Analysis of 'Digging' and 'Follower'
‘Digging’ and ‘Follower’
In this essay I will be analysing ‘Digging’ and ‘Follower’ both by Seamus Heaney. The poems which relates back to Seamus Heaney's past memories which he had experienced when he was at a younger age, they are memories of him and his father and their relationship. From the poem we can interpret that he was brought up on a potato farm and in many of his other poems he relates to this, this suggests that perhaps he is expressing the family's traditions and enjoyed it. The poem ‘Follower’ shows more in the relationship, between Heaney and his family.
‘Follower’ can interpret that Heaney was brought up in the farm land with his family and also express this with other poems which suggests that he enjoyed farming. ‘Digging and rising to his plod’ this shows that his father has not only physical skills but mental skills such as techniques. ‘His shoulders like a full sail strung between the shafts and the furrow’ emphasises how powerful and vast he appeared to Heaney as a child. On the other hand, in ‘Digging’ the poet shows his respect for the hard physical work of digging as he reflects on his father and grandfather although he has other interest. For example ‘between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests; snug as a gun’ the quote is the beginning of the poem. It begins with the speaker at his desk, his pen on the edge to start writing. He gets distracted by the noise of his father outside digging and it sends the speaker into a series of memories to when he was young. The memories go even further when his grandfather was digging as a peat harvester. Eventually the speaker snaps out of his daydream, and continues working on his paper.
On the second stanza the main thing is Heaney’s father digging outside behind watching his father dig outside the window. The ‘gravelly ground’ has alliteration with the ‘g’ which gives off a harsh sound that the spade makes when it enters the ground. The poet takes us, to a time when Heaney was younger,
In this essay I will be analysing ‘Digging’ and ‘Follower’ both by Seamus Heaney. The poems which relates back to Seamus Heaney's past memories which he had experienced when he was at a younger age, they are memories of him and his father and their relationship. From the poem we can interpret that he was brought up on a potato farm and in many of his other poems he relates to this, this suggests that perhaps he is expressing the family's traditions and enjoyed it. The poem ‘Follower’ shows more in the relationship, between Heaney and his family.
‘Follower’ can interpret that Heaney was brought up in the farm land with his family and also express this with other poems which suggests that he enjoyed farming. ‘Digging and rising to his plod’ this shows that his father has not only physical skills but mental skills such as techniques. ‘His shoulders like a full sail strung between the shafts and the furrow’ emphasises how powerful and vast he appeared to Heaney as a child. On the other hand, in ‘Digging’ the poet shows his respect for the hard physical work of digging as he reflects on his father and grandfather although he has other interest. For example ‘between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests; snug as a gun’ the quote is the beginning of the poem. It begins with the speaker at his desk, his pen on the edge to start writing. He gets distracted by the noise of his father outside digging and it sends the speaker into a series of memories to when he was young. The memories go even further when his grandfather was digging as a peat harvester. Eventually the speaker snaps out of his daydream, and continues working on his paper.
On the second stanza the main thing is Heaney’s father digging outside behind watching his father dig outside the window. The ‘gravelly ground’ has alliteration with the ‘g’ which gives off a harsh sound that the spade makes when it enters the ground. The poet takes us, to a time when Heaney was younger,