for example, by definition or by the meaning
they have in a given context. For example, the
words ‘‘black blackberries’’ alliterate. The repe-
tition ofb, even the repetition of the word,black,
functions as a linking device in terms of sound,
and it emphasizes the color by stating it twice.
Other examples include ‘‘prickly penalty’’ in line
4 and the use of ‘‘squeeze,’’ ‘‘squinch,’’ and
‘‘splurge’’ in line 12. The repetition of these con-
sonants makes the words cohere in sound.
First-Person Narration
The narrator is the person who speaks the story.
In first-person narration the narrator is the one
through whose perspective the story is seen by
the reader. In first-person narration, the reader
is limited to this single point of view. In ‘‘Black-
berry Eating,’’ the speaker may be identified with
the poet, because the poem describes the act of
writing poetry. Kinnell’s narrator relates what
appears to be a personal experience, eating
blackberries, and then demonstrates in the
poem how that experience is like writing poetry.
Thus, the poem is both an explanation of the
creative process and the product of that process.
Metaphysical Conceit
A metaphor is an analogy in which an object is
described by comparing it to another object.
A metaphysical conceit is a complicated meta-
phor in which the analogy is an elaborate com-
parison between dissimilar objects. When used
effectively, the metaphysical conceit teaches
something about the subject by revealing some-
thing unusual in the object to which it is com-
pared. In Kinnell’s poem, eating blackberries is
compared to the experience of creating poetry. In
the conceit, blackberry seeds are compared to
letters, each of which (seeds and letters) are com-
bined to make the larger unit (berries and words).
Sonnet
A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem that follows a
specific rhyme scheme. The sonnet originally
developed in Italy in the thirteenth century and
was introduced in England early in the sixteenth
century. The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet and
the English or Shakespearean sonnet are the two
most common kinds of sonnets. The Petrarchan
sonnet is divided into the octave and the sestet.
The octave contains the first eight-lines, and
often these are set apart as a separate stanza.
(Octaveis a synonym for octet or any group of
eight.) The sestet contains the final six lines of a
sonnet. Traditionally, the octave states an issue,
a theme, or a problem that is then resolved in the
sestet. In Kinnell’s sonnet, the octave describes
the consuming of the blackberries, whereas the
sestet describes the expelling of words. Thus in
the octave, the poet consumes the nourishment
necessary to produce poetry. In Kinnell’s poem,
the sestet provides the result of the blackberry
eating. For the poet, eating blackberries enhan-
ces his creativity and helps him think of the deli-
cious words he uses in writing his poems.Historical Context
A Decade of Social Protest
‘‘Blackberry Eating,’’ was published in 1980, but
its author spent much of the two previous dec-
ades actively involved in social protest. In par-
ticular, the 1970s were marked by social protest,
idealism, and disillusionment. Thanks to televi-
sion coverage, the war in Vietnam was broad-
casted nightly across the United States.
Television allowed Americans at home to view
battles and eat their dinners to reports of body
counts. It did not take long for disillusionment
with the war to lead to large demonstrations
against the war. When the war finally ended in
1973, approximately 58,000 U.S. servicemen had
died, over 300,000 had been wounded, and an
estimated three million Vietnamese, including
both military and civilian, had died.
Protests continued with other themes. As
the war was ending, a scandal in Washington
D.C. was just getting started. A small break-in
at the Democratic Party headquarters in the
Watergate Hotel in 1972 led to televised congres-
sional hearings in 1974 and the resignation of
President Richard Nixon. Protests in Boston
against school busing pitted neighbor against
neighbor but soon enough it became clear that
the protest was not about race but about class.
Many wealthy people pushed for school busing,
but the children being bused were from blue-
collar middle-class families. Protests and class
warfare led to violent protests in some cases.
Meanwhile, both the civil rights and women’s
rights movements, which had begun in the
1960s, continued in the 1970s, where they were
joined by the fledgling gay rights movement. The
bill for an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA),
which was passed in 1972, began with ratifica-
tion by twenty-two of the thirty-eight states inBlackberry Eating