a yellow curd was weighting the churned up white, heavy and rich, coagulated sunlight that they fished, dripping, in a wide tin strainer,
As the churning continues butter, “gold flecks,” appears in the milk. The next stage is to remove this butter using a butter pat to sift through the milk and capture the globules of butter. They then place this in a milk pan, which strains the last remaining milk from around the butter. Some actions and events are so unusual that they are out of the experience of the reader. They would find the description you have been given too complicated to understand. In this situation the poet uses a metaphor; comparing the action to things the reader would have had experienced. Also, because Heaney has used a metaphor, he benefits because it also shows the reader what his opinion is too.
		How has Heaney helped the reader appreciate the experience of churning butter? You may want to think about how Heaney has used the metaphors: “coagulated sunlight” and “fished”