Examine 'Follower' and 'Digging.' Discuss the relationship shown in the poems between Heaney and his father.

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Pete Mortimer                                                        7th July 2003

Heaney Assignment

Examine ‘Follower’ and ‘Digging.’ Discuss the relationship shown in the poems between Heaney and his father.

Heaney’s relationship with his father becomes apparent as the two poems go on.

The first poem ‘Follower’ is when Heaney is a young boy and is aloud to go with his father on a days work. The purpose was to mention when he was with his father, he just followed him around the farm, desperate to learn and to eventually take over the role of his father; “I wanted to grow up and plough!” He believes that imitating his father’s actions will enable him to take over the role, although he learns how skilled the work is. He is constantly saying how he admires his father. He states how he got in the way and was constantly falling over, “I was a nuisance, tripping, falling, yapping always.”

However in the second poem ‘Digging,’ his age has changed significantly, he is no longer a boy of about 5 or 6, but he is now a young adult, capable of making real decisions about his future career. Heaney is shown to look up to his father and grandfather.  He is watching his father digging in the garden and is torn between following the family tradition, or doing what he is good at. His father is now old, we are given this impression because he is said to be “straining.” From being such a hard worker in ‘Follower,’ this helps us to distinguish the age that Heaney is now. Heaney states that his love for digging is no longer there, unlike ‘Follower’, where he wanted to be just like his father. Heaney still helps his dad when they pick potatoes for the family, so he still adores his, but no longer idolises him, like in ‘Follower’.

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When analysing ‘Follower’, we see clearly the respect, and how he idolises his father. In the first few lines, it becomes apparent how he wants to grow up and be like his father. “My father worked as a horse-plough”, which tells us clearly and direct what he does. Heaney is constantly stating how strong and powerful his father is, “his shoulders globed like a full sail strung between the shafts and the furrow.” These lines assess how strong he is, the image given to us gives the impression that he is a sailing boat. When comparing him to a sailing ...

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