‘Out of the bag’
This poem explores the naivety of youth, as it’s revealed to the speaker the secret of how children
are born- which is believed to be out of ‘Doctor Kerlin’s bag’. Family relationships are explored as
well as images that focus on life and death- in particular childbirth. Overall, the poem is light-hearted
and humorous, but in parts it can be dark, portraying the scarier aspects of childhood.
The key elements of form and structure are:
1. Visual aspects of the structure of this poem is the way in which different sections are
numbered between one and four. This splits up the poem with the aim of showing the
transition between different stages in the narrator’s life, from childhood through to
adulthood. This separation also demonstrates how different the narrator’s understanding of
the world is between each section, showing transitions between past and present.
2. Written in tercets (3-line stanzas) -perhaps this fragmentation reflects how the narrator’s
thoughts were often broken and needed to be pieced together in order to have full
understanding of a situation.
3. The fragmentation and structure of the poem places further emphasis on the free-flowing
nature of the memories and thoughts being shared. There is a lack of notable rhyme scheme
in the poem, and this can be seen as letting the imagery and ideas ‘speak for themselves’.
Key methods used by the writer to convey their ideas:
1. The title is a play on the common colloquialism ‘Let the cat out of the bag’ which refers to the
revealing of facts and information which had previously remained a secret. It also alludes to
the idea that the narrator of the poem will gain greater understanding of a topic or issues,
making a reader curious to find out whether this will be new information for themselves too.
2. Heaney uses figurative language to almost bring together the internal thoughts and lack of
understanding of a child. There’s a sense that the speaker is mesmerised by the doctor.
Eg. with the simile, ‘like a hypnotist’- conveying a sense of surrealism and how a child’s boundary
between reality and imagination is blurred.
Personification of the doctor’s bag as having a mouth- ‘mouth unsnibbed and gaping wide’.
“Spaniel-coloured” could be suggesting the child didn’t have the knowledge to name the colour
specifically and instead uses references to things they know. There’s a sense that the speaker is
mesmerized by the doctor
Metaphor about the bag that compares it to Noah’s ark- ‘a plump ark’. It highlights how the doctor
carries life in his bag, in the way the ark carried the animals. This almost gives the doctor a saviour
complex- as the speaker sees him helping his mother and ‘delivering’ the child. There are many
examples that present the doctor as almost having omnipotent qualities, and the ability to bring things
to life (or in the imagination of the child), eg when he brought the faces on the glass to life when they
‘soon began to run’- this is open to dual interpretation.
3. Extended metaphor throughout- the idea that babies come from the doctors’ bag. Even at the
end pf the poem, this myth is continued through the interjection of the mother’s voice- ‘what
do you think of the new wee baby the doctor brought for us all’. This idea that mothers’ hide
the ugly truth from their children- focusing on the magic of creation over the reality of it.
4. In the final section of the poem, the events of the birth are recalled from the child’s
perspective, and they touch upon also the role of the mother, as she remains modest and
demure even in birth, catering for the needs of the doctor over herself - ‘in sheets put on for
This poem explores the naivety of youth, as it’s revealed to the speaker the secret of how children
are born- which is believed to be out of ‘Doctor Kerlin’s bag’. Family relationships are explored as
well as images that focus on life and death- in particular childbirth. Overall, the poem is light-hearted
and humorous, but in parts it can be dark, portraying the scarier aspects of childhood.
The key elements of form and structure are:
1. Visual aspects of the structure of this poem is the way in which different sections are
numbered between one and four. This splits up the poem with the aim of showing the
transition between different stages in the narrator’s life, from childhood through to
adulthood. This separation also demonstrates how different the narrator’s understanding of
the world is between each section, showing transitions between past and present.
2. Written in tercets (3-line stanzas) -perhaps this fragmentation reflects how the narrator’s
thoughts were often broken and needed to be pieced together in order to have full
understanding of a situation.
3. The fragmentation and structure of the poem places further emphasis on the free-flowing
nature of the memories and thoughts being shared. There is a lack of notable rhyme scheme
in the poem, and this can be seen as letting the imagery and ideas ‘speak for themselves’.
Key methods used by the writer to convey their ideas:
1. The title is a play on the common colloquialism ‘Let the cat out of the bag’ which refers to the
revealing of facts and information which had previously remained a secret. It also alludes to
the idea that the narrator of the poem will gain greater understanding of a topic or issues,
making a reader curious to find out whether this will be new information for themselves too.
2. Heaney uses figurative language to almost bring together the internal thoughts and lack of
understanding of a child. There’s a sense that the speaker is mesmerised by the doctor.
Eg. with the simile, ‘like a hypnotist’- conveying a sense of surrealism and how a child’s boundary
between reality and imagination is blurred.
Personification of the doctor’s bag as having a mouth- ‘mouth unsnibbed and gaping wide’.
“Spaniel-coloured” could be suggesting the child didn’t have the knowledge to name the colour
specifically and instead uses references to things they know. There’s a sense that the speaker is
mesmerized by the doctor
Metaphor about the bag that compares it to Noah’s ark- ‘a plump ark’. It highlights how the doctor
carries life in his bag, in the way the ark carried the animals. This almost gives the doctor a saviour
complex- as the speaker sees him helping his mother and ‘delivering’ the child. There are many
examples that present the doctor as almost having omnipotent qualities, and the ability to bring things
to life (or in the imagination of the child), eg when he brought the faces on the glass to life when they
‘soon began to run’- this is open to dual interpretation.
3. Extended metaphor throughout- the idea that babies come from the doctors’ bag. Even at the
end pf the poem, this myth is continued through the interjection of the mother’s voice- ‘what
do you think of the new wee baby the doctor brought for us all’. This idea that mothers’ hide
the ugly truth from their children- focusing on the magic of creation over the reality of it.
4. In the final section of the poem, the events of the birth are recalled from the child’s
perspective, and they touch upon also the role of the mother, as she remains modest and
demure even in birth, catering for the needs of the doctor over herself - ‘in sheets put on for
