“The Settle-Bed”, a poem written by Seamus Heaney, illustrates the idea of historical burden and how this inheritance can be changed into a better future for generations to come. This work of literature focuses on an inherited, “willed-down” piece of furniture and how this Irish antique holds a familial grudge that has not yet been overcome. This grudge, however, can be conquered if the family decides to not pass on this oppressing inheritance to the next generation. Firstly, Seamus Heaney makes use of an extended metaphor which compares the settle-bed to a ship. The narrator has compared himself to a lookout, whose job is to search for anything that might put the ship in danger. At this point in the poem, the narrator, who was “posted high over the fog”, has come to the realization that he does not have to pass down the burdensome weight of the past doings of his ancestors. The speaker has come to the conclusion that he has power and control over the bed. That power is within the speaker’s hands and he can choose what the true intention of the settle-bed should be in his and future generations’ life. Basically, owners entrusted with the “hull-stupid” bed are able to change how they see the “four-square and plank-thick” item and what it means to them. Overall, the extended metaphor enhances the concept that the settle-bed does not have to be a burden; just as the lookout reimagined his place on the ship, so too can the owner of a settle-bed decide its purpose in their own life.
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