Motivated by Mikhail Bakhin``s proposition that every utterance is heteroglot and Wolfgang Iser``s theory on reader``s involvement in texts, this paper tries to identify how the poetic discourses in Heaney``s The Hay Lantern are organized. Using a few poems of the above collection, this paper shows that in contrast to the earlier poems such as “digging”, in which all poetic elements are controlled to support a single poetic theme or discourse, the poems of The Hay Lantern loosen the various heterogeneous images, allowing the reader to freely interpret the voices present in the poem. Through the process of reading, the reader becomes aware of the gaps present in the poem, and is more eager to find out what the images and voices have to say. In order to enjoy the poem, the reader has to orchestrate it and needs to become a new creator of the poem, by participating in the poetic game and exploration. It is also important to verify how the discursive poetic elements illuminate the poet``s artistic consciousness. Within the poem a discursive bridge exists between the speaker, reader and other voices present in the text. This bridge encourages the reader to experience the poet``s cultural and artistic origins, and allows the reader to explore the various sources of one’s poetic gifts.