farming and racing in the European setting. The discourse maker seems
to be a farmer who visits a blacksmith for getting a new horse’s shoe. Blacksmith is one of the
most important members of an agricultural community. He is able to transmute iron and other
metals into the tools that are used by the farmer for cultivation. Therefore, it may indicate the
culture which is agriculture-based. The culture which has just come into the contact of modern
civilization, as traffic is flashing in rows.
The altar is the direct reference to Christianity. It is a kind of table in a Christian church at
which the bread and wine are offered as a sacrifice to the holy deity in communion services.
Therefore, this is a Christian religion-based culture. The use of “he” for the blacksmith ensures
the masculinity of culture.

5. Ahmed 5
Speech act Analysis
In speech act theory, utterances have two kinds of meaning: Locutionary Meaning and
Illocutionary Meaning. These meanings have been transformed into three types of acts by John
L. Austin.
Locutionary act: What the discourse maker can only recall is a dark room. The old axles and iron
hoops are rusting at the outside of the room and a beating sound is coming from the inside of the
room. The sound is made by the blacksmith while making a horse’s shoe. Then the blacksmith
puts the shoe in cold water. The steam is rising up, as the cold water hits the heated steel. It
makes a hissing sound. As the forge is dark, the discourse maker cannot see the anvil. However,
he/she can only assume that the anvil might be placed at the centre of the forge and its one end is
square shaped which looks like the horn of a unicorn. Unicorn is a mythical mysterious beast.
Then the discourse maker compares the anvil of the forge with the immoveable alter of a Church.
The “leather-aproned” blacksmith with hairs in his nose works at there. Then he recalls a
“clatter” of horse’s “hoofs” when the motor vehicles are flashing horn on the road. He becomes
nostalgic about the past when the street of his workplace was not filled with cars, but with
horses. He gets angry hearing the flashing of the traffic but he continues his routine work with
the “bellows” and “anvil” so that he can beat the “real iron out”.
Illocutionary act: Producing the above-mentioned utterances, the discourse maker wants his/her
receiver to convey that. the artistic creation is taken place in human mind’s unknown territory.
Darkness is associated with mystery. It is the source of all creation. It is believed that Almighty
has created light out of darkness. This light can be considered as “real iron” for the blacksmith
and individual artwork for the artist. None can be sure about what is going to be produced. The
old axles and iron hoops that are rusting are the predecessor’s achievement. These are the

6. Ahmed 6
tradition. The creation of art is unpredictable like the fantail of sparks. The sparks do not move in
any particular direction. They can move in any direction. Anvil indicates the core of the poet’s
heart. The forge is like a church, the anvil is like an altar and the blacksmith is like a priest
himself. The perseverance, hard labour, devotion and concentration of the blacksmith are like the
worship of the priest to the holy deity. Similarly, a poet and his/her activities can be compared
with the whole process of forging. Thus, a blacksmith beats the real iron out, a pilgrim/priest is
purified and a poet/artist creates his/her individual art.
Perlocutionary act: As a discourse receiver I have on me the perlocutionary effect of the
discourse maker’s illocutionary act. I think that the effect is positively achieved, as I do agree
with the discourse maker that the perseverance, hard labour, devotion and concentration must be
needed to be successful in life and to be unique in creating individual art. The effect is further
achieved when the illocutionary force of the discourse maker has compelled me as the discourse
receiver to choose it for analysis.
Searle’s Classification
These utterances bring forth John R. Searle’s insight into speech act classification. Most
of the utterances seem to be representative in nature. Therefore, the above-mentioned piece of
discourse can be interpreted as representative, as the first eight lines which I have made three
utterances perform the act of describing the atmosphere of a forge and the following six lines that
I have made another three utterances serve both the act of describing and praising the working
procedures of a blacksmith. Therefore, the last three utterances seem to be both representative
and expressive.

7. Ahmed 7
The discourse maker’s utterance of “All I know is a door into the dark. / Outside, old
axles and iron hoops rusting; / Inside, the hammered anvil’s short-pitched ring,” (1-3) can be
interpreted as representative, as it describes a report about the limits of the discourse maker’s
knowledge and perspective and a forge’s surroundings. It describes the inside of the forge from
where a short-pitched ring is producing. It also describes the old axles and iron hoops that are the
predecessor’s achievements are rusting at the outside. The discourse maker seems to be
regretting or deploring on the lost tradition of the blacksmith. Therefore, the utterance can also
be interpreted as expressive. The utterance further can be interpreted as a declaration of the
discourse maker, as he/she declares, “All I know is a door into the dark.” He/she declares the
limits of his/her knowledge.
The second utterance “The unpredictable fantail of sparks / Or hiss when a new shoe
toughens in water.” (4-5) can be interpreted as representative, as it describes the process of
making a horse’s shoe and toughening it into cold water.
The third utterance “The anvil must be somewhere in the centre, / Horned as a unicorn, at
one end and square, / Set there immoveable: an altar” (6-8) can be interpreted as representative,
as the discourse maker seems to be hypothesizing or predicting about the anvil’s position in the
forge. He/she predicts that the anvil might be placed somewhere at the centre of the forge and
claims that its one end is square shaped which looks like the horn of a unicorn and insists that the
anvil of the forge is as “immoveable” as the altar of a church. Therefore, the utterance can be
interpreted as representative.
The fourth utterance “Where he expends himself in shape and music.” (9) can be
interpreted both as representative and expressive, as it describes and praises the blacksmith's
physical ability to expend himself at any shape and his ability to work in a rhythmic way.

8. Ahmed 8
The fifth utterance “Sometimes, leather-aproned, hairs in his nose, / He leans out on the
jamb, recalls a clatter / Of hoofs where traffic is flashing in rows;” (10-12) can be interpreted as
representative, as it describes the appearance of the blacksmith. From the description of the
discourse maker, the discourse receiver gets the message that the blacksmith is leather-aproned
and he has hairs in his nose. He/she also describes that the blacksmith is musing over the clatter
of horse's hoops while the vehicles are flashing horn on the road. Therefore, the utterance seems
to be representative.
The sixth and last utterance of the discourse maker is “Then grunts and goes in, with a
slam and flick / To beat real iron out, to work the bellows.” (13-14) that seems to be both
representative and expressive, as it describes first the working procedures of the blacksmith and
then praises his ability to work continuously with the bellows and to beat the real iron out.
Therefore, the utterance can be interpreted both as representative and expressive.
To sum up, the discourse maker tries to depict the profession of an ordinary blacksmith as
extraordinary. It is not an easy job. It is not about looking good while being at work, rather it is
only about making useful objects for others. Similarly, the good poet does not write for
himself/herself, rather he/she writes for others. A blacksmith can beat the real iron out. Similarly,
a poet or an artist can transform his/her raw emotions into a concrete artwork. Thus, a blacksmith
beats the real iron out, a pilgrim is purified and an artist creates his/her individual art.

9. Ahmed 9
Works Cited
Brown, Gillian, and George Yule. Discourse Analysis. Cambridge UP, 1983.
Cutting, Joan. Pragmatics and Discourse: A Resource Book for Students. Routledge, 2002.
Heaney, Seamus. “The Forge.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by M. H.
Abrams and Stephen Greenblatt, ed. 7th, vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, 2000, pp.
2819-2820.
Nuruzzaman, Md., and Inamul Haque Sabuj. “Investigating Speech Acts and Understanding
Pragmatics: A Case Study in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.” Southeast University
Journal of English Department, vol. 1, no. 1, Dec. 2016, pp.114-124.