Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney was born in 1939 in Northern Ireland into a rural

farming family. The family where Catholic, living in a predominantly

Protestant area of the country. I can relate to this as I come from

South Africa where the tension between the black and white people is

high, this has helped me to choose my first poem "Docker". The second

poem I am going to analyse is "Follower" which tells the story of a

young boy who grows up admiring his dad but as time ticks by, things

change and people age. The third and final poem I will analyse is

"Digging" which also is about a young lad who admires his dad for his

skill, but feels bad because he isn't as skilled as his father is and

therefore chooses to dig with his pen in the form of poetry.

The poem Docker starts off with "there, in the corner" from this it

can be seen that the man is a lonely man who does not want to be

bothered, all he is doing is staring at his drink. "Speech clamped in

the lips, vice" this use of metaphor indicates that he is a anti

social person with the word "vice" once again describing the mans

power and strength. The Docker is then described as a hard and tough

man, "Cowling plated forehead and sledge head jaw" because he is

compared with very hard objects, such as a sledge head which is made

out of steel.

"That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic" this verse is of a

violent nature which confirms the Docker as a violent aggressive man

who clearly does not like Catholics.

The mans dislike for Catholics is emphasised even more in the

following verse "The only Roman collar he tolerates, smiles all round

his sleek pint of porter". From this it can be said that even the

white foam made by his beer reminds him of Cath...

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"I wanted to grow up and plough" this proves that like with all little

boys, he wanted to be just like his dad when he grows up. He follows

his father all round the farm "In his broad shadow" which again

describes the mans huge build and strength.

In this poem, the first five stanzas represent the past, whereas the

last stanza represents the present. "I was a nuisance, tripping and

falling" The boy, who is now a man, comes to realise he was clumsy and

unskilful who was always bothering his father "Yapping always".

"But today" is the main contrast between past and present, "It is my

father who keeps stumbling behind me and will not go away" His father

has obviously aged and become enfeebled while his son has now grown up

and become more powerful and skilful than what his father is. It is

his father who follows him around now and will not go away.