In the ‘Follower,’ the child sees farming as simply imitating his father's actions “close one eye, stiffen my arm”, but later learns how skilled the work is. He recalls his admiration of his father then; but now his father walks behind and this metaphor runs through the poem. Effectively their positions are reversed. His father is not literally behind him, but the poet is troubled by his memory: perhaps he feels guilt at not carrying on the tradition of farming, or feels he cannot live up to father's example. In ‘Imitations’ you see the narrator talking about his relationship with his son first and then his father. I think that the way in the ‘Follower’ is more effective as it shows how the child is following his father and the language used to describe this is very effective like “close one eye, stiffen my arm” which shows us the child is trying hard.
There are many images in both poems, but the ‘Follower’ for me has a better effect on the images created in the poems compared to ‘Imitations’. In the ‘Follower’ the poem has several developed metaphors, such as the child's following in his father's footsteps and wanting to be like him. The father is sturdy while the child falls - his feet are not big enough for him to be steady on the uneven land. Seamus Heaney uses imagery very well in this poem as he uses many references in the poems to the ocean like he describes his father's shoulders are like the billowing sail of a ship, ‘His shoulders globed like a full sail strung’. He talks about the “sod” rolls over “without breaking” like a wave and “Mapping the furrow” is like navigating a ship. In these images the farmer is not shown as simple but highly skilled farmer. All these images are of the sea in some relationship and Seamus Heaney saw his father as a ship crashing against the waves and this is very effective on the reader to see his relationship with his father being very close.
Heaney uses specialized terms from ploughing - terms such as “wing”, “sock” and “headrig”. There are many active verbs - “rolled”, “stumbled”, “tripping”, “falling” and “yapping”. There are lots of monosyllables and colloquial vocabulary, frequently as the rhyme word at the end of line. Some of these terms sound like their meaning, which is onomatopoeia, like “clicking”, “pluck” and “yapping”.
The metre of the poem is more or less iambic; eight syllables to each line and rhymed in stanzas of four lines. We see a phrase without a verb written as sentence: “An expert”. The poet uses contrast very well like the father's control is effortless “clicking tongue” while the powerful horses “sweating team” strain, and how the young Seamus “wanted to grow up and plough.” but all he “ever did was follow”.
In conclusion the ‘Follower’ is more effective than the ‘Imitations’ as it has better language used and their you go.
By Tajinder Ghattaora 11c
