Gender Identity in Seamus Heaney's Act of Union In 1801, the political Act of Union created a legislative link between Britain and Ireland, bringing Ireland under British control as part of the “United Kingdom”. Within the poem “Act of Union” Heaney draws on the double meaning of this title phrase to compare the lasting effect of this legitimate union with an act of sexual domination. Within the play, Heaney anthropomorphizes both countries. He compares the geological features of Ireland to the "marked and bedraggled body" of a woman, whose innermost identity - here symbolized by the "bed of ferns" and the "bog" is invaded by the phallic "ram" of a "male imperial". ' invader.The imposition of the British aggressor is also made evident through the structure of the work, the two sonnet-form stanzas not only highlight the inadequacy of union without love, but with their Shakespearean rhyme scheme also imply the cultural dominance of the English tradition. The use of half rhymes, such as 'pulse' and 'burst' or 'pain' and 'within', leaves the feel of the verses...