How does Seamus Heaney reveal his culture in ‘Digging’ and ‘Follower’? Essay

Seamus Heaney was born in Northern Ireland in 1939 to a take to the woodsing class family. Being the scratch of nine siblings wasnt easy provided Heaneys intelligence was highlighted when he won a cognizance to a catholic school at the tender age of twelve. He had an agricultural back estate and was raise on the family farm where he stood proud of his hard working ancestors and their adroitnesss.After studying Heaneys first pair of songs dig and Follower I quite a little especi completelyy relate to the strong family values Heaney displays, b arly an important part of the Irish tradition is for a bugger off to pass on his business or trade down to the eldest son. We incurm how Heaney would feel pressurised thence he would have a smokestack to live up to judging by that exposed in his poetry. It is well k presentlyn that most Irish manhood big businessman be working class and Ireland has a very strong pub culture from this fact stems m any(prenominal) stereotypes. through with(predicate) his poetry Heaney attempts to challenge the discrimination that is regularly shown towards Irish farmers. We detect even today many a great deal t honest-to-god jokes involve the Irish man as the fool its the Irish farmer that is especially misinterpreted, still Heaney gives us a fair insight into the life of his family and their farming profession he tells endorsers of the immense skill needed to farm well and the capability of an Irish farmer. He is therefore challenging the tradition besides damaging the stereotype.Firstly we see how Digging has two a metaphorical and material kernel to it. The literal subject matter is that his contract and grand hear ar farmers, the poem talks about his family Digging and working on the farm. Onwards from this the metaphorical meaning is that Seamus Heaney himself is Digging into his past and background, which indeed is farming. Hence the title is quite an effective. Digging is about Heaney breaking away fro m the family tradition and becoming a poet thus it is create verbally in an untraditional way.In Digging Heaney begins his poem in the present tense he is describing what he is doing and his surroundings at the time of writing before he takes a step back in time, reminiscing and evaluating his thought serve well as his memories link causing him to remember the past and the skills of his fetch and grandad. He is sat by his windowpane to write the poem and therefore fulfilling his passion as a poet he describes seeing his elderly pay back operose amongst the flowerbeds, then goes into the past and reminisces again about his bugger off and how he would farm so well. He writes of the times when he and his father would work together picking potatoes on the farm. Further on Heaney delves copiouser into his family history, he moves on from his father and begins to speak of his grandfather linking the 2 together via their epic skills. He writesBy God, the old man could handle a spa deJust standardized his old man.Heaney uses his chain of thoughts in a very regularisely way and describes the potato picking days from his past, he goes into detail about how the potatoes smell and the sound of the soggy peat. He then ends with a stanza much like his first, yet at heart this stanza we see how he realises that his tool is not that of a farmer but is a save and his skill is to write. The net line, however, is set in the future tense to emphasise Heaneys de marginination Ill dig with it.In contrast Follower is a very different poem. Here, Seamus Heaney writes about his days on the farm from the spot of being a youngish boy. He sees his father working on a horse and wrench as he recollects upon how he looked up to his father and saw him as a great role-model, indeed, as a child Heaney himself wanted to become a farmer. Thus the poem is, unlike Digging written in a traditional way. Follo move in his fathers footsteps and traipsing around the farm Heaney would reach out a abhorrence of himself. The poem is ended with a twist as Heaney states that the tables have turned as considering the present Seamus Heaney feels his father is stumbling behind him. This is reflected when he statesIt is my father who keeps stumblingBehind me and will not go away.Like the general ancestor in Digging these two lines have both a literal and metaphorical meaning, the literal is that his father is now and old man and is fleshlyly stumbling behind him and becoming a nuisance. The hidden metaphorical meaning is one that highlights the shame he feels, the way in which his father is stumbling behind him reflects how the memories of breaking the family tradition fix him still and how his father is now a essence through the regret he feels.Digging starts by setting the scene with a two line stanzaBetween my fingers breadth and my thumbThe squat draw up rests snug as a acceleratorThe poet is sitting, watching and listening whilst absorbing his surroundings. We see how he is in deep thought as the secondment line simile reveals that although the pen is sitting comfortably it is potentially enormously powerful. He refers to his pen as squat I rely this is ironic as the burden of breaking a tradition and risking further collapsing the Irish stereotype is not light at all in fact it is a heavy burden to handle.Heaney lets his pen rest as he observes his father out of the window this creates an opposing mood to the following phrase snug as a gun this very convinces the reader of its power. I believe that through this he is showing us that he feels he must detach himself as a writer from his family in order to view his relationships from a virtual(prenominal) perspective he must distance himself from the feelings he has towards his family in order to evaluate fairly and make things less personal to him and more than of an all round view upon the farming tradition.In the next stanza we are shown how Digging is an auditory poema clean ra sping soundWhen the spade sinks into gravely groundThis is what Heaney is hearing as he looks out of his window. The fact he uses sounds brings him poem to life more and makes everything more realistic. Heaney then writesMy father, digging. I look downI believe that this metaphor could symbolise the fact that Heaney is higher(prenominal) is status than his father Heaney is a middle-class poet whereas his father is a working class farmer. In stanza quartette of Digging it saysThe coarse boot nestled on the lug, theshaft against the inside knee was levered firmly.He grow out tall tops, bury the bright edge deepI believe that the first two lines convey to us that the spade is just as comfortable for his father as then pen is for him. On the next line the words rooted, out and tops are examples of assonance whereas buried and bright are both alliteration these two literacy devises together have an astonishing appeal adding poetical structure to the piece. In the sixth stanza Heaney s aysOnce I carried him milk in a bottle secure sloppily with paper. He straightened upTo drink it, then fell to right awayHe is talk of the town about his grandfather the way he says he fell to gives us the image of a golem like character programmed into doing his work only. It seems that he has no time for his grandson and although he is working hard and is concentrate this also is a manifestation of their poor relationship and highlights the lack of intimacy between the two. The fact that Heaney carried his grandfather milk shows that the children were get alongd to partake in family work and start their farming at a young age.Heaney praises and celebrates his fathers farming skills throughout his work and the relaxed movements and smooth rhythm that is described within Heaneys poetry becomes a great reflection upon the poetic technique of him as a writer showing that though his father has rhythmic physicality he himself apprise create a great poetic flowNicking and piece sv eltely, panting sodsOver his shoulder, going down and downFor the good turf. Digging. by means of these lines we see Heaney recreating the movement and allowing us to absorb the precise handling and controlled rhythm farming requires. Also the way the poet uses the title of the poem in a short sentence is very effective because it reinforces and reminds us of the key ideas Heaney wishes to highlight within this cross poem.The final two stanzas I believe are crucial to the success of the poem as a whole. Heaney firstly saysThe cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slapOf soggy peatThis again is a reflection of the auditory diorama of the poem. We see here how the smells of Irish farming are also embedded in Heaneys memory the onomatopoeia and alliteration used here makes his senses visual for the reader to interpret. Heaney goes on to stateThrough living roots awaken in my head.But Ive no spade to follow men like themMy interpretation of this phrase would suggest the harsh r eality that he himself is attached from the roots of his family tree. We see that though he admires his family greatly he hasnt got the drive, the skill or the ambition to continue and quote their fine work. The fact Heaney doesnt have the skill of a farmer is reflected when he states But I have no spade this translates to tell the reader that he isnt at all like his family members and shows us that he is distancing himself from them. The poem finally ends with a stanza much like the firstBetween my finger and my thumbThe squat pen rests.Ill dig with itIt is clearly noticeable that the poet has not used any reference to a gun here and we see he has re luffd the gun with a tool so he may dig. I believe that when he says he will dig with his pen he is talking about digging into his family history and glorifying his ancestors by continuing their tradition in his own way. I believe that the fact the last line in set in the future tense emphasizes Heaneys determination. I also think the ending of this poem concludes some sort of temporary resolution yet we know the poet is not finished there is more that Heaney feels must be said in order to settle his troubled mind and erase the stereotype. This brings us onto followerFollower being the title of this poem is in itself slightly ironic as he is writing of how he used to be a follower to his father as a child, traipsing around the farm yet there is the reality that now he knows he cannot follow his father in the family tradition. Throughout this poem the skill and precision of Heaneys father is stressed. He starts stanza two by calling his father An expert. This is an extremely short sentence with no verbs which conveys the feeling that there is no dispute about Heaneys appraisal of his father I believe it is an accurate opinion of the mans ability and precision.The phrase Single pluck proves his father can turn a horse and plough around effortlessly this conveys the flawlessness he has achieved over time. In the ne xt stanza Narrowed and angled is used to again describe the precise technique his father uses. The second half of the poem which consists of three stanzas, talks about Heaney as a child and how he acted rather than about his father and the skills he had. The starts of these three stanzas I believe are very significantI stumbled is the first, followed by I wanted and finally I was a nuisance. I think that these truly prove to the reader Heaneys acceptance of his failure as a child and his failure as a farmer.Within the fourth stanza of Follower Heaney mentions the polished sod this again describes how neat his father was by allowing us to create a picture of how exact and perfect the farmland was the term sod means a surface covered with gage or turf it also can be a section cut or torn from the surface of grassland, containing the matted roots of grass we imagine this to be tatty and not at all as Heaney describes it this reflects upon how his father was such a credible craftsman, it seems like he could perfect any land. The father son relationship is also reflected within FollowerSometimes he rode me on his back,Dipping and rising to his plod.We know that Heaneys father is a man of authorization and power but here we see that he is also a man with know for his dear son. Their loving relationship is prominent through the way he treats his son. These two lines show readers that they both enjoyed being together on the farm and also that Heaneys father showed sheer enjoyment when introducing his eldest son to a life of farming and to the traditional trade itself. Although Heaney was a nuisance his father would encourage him and help him along. We see how Heaney is filled with idolisation towards his heroic father, he saysI wanted to grow and plough,To boney one eye, stiffen my arm.This symbolizes his admiration and shows us that Heaney as a child saw farming as a way of emulating his fathers actions. I as a reader can envision what an immense opportunity far ming could have been for Heaney it was a chance for him to live up to his fathers achievements and continue to sue greatness in the trade himself therefore glorifying the family name.Through studying this poem I can see how the poetry itself is much more flexible than that within Digging. I can see how he has eased up and feels he can be more personal with the way he writes he is talking about himself and his father directly throughout showing to me as a reader that he is calmer and no longer has so many serious and forceful points he must portray to us his mind seems more settled. He shows acceptance of his fathers work and growing composure which is just slightly burst as he shows again his frustration and regret at the end of the poem.As shown, Heaney uses many poetic techniques within his work , often he uses imagery this literacy devise is a great tool that brings his work to life creating a sense of immediacy that produces vivid pictures in our minds making me as a reader fe el involved and captured within the moment. Within Digging images of a man-machine are used to glorify and come forward the pictures we see when imagining Heaneys ancestors whereas Follower uses nautical imagery, this is imagery that is linked to ships and boats.We are given the image of a man-machine in Digging through the powerful, masculine verbs Heaney uses he says rhythmic words such as straining and stooping they are monotonous, repetitive and reveal the strenuous nature of pastoral work illustrating the power his father and fathers father wielded with their shovel and sweat.Twenty years awayThis is a phrase that reinforces the repetitive nature of the physical labour it lets us know that farming is a job for life. Heaney visualises his father in his prime to place emphasize upon the power he had. The technical terms used like lug, shaft and levered keep up the machine image. With machine-like accuracyHe rooted out the tall tops, buried the bright edged deepThe alliteration u sed here enhances the readers visual imagery producing a picture of experience and excellence.We see further on how the image of a man-machine is reinforced as Heaney speaks of his grandfather, he saysNicking and slicing neatly, heaving sodsOver his shoulder, going down and downFor the good turf.This shows us that the generations of skill have been passed down through the family as has the ancient tradition we see how Heaneys grandfather truly knew his craft. Great strength and power is exposed when reading these lines.Follower immediately illuminates the agricultural aspect of Ireland we see this is the first line where he says his father worked with a horse-plough to reinforce the Irish cultivation Heaney uses technical terms such as wing, sock and headrig this shows his involvement in the farming tradition and his up bringing is reflected as we see he has come to learn the language of a true farmer.We came to realise that instead of the man machine images that are used in Digging Heaney uses nautical references to create imagery within Follower the nautical aspect is used to interpret the flow of his fathers work which works immensely well. The first of the nautical implications is when Heaney speaks of his father bywordHis shoulders globed like a full sail strungThis simile is used to show the immense strength and great power within his fathers masculine physique it epically suggests that there are decisive requirements and necessities needed to be as good a farmer as Heaneys father indeed is. I also believe that the word Globed is especially used as it has a hidden meaning I believe it suggests that Heaney thinks the world of his father and that it is a reflection of his fathers Godly ambience. The tertiary line of the second stanza states thatThe sod rolled over without breakingThis nautical reference translates to the fact that as the earth turned it looked like a wave breaking in the sea.Mapping the furrow scarceThis is a navigational image, the us e of the word exactly reveals that his father does the work precisely and perfectly evince upon his experience and skill showing he has been working the land for a long time.Heaney also saysI stumbled in his hob-nailed wakeAgain this is said nautically when referring to his father this reference is meaning that heWas like a ships trail his father indeed being the ship itself. This reference could also symbolise an image of the plowmans heavy boots, the carefully ploughed furrow and the childs clumsy enthusiasm.