Heaney portrays his fondness for his father and grandfather in ‘Digging’ through using affectionate terms and describing how hard they work as well as the way he describes digging potatoes. For example, Heaney calls his father ‘old man’ in stanza five, which conveys to the reader a sense of affection as well as respect; a theme that is carried through the whole poem. An example of this is when his grandfather was drinking the milk and Heaney said he ‘then fell to right away’. This suggests his grandfather was a hard working committed man causing the reader to respect Heaney’s grandfather. It is also suggested that Heaney would boast that his grand father would “cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toner’s bog” in stanza six. This again suggests admiration and affection from Heaney to his grandfather.
Heaney also portrays a strong attachment to digging for potatoes and turf. He did this by using words such as “nestled” and “loving” when describing digging and the potatoes. Both of these words suggest that the father is comfortable with digging and he is at home when his foot is on the “lug”. Also, through out the poem, Heaney uses one syllable words such as “lug”, “gun” and “sods”. This recreates the rhythm of digging which is monosyllabic in its self. It could also be in reference to the fact that digging is a very simple action so simple words can be used to describe it.
Throughout ‘Piano and Drums’ the relationship of the poet to the past is explored through how he feels about African and western music. For example, in stanza two, Okara describes how he feels when he hears the drums. He says, ‘topples the years and at one I’m in my mother’s lap a suckling’. This suggests that hearing African drums takes him back to his childhood. This is similar to ‘Digging’ in that when Heaney hears the ‘rasping’ of the spade sinking in to the ground, he remembers his childhood when his grandfather used to dig turf. However, unlike ‘Digging’, in the first stanza Okara thinks of ‘the beginning’, meaning the beginning of Africa. This suggests to the reader that Okara has a real sense of patriotism and belonging to Africa.
Okara also explores the invasion of the Colonies as apart of his past. He uses the analogy that their interruption is like the piano (a western instrument) interrupting the drums. This gives a very modern impression on the reader of something that happened many years ago. Also, while Okara is describing the piano music he uses musical words; however, he uses them in such a way that it does not make sense. This suggests that he can make sense of them in his culture because drumbeats, to him, are simple yet more symbolic. In that same stanza Okara uses the word ‘complex’ twice suggesting that the past is simpler, like a drumbeat. However, also in that stanza are very forceful words such as ‘coaxing’ and ‘daggerpoint’. This suggests that the poet feels threatened by the invasion.
In conclusion, Digging is more like a memory than Piano and Drums. For example the rhyme is very structured at the beginning of digging but becomes more relaxed as the memory takes over and the sounds of the words become more important. Therefore, digging is more like memory; you remember things in as unpredictable way so the structure is unpredictable. Also, Okara uses music to explore his past where as Heaney writes more literally.