For he was fostered next in a stricter school
Named for the patron saint of the oak wood
Where classes switched to the pealing of a bell
And he left the Latin forum for the shade
Of new calligraphy that felt like home.
The letters of this alphabet were trees
The capitals were orchards in full bloom,
The lines of script like briars coiled in ditches
- Seamus Heaney, excerpt from “Alphabetsâ€