Examine how Heaney presents his relationship with his father in

Examine how Heaney presents his relationship with his father in

Digging and Follower.

In the poem the Follower, the poet admires his father with all

factions. The poet, Heaney, describes his father on verse 2, stanza 1

as being a very strong, well built man and classifies him as an

"expert" (verse 5, stanza 2) when it comes to working in the field. In

verse 10-12, stanza 3, Heaney describes his father's eye as "his eye

narrowed and angled at the ground mapping the furrow exactly", this

verse describes his father as if he was a sailor, carefully, watching

the field as a map with a close eye making sure that everything is

moving or growing the way they should be.

In the poem digging, the reader begins to get a sense that time has

moved on, and that the young boy has now become older as so did his

father. The poet, Heaney, says on verse 7, stanza 3, "till his

straining rump along the flowerbeds", this verse indicates that his

father is old, and strains as he bends over to the flowerbeds, but

even though the father is aging, he is still a strong man who can

still hold a spade. Also, in the poem digging, it mentions about the

grandfather of the poet. Heaney describes his grandfather through a

series of recollections he had with him. In stanza 6 of the poem

Digging, it is there the reader, reads about the poets past with his

grandfather. From, the memories the poet recalls, the reader can see

that the grandfather was like the father, careful and we also catch

from verse 19 -21, stanza 6, which is a memory Heaney recalls of

giving milk to his grandfather, he drinks it but than falls right away

to work. From these verses the reader sees that he is extremely

dedicated to his work and feels very strongly about it.

In the end of the poem the Follower, the poet ends it very sudden, and

leaves the reader puzzled. The end of the poem the poet says, "…It is

my father who keeps stumbling behind me, and will not go away" (verse

23-24, stanza 6). These last two statements speak about the poet, as

he is older. He is now taken on the tradition of continuing the legacy

of farming as his father had done when he was young. When Heaney says

he now stumbles behind me, the poet does not literally mean that his

father is, but metaphorically instead is. In the past the son has

admired his father's abilities to be able to farm with such elegancy,