Terminus

“Terminus” has three distinctive stanzas (groups of lines). All three stanzas are broken sets of two lines or couplets. This poem also has hallmarks of alliterative verse. Alliterative verse uses repeated sounds to unify lines of poetry instead of end rhymes. This type of verse is more common in Old and Middle English. However, “Terminus” does not have the break in the middle of each line, a requirement for strict alliterative verse. Heaney instead uses the couplets to break up his lines, so his alliterative verse is looser.

“Terminus” applies both internal rhymes and end rhymes. Internal rhymes—rhyming words not at the end of a poetic line—are more common in Irish-language poetry. Some examples here include “hoked” and “spoke” (Lines 1, 9), and “acorn” and “dormant” (Lines 2, 4). End rhymes are at the end of a line and usually form a pattern with other rhymes in the same stanza. The end rhymes in “Terminus” are either used for repetition of an important point, such as second thoughts: “thought” and “thoughts” (Lines 7-8), or to connect disparate ideas: “nativity” and “iniquity” (Lines 10-11).

These couplets are end-stopped or ended with a period. The only