There is a memory of ‘our first fierce confrontation’ and a metaphor of ‘the tight red rope of love which we both fought over’ making her seemed tied to her daughter by an invisible rope of love, which is red to express the colour of the heart, or the sense of anger which love can cause.
The sense of an emotionless location is continued with ‘a square environmental bank, disinfected of paintings or toys’ making the place seem love-less and unpleasant.
Clarke talks of writing over the walls her words, almost as if she does this literally (for real) or she does it in an imaginary manner, writing the words that express her emotions and feelings for her daughter. The use of oxymoron, ‘wild, tender circles’ emphasises the contrasts in emotions that the relationship can bring, with ‘wild’ and ‘tender’ seemingly opposites, and yet there are both feelings in their relationship.
This is continued with the idea that they wanted to be ‘two’ together or to be two separate people as well: ‘to be ourselves’.
The second stanza begins in stalemate. ‘neither won nor lost the struggle’ and the metaphor of a fish tank is used, ‘clouded with feelings’. It is as if they are trapped in a claustrophobic place, surrounded by ‘feelings’, rather than the water of the tank, drowning them both, overwhelming them.
The image of Catrin, the daughter, is one of strength, so much so that Clarke has to fight her off. She looks powerful, ‘with your straight, strong, long brown hair and your rosy, defiant glare’, making her seem the one in control.
The image of the rope is brought in again, with the idea of the daughter tightening it ‘about my life, trailing love and conflict’ so the rope metaphorically is a tie between the two of them that, despite their differences, seems to bring them closer. Despite their intense feelings, they can’t escape from each other.
The argument is about whether the daughter can stay outside in the dark skating for ‘one more hour’, which brings about the present conflicts of growing up and letting go. ‘Dark’ links to fears and could suggest both the very natural fears of the parents and the fearless nature of children; may be it suggests a desire to stay in the womb perhaps, or it Could suggest the fact that both parent and child are still ‘in the dark’ about each other.
However, in Follower, the poem examines Heaney’s relationship with his father and the effects of ageing.
The skilled nature of his father is shown in the opening stanza where his power as a farmer is described.
The simile ‘his shoulders like a full sail strung between the shafts and the furrow’ emphasises how powerful and vast he appeared to Heaney as a child.
He also controlled the horses merely by clicking his tongue, showing how skilled he is.
The second stanza puts it very simply: ‘an expert’ in the first two words, a sentence on its own to emphasise how important this is.
His qualities are further emphasised when he tells us ‘the sod rolled over without breaking’ to show his expertise.
In the third stanza Heaney describes how he gets the horses as a ‘team’ to move effortlessly and turn round whilst he uses his skills to map ‘the furrow exactly’. Heaney, by comparison is clumsy and ‘fell sometimes on the polished sod’. He lacks the control and power of his father who carries him ‘on his back’ effortlessly.
The fifth stanza shows how much he admired his father as ‘I wanted to grow up and plough’ and to do the things his father so skilfully did. However he seems sad that all he did was get in his father’s way and followed him around.
His father has a ‘broad shadow’ to show his size compared to Heaney and the fact that Heaney lived his life in his father’s shadow.
The final stanza emphasises how Heaney saw himself as a ‘nuisance, tripping, falling, yapping always’ but this is followed by a change as we move back to the present to discover it is Heaney’s father who is a nuisance to him, ‘stumbling behind me’, a reminder that we all grow old, sadly.
The final words ‘and will not go away’ seem harsh, as if Heaney finds his father an irritant, yet his father put up with him when he was a young boy, getting in the way. It almost seems selfish, but possibly shows how people do find caring for their elderly relatives a difficult thing to do.
I think that the end stanza indicates that Heaney's dad is following him as a ghost. Heaney now sees his father as a burden; he cannot tolerate his father who was prepared to withstand his childish behaviour when he was young.
I think that Heaney’s attitude towards his father has certainly altered, mainly due to the inconveniences of old age and the burdens they have caused.
Catrin is different because its irregular line endings and stanzas is also a symbol of conflict between parent and child, which Follower’s structure does not symbolise. However different the parents in both poems may be, they all love their children, and are saddened when the children no longer has dependency on the parents.
