Digging interpretation
James Kotel
Mrs. McCllister
Sept 22, 2013
English 1020
Taking Pride In Seamus Heaney’s poem, “Digging”, Heaney talks about how his father and grandfather worked in the farming fields to grow potatoes. He would watch his family work outside of his window. He also describes how, as a child, he would listen to the sounds of them working on the potatoes and how his form of work and living came from him writing with his pen. He indirectly explains he is writing poetry to make his living and he also expresses discontent with his line of work by comparing it to his family’s previous work. His family worked in the potato famine of Ireland and was contributing to themselves and society by growing food while he chose to write poetry. Heaney centers the entire poem around how he comes to evaluate his self-worth and his work in comparison to his father and grandfather’s. The theme of this poem is almost certainly family traditions and heritage. Heaney daydreams of how when he was a child he would see, “[His] father, digging down…/ Till his straining rump…/ Bends low,” and expresses admiration in his descriptive and vivid language of what they were doing (5,6,7). When looked at as a whole, the poem seems to show a shift in his personality. It is possible that this poem referred to the times of the potato famine in Ireland and given his background, he could be disappointed in himself for not following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps of working the potatoes. This realization comes from him describing how he digs with his, “squat pen,” with dig being a metaphor for his work (2). He could feel like he is breaking tradition since everyone during the potato famine was doing what they can to get by and eat and he was writing poems. Heaney at the end of the poem seems to have accepted his work for what it was worth when he repeats the lines, “The squat pen rests/ Ill dig with it.” and snaps out of his daydream to continue his work (30-31). He omits the line, “snug
Mrs. McCllister
Sept 22, 2013
English 1020
Taking Pride In Seamus Heaney’s poem, “Digging”, Heaney talks about how his father and grandfather worked in the farming fields to grow potatoes. He would watch his family work outside of his window. He also describes how, as a child, he would listen to the sounds of them working on the potatoes and how his form of work and living came from him writing with his pen. He indirectly explains he is writing poetry to make his living and he also expresses discontent with his line of work by comparing it to his family’s previous work. His family worked in the potato famine of Ireland and was contributing to themselves and society by growing food while he chose to write poetry. Heaney centers the entire poem around how he comes to evaluate his self-worth and his work in comparison to his father and grandfather’s. The theme of this poem is almost certainly family traditions and heritage. Heaney daydreams of how when he was a child he would see, “[His] father, digging down…/ Till his straining rump…/ Bends low,” and expresses admiration in his descriptive and vivid language of what they were doing (5,6,7). When looked at as a whole, the poem seems to show a shift in his personality. It is possible that this poem referred to the times of the potato famine in Ireland and given his background, he could be disappointed in himself for not following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps of working the potatoes. This realization comes from him describing how he digs with his, “squat pen,” with dig being a metaphor for his work (2). He could feel like he is breaking tradition since everyone during the potato famine was doing what they can to get by and eat and he was writing poems. Heaney at the end of the poem seems to have accepted his work for what it was worth when he repeats the lines, “The squat pen rests/ Ill dig with it.” and snaps out of his daydream to continue his work (30-31). He omits the line, “snug