Follower and Digging by Seamus Heaney

Follower and Digging by Seamus Heaney In his poems ‘Follower and Digging’ Heaney is thinking about his

father. How do these two poems give you different ideas about his

relationship with his father?

In the two poems, ‘Digging’ and ‘Follower’, Seamus Heaney writes about

growing up on his father’s farm, in County Derry, in Ireland. I am

going to compare and contrast, remembered and present day, feelings

Heaney has about his relationship with his father. The poem ‘Follower’

tells us about Heaney’s admiration for his father and how he wants to

grow up to plough just like him. He observes how his father tends to

the farm, but how Heaney is never allowed to do much. He cannot wait

for the day when he is old enough to work the farm, in the skilled way

he has watched his father do. At the end of ‘Follower,’ Heaney

explains how his relationship with his father has changed.

As Heaney grows up, the poem ‘Digging,’ describes how Heaney’s

attitude has changed. When he was a child, he admired and wanted to be

just like his father. Now he wants to be a poet and go his own way. He

does not want to follow the same path as men generations before him,

although he feels farming is just as important.

The poem ‘Follower’, describes to us Heaney’s perspective as a child.

He compares his view of his father with a mighty boat. ‘His shoulders

globed like a full sail strung,’ makes us imagine his father’s

appearance is as big as a large sailing ship. The simile tells the

reader about the power of his father and how Heaney admired his father

physically. This tells the reader about the ...

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a pain at times. The way Heaney’s father would look after him as a

child also reminds me of when my parents used to read stories to me.

They would wrap me up in their arms and give me a big cuddle, which

made me feel safe and loved.

Heaney’s admiration for his father, reminds me of how much I used to

admire my dad. When we used to go walking on the sand banks in

Liverpool; he could tell exactly what type of bird was in the trees,

just by listening to its song. This taught me to treat the environment

with respect and that even one tiny bird has an identity. I was

fascinated by how he had all this knowledge of the countryside and

wanted to grow up to love the countryside and appreciate it, just like

him. I hoped one day, that I would be able to recognise what type of

birds were around by the tune they make.