Answer to Question #108440 in English for Gaby Hernandez

Question

In Heaney's "Punishment", what does Heaney mean by "intimate tribal revenge" in the last line of the poem? In the poem, he appears to notice a continuum between the partisan violence in Ireland (between Northern Unionist and the pro-Independence IRA) with the bog woman he is describing, especially speculations about her death. Explain What this continuum or connection is?

Answer 1

Betrayal and killings of close relative who suppose the opposing side