concerned with Irish history. Looming over the scene depicted is the spectre of the potato famine that afflicted Ireland from 1845-49. The potato crop‚ staple for the Irish‚ failed‚ and with cataclysmic results. About half the population of three million died‚ while a million people emigrated – many to America. The first section of the poem is written in alternately rhymed quatrains that describe a rural scene of potato digging that is clearly in progress much later than a similar scene around the time
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Digging Summary The poem begins with our speaker at his desk‚ his pen poised to begin writing. He gets distracted by the sound of his father outside‚ working in the garden‚ and this sends our speaker into a spiral of memories about his father working in the potato fields when the speaker was a young boy. The memory stretches even further back to his grandfather and the hard work he did as a peat harvester (there’s all kinds of hard work going on). Eventually‚ our speaker snaps out of his daydream
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Seamus Heaney – ‘At a Potato Digging’ • Context • • The poem deals with two different potato harvests. One is the harvest from the present day that goes successfully and which delivers a rich crop. The second potato harvest looks back to the famine of 1845 when the crop failed and many people starved. Whilst the famine is no longer a threat‚ its ongoing fear remains and this can be seen in the use of religious language throughout the poem. For example‚ the bowed heads of the potato pickers suggest the
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Look again at ‘At a Potato Digging’ by Seamus Heaney and at ‘A Sheep Fair’ by Thomas Hardy‚ which both deal with the theme of the hardship of rural life. With close reference to the ways each poet uses language‚ compare and contrast what the speakers in the poems say about rural life. You should include relevant contextual material. Which poem do you find more interesting? Give your reasons. Seamus Heaney and Thomas Hardy both depict images of rural life as difficult and uncomfortable. In their
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Digging In the poem‚ ‘Digging’ by Seamus Heaney‚ the readers have been given the chance to forth come the lifestyle in which Heaney/the speaker captures the life through his generations. Leading the readers to fall into Heaney’s own spiral of memories. The poet expresses these ideas through the use of diction‚ Imagery and tone. Before the reader even looks at the first stanza they must read the title‚ this is the initial use of diction and word which sets the reader up to try and get a heads
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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
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30/08/2012 DIGGING The poem ‘digging’ is the first in poet Seamus Heaney’s collection ‘Death of a Naturalist’ (1966). This poem has a free structure‚ which allows the poet to express his feelings of pride and the value of his as well as his ancestors’ work. The poet may not be following his father and grandfather’s footsteps in the area of work which is potato farming but that doesn’t mean he does not respect‚ value and take pride
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“Digging” Analysis In many families‚ fathers take pride in receiving remarks regarding their sons such as “He’s a chip off the ol’ block” or “like father like son‚” often exalting the sons who have followed in their fathers’ vocational footsteps. In “Digging‚” by Seamus Heaney‚ the speaker describes the quintessential potato farming tradition that his father and grandfather partake in‚ while the speaker himself observes through a window barrier. Seamus Heaney‚ through his use of imagery‚ repetition
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Anne Tyler’s Digging to America truly embraces the true values and unique attributes of America. As an American 20th century writer‚ Tyler explores the modern American culture and what it means to live in such a vast and diverse country. In the story‚ she lets us in on the lives of different characters from two separate American families‚ who struggle with their identities and try to find a sense of belonging. The story starts in an airport in Baltimore‚ where two families‚ the Yazdans and the Donaldsons
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poems to show some sort of characteristic that would have them accepted by the world of poetry and poets‚ a world I have difficulty connecting with. “Ariel was glad he had written his poems.” Question: Why did Stevens choose the name Ariel? Digging By Seamus Heaney Observation: There are no women present in the poem. This indicates that the poem reveals the poet’s struggle with masculinity as he diverts from the paths that his father and grandfather chose to follow. “Between my finger
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