In both poems they describe heavy manual work, but in ‘Digging’ they love doing the work that they do and in ‘The song of the old mother’ she is unhappy and bitter that she has to scrub, bake and sweep.
“To scatter new potatoes that we picked,
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.”
This quote shows that they love the end result of what they do.
“And then I must scrub and bake and sweep,
Till stars are beginning to blink and peep.”
In this quote the tone of her voice would be low and depressed because she must scrub and sweep till stars begin to blink and peep which means she has to work till late at night.
The young people in ‘The song of the old mother’ do not care for what the old mother does for them but Heaney is determined to dig with his pen and remember his roots.
“And the young lie long and dream in their bed.”
This quote also has another meaning, for this comparison the quote means that while the young lie long and dream they still take granted for what the old mother does for them.
“Over his shoulder, going down and down
for the good turf. Digging.”
This quote is showing that he is digging and digging into his past and trying to remember his roots.
In ‘The song of the old mother’ the structure of the poem looks tight like her life could have been as in those days women weren’t allowed to do much apart from cook clean and look after the kids.
The structure of ‘Digging’ looks spaced out and free. This is how his life style could have been or the spaced out structure could represent the space and freedom you get from living on a farm. The structure could also represent the feeling you get when you have a vast amount of space to yourself.
This time I am going to compare ‘Digging’ with ‘Catrin’ by Gillian Clarke. Both of these poems seem very personal. This poem ‘Catrin’ is about the poets daughter, she talks about when she’s giving birth to her until her daughter is maybe 7-9 years of age. I believe this because at the end of the poem she is asking if she can skate outside for one more hour. Therefore it is something very personal for the poet.
In ‘Digging’ the poem is personal because he is talking about his roots. He talks about how his farther and grandfather did there work. He also tells us what they did for a living. Therefore this is very personal to Heaney.
‘Catrin’ is talking about a mother to a child while ‘Digging’ is from a child to his farther and grandfather.
“I can remember you, child,”
This quote shows that the mother is talking to the child.
“By god, the old man could handle a spade.”
This proves that the child (Heaney) is talking about his farther or grandfather.
In ‘Catrin’ it suggests that the relationship between a mother and daughter is not always perfect but in ‘Digging’ it does not show any conflict.
“As you ask may you skate
In the dark, for one more hour.”
The child is asking the mother if she can skate for one more hour but the mother wants her to come in so here is a little disagreement showing that the relationship between the mother and daughter is not always perfect.
In the poem ‘Digging’ there was no disagreement shown between the farther and son but that does not mean that they didn’t have any disagreements between them.
‘Catrin’ explores how a mother and daughter are bound together trough the physical birth taking place however ‘Digging’ suggests that different generations are bound together by there occupation.
“Red rope of love which we both
Fought over.”
This quote shows that the mother and daughter are bound together from birth. The red rope of love could represent the umbilical cord, which connects the mother and daughter together at birth. You could say that this bounds the mother and daughter together.
In ‘Digging’ People in different generations are bound together because they do the same job. In the poem the grandfather, farther and the child all have the same occupation, which bounds them all together.
Finally I am going to compare the poem ‘Digging’ with ‘Little boy lost/found’ written by William Blake
Heaney gives the reader a good detailed description of his farther and grandfather at work but we are not given a visual image of the farther that Blake’s poem describes.
“The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly”
This quote is telling us the detailed description of his farther and grandfather’s work.
“Began to cry; but god, ever nigh,
Appeared like his farther in white”
This is the only quote where Blake actually talks descriptively about the farther so this shows that you do not get a clear image in your head of the farther in this poem.
The boy in Blake’s poem becomes lost and this suggests that the farther could have been irresponsible but in Heaney’s poem he shows that his farther was hardworking and tried hard to provide food for his family.
“My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on toner’s bog”
In this quote you can see that he was a hard worker because he could cut more turf than any other man in toners bog.
‘Digging’ suggests that his family had a close relationship because when he was young he did not really describe any conflict between them but in Blake’s poem he does show the love of the weeping mother. When the farther kisses the child he is showing his ever nigh love of god for the child.
In Blake’s poem he is implying the worship of god (the farther) because he has involved god when simply a child has been lost from his parents. In Heany’s poem he shows his personal love and respect for his farther and grandfather.
“Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper.”
This quote can show in a way that he loved his farther because he cared enough to go get his farther some milk in a bottle.
In conclusion I think that these poems have explored the relationships between different families from different generations.
Jay Ramji
10/8
