Follower by Seamus Heaney
Follower Seamus Heaney The follower is written by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, the poem is about the poets love and admiration for his father. The poem is also about the changes that occur between father and children as children move out from their parent's shadow. We learn a lot about both the relationship that existed between them and the way Heaney saw his family. In the first half of the poem Heaney presents us with a vivid portrait of his father as he appeared to the poet as a young boy. The poet, as a young boy, follows his father as he goes about his work and like most boys, he idolises his father and admires his great skill, ` an expert` with the horse-plough and Heaney as a little boy would simply get in his fathers way. In the poem, Heaney looks up to his father in a physical sense, because he is so much smaller than his father, but he also looks up to him in a metaphorical sense. This is made clear by the poet's careful choice of words. 'His eye narrowed and angled at the ground, mapping the furrows exactly.' These words effectively suggest his father's skill and precision. We are also told that young Heaney 'stumbled in his hob-nailed wake,' which brings to our mind a picture of the ploughman's heavy boots, the carefully ploughed furrow and the child's clumsy enthusiasm. The poet uses onomatopoeic words to capture the details of his father as he works the
Death Of A Naturalist comment on how appropriate the title, "Death of a Naturalist", is and comment on how it changes meaning.
"Death Of A Naturalist" I have been asked to comment on how appropriate the title, "Death of a Naturalist", is and comment on how it changes meaning. The poem is set out in two sections of blank verse (unrhymed lambric pentameter lines). In the first section the poet. Seamus Heaney, notes the festering in the flax-dam, but can cope with this familiar scene of things, rotting & spawn hatching. Perhaps as an inquisitive child he felt some pride in not being squeamish. He thinks of the bubbles from the process as gargling "delicately". He is confident in taking the frogspawn. It's something he does every year and watches the "jellied-specks" become "fattening dots" then turn into tadpoles. He almost has a scientific interest in knowing the proper names ("bullfrog" and "frogspawn") rather than the teachers patronising talk of "daddy" and "mammy". Especially the idea of forecasting the weather by looking at the frogspawn because it's not very helpful as it is blatantly obvious if it is sunny or raining and so there is no need to look at the frogspawn. Seamus Heaney uses onomatopoeia more lavish here than in any poem - and many of the sound are very in delicate: "gargled", "slap and plop" and "farting". The lexicon is full terms of putrefaction, ordure, generally unpleasant things such as "festered", "rotted", "slobber", "clotted water", "rank with cowdung" and "slime kings".
How Do You Respond To Mid-Term Break? What techniques does Heaney use? Having read the title 'Mid-Term Break', I assumed that the poem
How Do You Respond To Mid-Term Break? What techniques does Heaney use? Having read the title 'Mid-Term Break', I assumed that the poem was about a student's holiday abroad or something similar, however as I progressed through reading the play, I realized that it had a different meaning. The poem has a very deceiving title, a mid-term break is supposed to be a joyous time of holiday but here Heaney must deal with the death of a family member. This misleading title is the first technique used by Heaney to attract the attention of the reader. The poem is also told in first person and this gives the effect that the emotions come straight from the boy to the reader. We respond directly to the boy, which provokes greater sympathy in us when we find out that his brother dies. The first stanza is telling us that the boy is away from home, isolated, upset and waiting. It is made up of short sentences to build up tension and create shock as though the reader is expecting something to happen. One phrase that struck me was 'our neighbors drove me home'. This suggested to me that something had happened as usually a student's parents take them to and from school. We then find out that the father, apparently always strong at other funerals, is distraught, while the mother is too angry to cry. Also the euphemism used by 'Big Jim Evans' - 'it's a hard blow'. Having read this I
How does Heaney explore the issues of background and identity in his early poems, Digging and Follower?
How does Heaney explore the issues of background and identity in his early poems, Digging and Follower? Digging and Follower show Heaney delving into his earliest personal memories of his childhood and giving them life through words. He uses diverse approaches to expose the underlying emotion of his memories, using tactile imagery that is often also metaphorical. On the surface, his poetry may appear simple, or perhaps trivial - but often, as with all things, there is more to it than what first glance reveals. Heaney does not use pretentious elaborate visual description that is 'sugar coated' in the way that memories usually are. His use of onomatopoeia and 'clumsy' words such as "squelch", "slap" often verge on the grotesque but are extremely effective in conveying a sense of reality. By remembering these simple details, such as the sound of a spade 'rasping' as it sinks into 'gravelly ground', Heaney can make connections with his past background and seek to define his identity through his poems. Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Digging presents a good example of a parallel between the tactile and metaphorical. The first two-line stanza 'earths' the poem to the poet - using direct, simple, striking language. "Gun" particularly draws the reader's attention; it is aggressive and monosyllabic. Heaney remembers the way his father, a
A comparison between Seamus Heaney's
In both the poems "Digging" by Seamus Heaney and "Catrin" by Gillian Clarke the main theme is that of parent child relationships. "Catrin" relates to the inner thoughts and feelings of a mother giving birth whilst "Digging" shows a son's admiration for his father. In "Catrin" we first see the title, one that could possibly be addressed to a real daughter or exploring the relationships between mother and daughter in general, whereas "Digging" simply states the subject matter. In "Catrin" the author is initially quite cold and impersonal as she addresses child before birth, waiting for her arrival; "As I stood in a hot, white room at the window watching", possibly showing this as being her first child, so she is unsure of what to expect, and unsure of her feeling towards the child. This phrase seems very clinical and resembles a hospital ward. However from the very beginning of "Digging" we are greeted with warmth in the form of assonance such as the words "snug as a gun", which in addition are references to the way a gun is crafted for a person, so also the pen (and thus poetry) is perfect for Heaney, or vice versa. These comforting semantics are built upon with words such as "clean" and the sibilance; "spade sinks" and alliteration; "gravely ground." These phrases just roll of the tongue, easy top speak so easy to accept. By contrast Clarke has begun to create a semantic
Seamus Heaney's poems explore the loss of childhood and the cruel awakening into the world of adulthood. Discuss.
POETRY COURSEWORK - SEAMUS HEANEY Seamus Heaney's poems explore the loss of childhood and the cruel awakening into the world of adulthood. Discuss. Seamus Heaney has been described as 'the best Irish poet since Yeats'. He was born on April 13th 1939 and was the eldest of nine children to Margret and Patrick Heaney, at the family farm in Mossbawn. He studied English in Queen's University in Belfast, also in Saint Joseph's College in Belfast, to become a teacher. After many years of writing "Death of a Naturalist" was published in 1966. It contains poems symbolic of death of childhood, specifically Heaney's childhood as a curious young "naturalist", eager to learn about nature. Heaney's poems reveal his thoughts of his childhood and his family. His poems are filled with the images of dying, but are also firmly rooted in childhood. His poems of transition explore the journey from childhood into the adult world. "Blackberry Picking" is a reflection of adulthood and childhood. Heaney tries to tell us that we should enjoy childhood because adulthood is disappointing. He gives the message to have low expectations, therefore when we grow up we will not be let down by the adult world. The poem is written from an adult perspective, although it has many childlike phrases in it. It is about Heaney's summer ventures with his friends during which they would collect blackberries in
Death of a naturalist
Death of a naturalist "Death of a Naturalist" is concerned with growing up and loss of innocence. The poet vividly describes a childhood experience that precipitates a change in the boy from the receptive and protected innocence of childhood to the fear and uncertainty of adolescence. Heaney organises his poem in two sections, corresponding to the change in the boy. By showing that this change is linked with education and learning, Heaney is concerned with the inevitability of the progression from innocence to experience, concerned with the transformation from the unquestioning child to the reflective adult. The poem opens with an evocation of a summer landscape which has the immediacy of an actual childhood experience. There is also a sense of exploration in "in the heart/Of the townland;" which is consistent with the idea of learning and exploration inevitably leading to discovery and the troubled awareness of experience. To achieve this Heaney not only recreates the atmosphere of the flax-dam with accuracy and authenticity, but the diction is carefully chosen to create the effect of childlike innocence and naivety. The child's natural speaking voice comes across in line 8; "But best of all". The vividness of his description is achieved through Heaney's use of images loaded with words that lengthen the vowels and have a certain weightiness in their consonants; "green
How does Seamus Heaney present his childhood in the poems "Follower" and "Mid-Term Break".
Matthew Barrett How does Seamus Heaney present his childhood in the poems "Follower" and "Mid-Term Break" Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet who wrote the two poems in a similar fashion. Heaney clearly wrote about different aspects and experiences of his childhood. The two poems I have studied are "Follower" and "Mid-Term Break". Both of the poems have ironic, interesting titles. The title "Follower" is used to describe Heaney's unusual relationship with his father. Heaney, as a young boy, grew up around his father, who was always working on their farm. Heaney may have applied the word "Follower" to describe how he used to regard his father as a hero or as someone he could emulate. In the poem he wrote, "I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake" which can be interpreted as to "Follow" in his footsteps. The title "Mid-Term Break" is very ironic. The reader is at once tricked into believing that the poem will be about Heaney's happy memories from his school holidays. This is not so as the poem is actually about how Heaney is going home to the funeral of his brother: A quite sad and dramatic event in his childhood. "Follower" and "Mid-Term Break" are both about Heaney and his relationship with his family. The poem "Follower" describes his relationship with his father. "Mid-Term Break" is all about the dramatic death of his younger brother during the holiday period. Seamus Heaney
Compare 'Digging' and 'Follower' by Seamus Heany
. Compare the ways in which 'Follower' and 'Digging' explore the theme of changes due to passing time Both 'Follower' and 'Digging' explore the theme of changes due to passing time. 'Follower' begins in the past tense, which demonstrates Heaney looking back into his past; whereas 'Digging' begins in the present tense, which suggests he is looking at his current situation whilst reflecting on memories and childhood experiences. The title 'Digging' explores the theme of changes due to passing time, as Heaney knows that he has no spade to follow men like his father and grandfather-he is a writer, not a farmer so will dig with his pen. Throughout the poem, Heaney draws close emphasis to childhood experiences, detailing sensory images, which suggest that these memories are important to him as he remembers them so clearly. Therefore, this suggests that the idea of 'digging' represents Heaney digging though his past and him digging into the English language to say and express what he wants to say, as words are now his tool. Heaney uses change in tense in 'Follower' to indicate his change in views and ideas. When he remembers about his father and grandfather at work he goes into the past tense but the last two stanzas return to the present. This suggests that his life on the farm as a child is in his past and he has a new life. He doesn't want to 'handle the spade' like his
Consider how Seanus Heany provides us with a view of his childhood in the following poems: Digging, Death of a Naturalist follower, blackberry picking, The barn and mid term break
Consider how Seanus Heany provides us with a view of his childhood in the following poems: Digging, Death of a Naturalist, follower, blackberry picking, The barn and mid term break Sheanus Heany was born in 1939 on a farm in County Derry, Northern Ireland. His poetry is based on the landscape in his farm from his childhood. In his life there is one key feature that changed him from the rest of his family. This was the level of education that he obtained. He went to a decent school unlike his family that enabled him to write and not farm. He is currently a professor of poetry at Oxford. There are two large symbolic features in his poetry. Firstly, the danger in the countryside could be said to represent the danger in Northern Island at the time. Secondly, there is a strong sense of division in his family, which could be linked with Heany growing up in a divided country. His first poem in the Death of a Naturalist is very important. The purpose of it is to symbolise and introduce his circumstances. 'Between my finger and thumb the squat pen rests'. Look at this first sentence. It is telling you he is a writer. He is telling you that the pen rests. This means that he is comfortable with it. In a way he is saying that the pen belongs in his hand. Then he goes on to write 'snug as a gun'. A gun is a weapon. Something used for destruction which poetry is not. But, If you look
