Digging
Seamus Heaney
GCSE Anthology- Page 21
Simile: it fits his
hand and is
powerful
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
Under my window a clean rasping sound Rhyme
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down
Repetition: Digging is literally
what he watches his father
do- it is repeated because his
father and grandfather spent
the days of their lives doing
this. Digging represents
manual labour, a masculine
task and making a living.
Narrative: Seeing his father
(now old) “straining” to dig
“flowerbeds”, the poet recalls
his father in his prime, digging
“potato drills”.
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
Narrative: He describes the
skill and dignity of digging. He
admires this physical labour.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly. alliteration
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man could handle a spade,
Just like his old man.
Exclamation: The poet
clearly admires his father
and grandfather- their
skills and work ethic.
Narrative: he remembers His is proud of his
his grandfather, digging grandfather‟s
peat and he is a small boy. accomplishments.
My grandfather could cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner's bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, digging down and down
For the good turf. Digging. Fell to right away:
hardworking.
Grandfather would
barely stop to drink
Metaphor: digging and
roots, which shows how the
poet, in his writing, is
getting back to his own
roots (his identity, and
where his family comes onomatopoeia
from)
The cold smell of potato mold, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I've no spade to follow men like them.
Metaphor: He has “men like them” refers to
chosen to be a writer, masculine labourers but he sees
not a labourer. that the pen is (for him) mightier,
and with it he will dig into his past
and celebrate them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I'll dig with it. Last Stanza: Poem is circular-
ending where it began. The
narrator continues his father
and grandfather‟s tradition of
hard work and skill- using a
Dig: The poet will different kind of tool (pen not
make his living with spade)
his pen, he‟ll connect
to his father and
grandfather.
Quick Quiz
Answer in full sentences
1. Explain one simile in this poem.
2. What are some examples of onomatopoeia? Explain how
this adds to the poem.
3.How is the poet different from his father and grandfather?
4. Explain in your own words the image in the last line of the
poem.
Digging
Seamus Heaney
Subject: This poem looks at two memories - the father
digging the potato drills, the grandfather digging
turf, for which he was famous as the best digger
on the peat bog.
Tone: Poet admires and celebrates the work of his
ancestors- his descriptive images show his is fond
of his memories.
Themes: Identity is defined by family‟s identity.
Masculinity and manual labour.
Links: This poem links to „Still I Rise‟ because of how
identity is described in relation to ancestors and „Follower‟
because of the changing views of his father and himself.
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney was born on April 13, 1939, on a farm
in Castledawson, County Derry, Northern Ireland, the
eldest of eight children. In 1963, he began teaching at
St. Joseph's College in Belfast. Here he began to write.
In 1965 he married Marie Devlin, and in 1966 year he
published his first book of poetry, Death of a Naturalist.
He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford. In 1995 he
received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Heaney has
lived in Dublin since 1976. Since 1981 he has spent
part of each year teaching at Harvard University.
Essay Questions
1. Look at „Digging‟ and „Still I Rise‟. Show
how the two poets see themselves in
relation to their ancestors.
1. Look at „Digging‟ and „Follower‟ both by
Seamus Heaney. Explain the poet‟s
changing views of his father and
himself.