The last two stanzas of this poem are what the whole poem is leading up to and what the purpose of this poem is. This part of the poem is where the largest tone change is and when the speaker says, “The cold smell of potato mold, the squelch and slap” (Line 25) it lets the readers know that he is losing hope by the diction. At this point of the poem the speaker is losing confidence in himself. “But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.” (Line 28) This line shows that the speaker doesn’t think that he can live up to his father and his grandfather and the work that they did and that he will let them down. The last three lines of the poem are the most empowering to the speaker and are where the tone changes in such a way that it seems as if the speaker has found his purpose. “Between my finger and thumb/ The squat pen rests./ I’ll dig with it.” (Lines 29-31) These lines show that the speaker intends to influence the world with words instead of the way his father and grandfather affected people with their work. The speaker is saying that writing can be just as hard and as influential as what his ancestors did.
The fifth and sixth stanzas are emphasizing how important the job of planting potatoes is to his family and how significant it is for him to continue doing it. The speaker looks up to his father for what he does and says, “By God, the old man could handle a spade,/ Just like his old man.” (Lines 15-16) This doesn’t only show us that he admires his father, but also that potato planting runs in his family. This means that it is kind of like a family business where the son takes over when the father can’t work anymore, which means the speaker would have to work. The work that this family does is very influential. “My grandfather could cut more turf in a day/ Than any other man on Toner’s bog.” (Lines 17-18) Theses lines stress the change that these people are making by doing their work. If the speaker was proud that his grandfather was the best it must mean that him being the best at digging was very significant to the people at that time.
The first four stanzas foreshadow the speaker’s choice to not pursue the job that his family has done for generations. When the speaker talks about writing he says, “The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun.” (Line 2) I think that when use of the word “gun” foreshadows that his writing might not be welcome with his family. A lot of people find guns worthless and a waste of time. “When the spade sinks into gravelly ground :”(Line4) This predicts that difficult decision that the speaker has to make later in the poem, whether to do what his family wants or what he wants. Digging into the ground that is full of rocks is a hard job which is why I think that this line foretells of his choice.
This poem, although literally describing the process of digging and planting potatoes also describes the relationship between a son that doesn’t want to do what his father ants and a father that wants his son to continue his legacy.
