Heaney’s poetry takes him back to his childhood. It reminds him of family traditions which he may not take part in now, as he is older and has a bigger life than what he did on the farm, and he shows how he shows how he enjoys his time there. He writes about life and death and shows the reader the feelings and emotions he had through hard times, and the good times in life and really makes him feel his joy and his pain.
The follower is a good example of a childhood poem. Heaney writes about how his father worked and how he used to help him. The tone of the poem is nostalgic when he remembers what happened in the past he realises it was better than what he thought at the time. He admired his father as he worked on the farm, and he felt like he wanted to grow up in his fathers shadow. ‘ All I ever did was follow in his broad shadow round the farm. ‘ You can tell reading the poem that his father has traditional methods of farming as he uses horse ploughs and other methods off farming. Heaney had an ambition to be like his father.
As he grew older, he wanted to be like his father less and less and at the start of this poem the roles have changed and his father seems irritating to him and he wants him to go away. ‘ it is my father who keeps stumbling behind me and will not go away.’ He now feels the irritation that his father felt at the start of the poem by him following his father about.
Heaney while writing this poem starts to feel guilty about not following in his family traditions, and taking over the farm like the eldest son should.
‘Digging’ Shares childhood memories as well as the follower. Digging shares more memories of his father, and how his remembers watching his father work. By watching his father he remembers his father and his grandfather were expert diggers. He is proud of the way his family is and how they enjoy hard work. Because Heaney we to public school so he could not follow in his fathers footsteps. He regrets this and he feels guilty so he decides he will carry on the family tradition of hard work by writing. ‘ Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it.’
By writing Heaney came to terms with weaknesses in his family, even himself. It helped him except his father’s weaknesses. While reading the poem you will see, hear, feel, taste and even smell the scenes that Heaney sets for you. You can do this by reading ‘the cold smell of potato mould’ smell. ‘The squelch and slap.’ Sounds. ‘Loving their cool hardness in out hands.’ Touch. These are all examples of old factory imagery.
To conclude the things that make the poetry Heaney writes appealing to the reader are his uses of life experiences. This gives more feeling to the poetry and helps the reader feel what the writer feels and see what the writer is thinking; it helps the reader get in to his mind.
