Examine how Seamus Heaney explores the theme of "Growing Up" in two poems you have studied

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Examine how Seamus Heaney explores the theme of "Growing Up" in two poems you have studied

The two poems I will be using are "FOLLOWER" and "DIGGING". THe two poems say that at first, when you are young, you admire your father and constantly look up to them. However, eventually you see that it is highly unlikely that he can follow his father into jobs and so you want to become independent and do things yourself, without the need to look after your parents.

At the beginning of "Follower", he wants to be like his father; strong, powerful yet gentle, loving and a expert at his job. These connote to the admiration shown by Heaney towards his father, this is shown in the poem by "The horse strained at his clicking tongue", "An expert" and "Sometimes he rode me on his back dipping and rising to his plod." All of those examples combined implies that he is strong, in control, an expert with a horse-plough and he still has time for his son. He uses enjambament at the end of the second stanza, "with a single pluck of reins", indicates it is in one swift movement, suggesting that he is entirely in control. In addition, he compares his father to a ship with phrases and similes such as "his shoulders globed like a full sail strung...", "dipping and rising" and "mapping the furrow". These connote to the power, strength and degree of proficiency he has and uses with the horse-plough.

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In the fifth stanza he is still in admiration for his father, "I wanted to grow up and plough", but realises that he will not be able to as he feel over burdened in expectations to be like his father and is constantly in his fathers shadow, "All I ever did was follow in his broad shadow around the farm."

At the end of the poem he is ambiguous as he loves his dad but wants him to go away as he is unable to tolerate his father being a nuisance, "But today it is my father who ...

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