Preview

Poem Analysis: Digging by Seamus Heaney

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1352 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Poem Analysis: Digging by Seamus Heaney
English Literature Assignment Gideon Cheung S4CN (5)

Essay on Digging by Seamus Heaney

In the poem Digging, Heaney attempts to describe his admiration towards his father and grandfather. He finds their skills with the spade over the top. However, instead of following the footsteps of his father and grandfather, he chooses a pen instead of a spade as his tool for earning a living. The irregular structure of the poem, figurative devices, diction, and the title all played an important part to show how much Heaney admires his father and grandfather, but the most notable of all is the role and attitude of the speaker, Heaney himself. The first stanza begins with two lines. The second stanza has three lines. This continues to increase gradually, until the fourth. From the first stanza to the fourth stanza, Heaney only described about himself holding a pen and his father digging. This illustrates that Heaney still has a clear memory of his father digging, as there is a steady accretion. However, the fifth stanza only has two lines, and the sixth stanza has eight lines. This explains that Heaney’s memory of his grandfather’s occupation is hazy. Because of his blurred memory, Heaney only remembers some small details, such as his grandfather working right after drinking the milk brought by Heaney. In the last two stanzas, Heaney’s memory jumps back to the present. Has he chosen to dig, like his father and grandfather? No. He has found squat pens more comfortable to use than a spade. Though ‘The squat pen rests; snug as a gun’ (stanza 1, line 2), ‘But I’ve no spade to follow men like them’ (stanza 7, line 4) and ‘the squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it’ (stanza 8, line 2-3). A large number of poetic devices were used in Digging. They include rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, internal rhyme, and repetition. Unlike most poems, rhyme are not an important part in the poem as the poem’s structure is irregular; it only appears on stanza 2, lines 1 and 2

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The words ‘slept’ and ‘wept’ are rhymed, with ‘wept’ in a prominent position at the end of the stanza, which is also emphasised by the alliteration…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Billy Elliot 2

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages

    An analysis of "Follower" by Seamus Heaney "Follower" is a poem 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 hisfather and their relationship. From the poem we can interpret that he was brought up on a potato farm and inmany of his other poems he relates to this, this suggests that perhaps he enjoyed farming or perhaps he isexpressing the family's traditions. "Follower" is a poem which strongly relates to Heaney's past life. The poem also suggests the theme of growth, at the beginning of the poem he is a young boy, who looks up to hisfather. However, by the end of the poem it is his father who needs help from his son. The first three stanzasof the poem are written in the third person with all words relating to his father as 'he' or 'his'. But there is achange in the fourth stanza and from then on until the end of the poem, it is written in the first person withonly one reference in the whole of the last two verses to his father as 'him'. The tone of the poem is quitereminiscent and it is obvious that the poet when he was young was in awe of his father. 'Follower' is a poemwhich relates to his past life which can be regarded as a big space of time. This gap in time can be noticed bythe regularity of the poem. The structure of the poem has an even number of four line stanzas and acombination of six stanzas in total. There are about five sets of imagery in the poem, often the imagery in'Follower' is based on the appearance of his father. For example in the first stanza on the second line he haswritten: 'His shoulders globed like a full sail strung Between the shafts and the furrow' This means that hisfather looks like a full…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem 'Digging ' by Seamus Heaney is a free verse poem that consists of eight stanzas which have the effect of distinguishing and linking the work of the father (symbolic of agricultural labour) and the son (symbolic of cultural labour). Heaney came from a line of rural workers however he himself pursued the career of a writer; he explores the differences between the two professions and links them with the use of symbolism e.g. the analogy between digging and writing "The squat pen rests.…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mechanically, the poem contains a lot of alliteration, as well as assonance. This creates a smooth flow throughout the poem, as well as a smooth, soothing mood when read as if a mother was saying this to her children.…

    • 257 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eliza Griswold use rhyme in her poem “Occupation.” The rhymes in the poem give a continuous reading format whereby any reader is convinced to continue reading. This is a repetition of similar sound in two or more words, most likely at the end of each line. This creates rhythm in a poem. Internal rhyme refers to words which rhyme within the lines. “Dead” and “unfed” in the fifth line have internal rhyme. The first rhyming words are denoted by a, followed by b, and so on. For instance, in this poem, the rhyming words are “feet”, “heat” and “bed”, “unfed”, “twentyfold” and “sold”, “alone” and “stone”. The rhyme scheme is therefore aabbbbacc. The rhyme makes this poem more enjoyable and gives the reader a catching tone right from the beginning. The rhyme links each sentence to the other giving a continuous story and the theme of the poem.…

    • 355 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Storm on the Island

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The poem is structured in nineteen lines and one stanza in blank verse, this gives the effect of the size of the storm. In using one stanza the reader understands the nature of the storm as it is represented by the one stanza. Through the use of blank verse/iambic pentameter, Heaney gives the poem a conversational tone.…

    • 862 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Seamus Heaney's "Digging" is a daydream about the differences between the narrator’s career choice and that of his father and grandfather. Written with an internal rhythm, the poem sets a calm tone that invites the author into his daydream, to see his memories for themselves. Heaney’s use of free-verse form helps to keep the reader focused and to not be lulled by the lilting quality typical of some poetry. The narrator allows you to slip into the daydream with the illusion of a tentrameter, but then pulls you back slightly when he reverts to free-verse. Through the rest of the poem, he utilizes other rhyme schemes to keep the reader reading. Heaney’s use of consonance and assonance brings a musical quality to the reading that helps add to its calming nature. The appeal of this poem is its simplicity. You do not need to read it repeatedly in order to uncover deeper meaning. Heaney simply invites you to enjoy.…

    • 791 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heaney’s poem, “Follower,” consists of a series of stanzas in which he describes the strenuous life style of his farmer father and how he was a part of that. Heaney describes how his father “worked with a horse-plough,” how he was “an expert” and could map furrows exactly. Heaney explained…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ten of the 14 lines are written in regular iambic pentameter, there are substitutions in four lines: Line 4 and line 7 both end in an amphibrach, that is an extra unstressed syllable in the last foot (“for flowers”, “in showers”). Whereas the other lines all end in stressed syllables, these two lines have a falling pattern in the end. This falling pattern corresponds with the content of these lines: Leaves and blooms fall down in fall and so does the reader’s voice here. The second line contains two substitutions of the base pattern: There is a trochee in the first foot (Loud, a...) and a spondee in the second (mid-summ). After the regular first line, the reader could expect that the poem continues in iambs. The stressed Loud interrupts the set-up rhythm and also marks a pause because it is followed by a comma. The reader is surprised and halts, as he would if he heard the unique sound of a real oven-bird. The compound word mid-summer in the next foot starts with two stressed syllables, a spondee. This metrical foot also lengthens the line and interrupts the fluency of the voice. The second line does not only take a special status in terms of metric, but also in terms of content: The main subject of the poem, the oven-bird, is introduced and described here. The word mid-summer, which is responsible for the irregularity in line 2, reoccurs in the first foot of…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heaney Digging Tone

    • 184 Words
    • 1 Page

    Seamus Heaney eloquently uses language to express the complex attitude of the speaker within his poem "Digging. " The speaker has rejected his family's path of farming by perusing writing instead. This is a huge decision and one that he contemplates throughout the poem. Heaney conveys this unique attitude through the combined use of rhyme, rhythm, and sound devices within words such as alliteration, assonance and consonance. These strategies help the reader understand the conflict the speaker feels, as he respectfully admires his father and grandfather from afar.…

    • 184 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The poem consists of four triplets of free verse. Assonance is used extensively to link elements and unify the poem (e.g. rubber/summer/under, in the first stanza, or stain/decayed, in the third). Alliteration and consonance are occasionally used to echo the sense of the words (hoeing hands - the repetition of the -h- sound suggests effort, while "gutturals of dialect" creates an ugly cluttered effect).…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Seamus Heaney in his poem “Blackberry-Picking” vividly describes the childhood experiences of blackberry picking, however, it details the reality of life not being fair. Heaney gives a deeper meaning of life; if we continue to think with our childish minds, we will continue to be fooled by reality. Through the use of diction, imagery, and tone, Heaney gives a deeper understanding of his work.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Seamus Heaney Interview

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Presenter - “ What was the subject matter for the poem Digging ? “ .…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    There is a lot going on in this poem thematically, but everything comes back to work and Heaney’s attitude toward working. Digging is the form of work that Heaney is paying respect to throughout the poem. He is showing pride in the fact that his grandfather and then his father have worked hard all their lives and continued the family line of work, as a potato farmer. Heaney shows us that digging for potatoes is something they all loved doing: “To scatter new potatoes that we picked/Loving their cool hardness in our hands” (Heaney, 13-14). We get a sense of warmth from this, creating awareness of comfort and familiarity. Heaney greatly respects his father and grandfather: “By God, that old man could handle a spade./Just like his old man” (Heaney, 14-15). We learn the values they share, the connection they have, and the self-satisfaction that work brings them: “My grandfather cut more turf in a day/Than any other man on Toner’s bog” (Heaney17-18). Heaney shares with us that not only are his father and grandfather highly motivated and hard working, but so is he because of…

    • 1310 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heaney is effectively "digging" his memories at the instant he begins to write, he looks out his window and starts reminiscing about his past, he then becomes enthralled in guilt because he did not follow his grandfather, and fathers path, which leaves him feeling guilty and below them, he feels his forefathers were great men and he is not, however he still speaks of his pride in his own choice in a "pen is mightier than the sword" kind of way…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays