“Follower” and “Digging” are two poems written by Seamus Heaney, from his collection titled Death of a Naturalist which was published in 1966. The poems are about a speaker looking back and admiring the hard work and dedication of his father. He is admiring their work yet towards the end is not able to follow their footsteps. Both of these poems have a shift in time, it goes to the past and towards the end makes a prediction about the future. The poems share a theme; how the shift in time affects the father-son relationship. Heaney expresses this theme through the use of symbolism, repetition and the shifts in time. The shift in time, use of imagery and the use of literary sound devices of the poems all help propose the same theme. That the shift in time causes a change in the father-son relationship. …show more content…
He is once again talking about his father and makes him seem like a superhero by the words he uses. For example in line two “His shoulders globed like a full sail strung...” shows the father’s strength and big size. After talking about the past, the speaker talks about the present/future in the last stanza. In lines 22-24 the speaker says “But today it is my father who keeps stumbling behind me, and will not go away” The last part is talking about future. But this is to show how the roles of the son and the father have changed, they have switched completely where the son was the follower and now the father is. This helps the theme because it shows how the father and the son have gone through a change in their relationship. The relationship changes because in the beginning the son was the “follower” and the son was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a farmer like him. But the father-son relationship changes because now the father is the “follower” and the son has created a life for himself separate from what the father
The narrator is presented as this strong figure at first, but the piece tears away this wall brick by brick. In stanza six when they are coming back from Mexico, the narrator says the drugs “might help him live longer.” The biggest turn of hopelessness is in stanza 8 for the narrator. His brother falls into a coma and his brother’s lover cries in his arms and he “Wonder(s) how much longer you will be able to be strong.”(Lassell 481) It only progresses only further when the narrator says: “Offer God anything to bring your brother back. Know you have nothing God could possibly want.”(Lassell 481) The narrator becomes almost emotionless during the funeral of his brother, and it shows that this sense of hopelessness has grown even larger, to the fact where he stands in silence and stares at the casket. During the funeral, he thinks to himself “Know that your brother 's life was not what you imagined.”(Lassell
In Seamus Heaney’s poetry, there is a recurring theme of his talking of the past, and more predominantly about significant moments in time, where he came to realisations that brought him to adulthood. In “Death of a Naturalist” Heaney describes a moment in his childhood where he learnt that nature was not as beautiful as seem to be when he was just a naive child. Heaney does this on a deeper level in “Midterm Break” describes his experience of his younger brothers funeral and the mixed, confusing feelings he encountered, consequently learning that he no longer was a child, and had no choice but to be exposed to reality. Robert Frost in one sense also describes particular moments in time, where his narrator comes to realisations. However, Frost writes more indirectly than Heaney, and all together more metaphorically. In “A Leaf Treader” he symbolically talks about life and death through the autumn season. He does the same, in “The Road Not Taken” where the two roads are described to be a metaphor for the decisions one makes in life, and the inevitable regrets we face due to those decisions. In “Stopping by a Woods on a Snowy Evening” Frost directly talks directly of a moment in time, however the significant meaning being that in life one needs a moment of solace to appreciate peace and beauty.
Beowulf is a poem translated by Seamus Heaney that tells the story of the protagonist named Beowulf. Beowulf was warrior who had the strength of many men. He had grown up and molded himself to fulfill the role of a hero, throughout many occasions. Everytime he had finished a remarkable feat, it was subjected as evidence which was always there showcasing his accomplishments, godsend strength, and loyalty as a leader. Even in the most difficult situations, Beowulf had the courageousness to be side by side with God, letting him be victorious than anyone had ever
One of my favorite aspects about the poem is how he shows his empathy for the heroes he describes. Instead of telling the reader, “I have empathy for the heroes who rise to confront challenges”, he assumes the role of the heroes in action and describes the events in first person to show the reader examples of courage. One line in the poem reads, “I do not ask the wounded person how he feels, I myself become the wounded person.” When I first read this line, I had difficulties understanding what he meant by “become the wounded”. However, after reading the poem, a couple of times I realized that he means that he can empathize with the heroes. To further show his empathy, he assumes the role of the heroes and narrates the events in first person, while using “I” “me” and “my” instead of “he” or “she”.
Scott Hightower’s poem “Father” could be very confusing to interpret. Throughout almost the entirety of the poem the speaker tries to define who his father is by comparing him to various things. As the poem begins the reader is provided with the information that the father “was” all of these things this things that he is being compared to. The constant use of the word “was” gets the reader to think ‘how come the speaker’s father is no longer comparable to these things?’ After the speaker reveals that his father is no longer around, he describes how his father impacted him. Details about the father as well as descriptions of the impacts the father has distraught on the speaker are all presented in metaphors. The repetitive pattern concerning the speaker’s father and the constant use of metaphors gives the reader a sense that the speaker possesses an obsessive trait. As the reader tries to interpret the seemingly endless amount of metaphors, sets of connotative image banks begin to develop in the reader’s mind. Major concepts that are expressed throughout the poem are ideas about what the speaker’s father was like, what he meant to the speaker, and how he influenced the speaker.
Seamus Heaney’s poem “Blackberry-Picking” does not merely describe a child’s summer activity of collecting berries for amusement. Rather, it details a stronger motivation, ruled by a more primal urge, guised as a fanciful experience of childhood and its many lessons. This is shown through Heaney’s use of language in the poem, including vibrant diction, intense imagery and powerful metaphor—an uncommon mix coming from a child’s perspective.
The poem is written in the father’s point of view; this gives insight of the father’s character and
The phrasing of this poem can be analyzed on many levels. Holistically, the poem moves the father through three types of emotions. More specifically, the first lines of the poem depict the father s deep sadness toward the death of his son. The line Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy creates a mental picture in my mind (Line 1). I see the father standing over the coffin in his blackest of outfits with sunglasses shading his eyes from the sun because even the sun is too bright for his day of mourning. The most beautiful scarlet rose from his garden is gripped tightly in his right hand as tears cascade down his face and strike the earth with a splash that echoes like a scream in a cave, piercing the ears of those gathered there to mourn the death of his son.
Stanza three again shows doubtfulness about the mother’s love. We see how the mother locks her child in because she fears the modern world. She sees the world as dangers and especially fears men. Her fear of men is emphasized by the italics used. In the final line of the stanza, the mother puts her son on a plastic pot. This is somewhat symbolic of the consumeristic society i.e. manufactured and cheap.
Everything around this point, the narrator is now just reminiscing on the picture. It is becoming more obvious that the father did have an effect on the narrator now that he’s grown up. The very last two lines of the stanza, which is “She does not know/ I will turn out bad,” is the best evidence to really jump to the theme. There is already an immediate foreshadow from the narrator that everything that happened led up to the very moment he’s looking back at the picture. The end result may be a terrible ending, or it could even be an experience that further toughened the narrator, but we can tell for sure that the father did have an effect on whatever happens to the narrator at the end. This whole stanza is able to capture the whole theme that was stated.
father. He admires the times he had with his father, and seeing both of them walk in an
The first thing that strikes me about this poem is the structure. The poem is very ordered written with 4 lines a stanza and a total of 6 stanza’s. This looks like a professional poem created by an adult, showing experience right away. The syllables are normally 7 per line but there are exceptions to this rule as all of stanza 5 has 8 syllables a line. The first stanza and the last stanza are nearly the same apart from the last line of each differing by a word. This poem uses many poetic devices well to create a vivid picture in the readers mind. There are rhyming couplets, alliteration, repetition, rhetorical questions as well as many biblical and egotistical references to the artist and poet himself. Now we will look at the poems meanings.
“Digging” by Seamus Heaney is the first poem in the first full volume of Heaney’s poems, “Death of a Naturalist”. “Death of a Naturalist” is about the transition into adulthood and the loss of innocence. The poem shows how Heaney looked up to his father and grandfather, especially their hard work. Even though Heaney did not follow in their footsteps and become a farm laborer, he respects the work they do, especially their skill at digging.
Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow?, leads me to believe that Big
In the “Digging,” Heaney starts the poem with a self-image, pen in hand. He hears some kind of sound through his window in which case, we come to understand it is his father that is digging. Nonetheless, in line 7, we come to understand that the sound is possibly an echo from the past. In essence, this makes us look into the poem as taking the speaker through not just his father’s memory but also a journey through time in search of self. Further,