Digging

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Digging

• Seamus Heaney
• GCSE Anthology- Page 21

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Simile it fits his hand and is powerful
Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen
rests snug as a gun.
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Rhyme
Under my window a clean rasping sound When the
spade sinks into gravelly ground My father,
digging. I look down
Repetition Digging is literally what he watches
his father do- it is repeated because his father
and grandfather spent the days of their lives
doing this. Digging represents manual labour, a
masculine task and making a living.
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Narrative Seeing his father (now old)
straining to dig flowerbeds, the poet recalls
his father in his prime, digging potato drills.
Till his straining rump among the
flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years
away Stooping in rhythm through potato
drills Where he was digging.
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Narrative He describes the skill and dignity of
digging. He admires this physical labour.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the
shaftAgainst the inside knee was levered
firmly.He rooted out tall tops, buried the
bright edge deepTo scatter new potatoes that we
pickedLoving their cool hardness in our hands.
alliteration
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By God, the old man could handle a spade,Just
like his old man.
Exclamation The poet clearly admires his father
and grandfather- their skills and work ethic.
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Narrative he remembers his grandfather, digging
peat and he is a small boy.
His is proud of his grandfathers accomplishments.
My grandfather could cut more turf in a dayThan
any other man on Toner's bog.Once I carried him
milk in a bottleCorked sloppily with paper. He
straightened upTo drink it, then fell to right
awayNicking and slicing neatly, heaving
sodsOver his shoulder, digging down and downFor
the good turf. Digging.
Fell to right away hardworking. Grandfather
would barely stop to drink
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Metaphor digging and roots, which shows how the
poet, in his writing, is getting back to his own
roots (his identity, and where his family comes
from)
onomatopoeia
The cold smell of potato mold, the squelch and
slapOf soggy peat, the curt cuts of an
edgeThrough living roots awaken in my head.But
I've no spade to follow men like them.
Metaphor He has chosen to be a writer, not a
labourer.
men like them refers to masculine labourers but
he sees that the pen is (for him) mightier, and
with it he will dig into his past and celebrate
them.
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Between my finger and my thumbThe squat pen
rests.I'll dig with it.
Last Stanza Poem is circular- ending where it
began. The narrator continues his father and
grandfathers tradition of hard work and skill-
using a different kind of tool (pen not spade)
Dig The poet will make his living with his pen,
hell connect to his father and grandfather.
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Quick QuizAnswer in full sentences
1. Explain one simile in this poem. 2. What are
some examples of onomatopoeia? Explain how this
adds to the poem. 3.How is the poet different
from his father and grandfather? 4. Explain in
your own words the image in the last line of the
poem.
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DiggingSeamus Heaney
Subject This poem looks at two memories - the
father digging the potato drills, the
grandfather digging turf, for which he was
famous as the best digger on the peat bog.
Tone Poet admires and celebrates the work
of his ancestors- his descriptive images show
his is fond of his memories. Themes Identity is
defined by familys identity. Masculinity and
manual labour. Links This poem links to
Still I Rise because of how identity is
described in relation to ancestors and Follower
because of the changing views of his father and
himself.
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Seamus Heaney

• Seamus Heaney was born on April 13, 1939, on a
  farm in Castledawson, County Derry, Northern
  Ireland, the eldest of eight children. In 1963,
  he began teaching at St. Joseph's College in
  Belfast. Here he began to write.
• In 1965 he married Marie Devlin, and in 1966
  year he published his first book of poetry, Death
  of a Naturalist.
• He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford. In 1995 he
  received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Heaney
  has lived in Dublin since 1976. Since 1981 he has
  spent part of each year teaching at Harvard
  University.

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Essay Questions

• Look at Digging and Still I Rise. Show how
  the two poets see themselves in relation to their
  ancestors.
• Look at Digging and Follower both by Seamus
  Heaney. Explain the poets changing views of his
  father and himself.