"Digging"
By
Seamus Heaney
Analysis and Response Essay
Pre-writing
Subject: a young man speaking of his father and grandfather. The author illustrates how they both worked very hard on a potato farm using spades.
Relationships: while reading this poem I feel the writer is speaking of the men in past tense. Remembering their laboring skills to crop the potatoes. The writer also speaks of a time when he helped with the work. I sense the author is reflecting back to his childhood.
Stanza: flows clearly and is easy to read. The writer uses powerful adjectives to describe the actions taking place when the older men are working.
Tone: matter of fact, to the point. I feel the writer at times has guilt for not being involved or not a strong worker as his father and grandfather were.
Conflict: At the end of the poem the young man reflects again of his father and grandfather working hard with their hands. The author makes it clear that he too has strong hands now and will use them to pen down the admirable story of his loved ones who once worked so hard while he watched.
The poem "Digging" by Seamus Heaney is very deep. This poem can make the reader dig deep into their own mind to wonder what the author is trying to let the reader know. Upon reading the poem several times I have come to my own analysis. This poem illustrates childhood memories, an admiration for two strong men and the need for the author to proclaim his strength through writing.
Reading the first two lines of the poem the reader can understand that the pen is very important to the author, here is where the author finds his most strength and with his pen he begins the journey into his childhood memories. "Under my window, a clean rasping sound when the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father digging. I look down" (Heaney 3-5). This stanza is illustrating the authors memory as a boy hearing his father digging in the dirt, he can clearly remember his father digging to crop potatoes. In lines 6-9 the author depicts how as a boy it seemed like his father was always digging, always doing the same rhythmic motion of the work.
I felt the author has much admiration for the strength of his father and grandfather. It seems to me like the author at the time was young and could not keep up the pace of the older men, still he tried to do the manly work as evidenced by, "to scatter new potatoes that we picked, loving their cool hardness in our hands" (Heaney 13-14). The author speaks of how his father is just like his grandfather, possibly even a better farmer than his father. "My grandfather cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toner's bog" (Heaney 17-18). The author recalls how his grandfather was so intently focused on the crop he uses the word "digging" to illustrate the constant work ethic that the author would of liked to be part of.
The last stanzas of the poem clearly speak of the authors feelings of inadequacies of not being strong enough to "dig" like his father and grandfather. Was it that he was just a boy or was he not strong enough for that type of work, he does not say. In lines 27-28 Heaney speaks of not being able to follow men like his father and grandfather. Again, it is not clear if this was do to age or strength, but the author wants the reader to know that he is strong with his pen and thinks of the pen as his spade "between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests, I'll dig with it" (Heaney 29-31). This clearly speaks of the author stating his strength is through his writing. He uses his strength to document the commitment his family had to the farm, by this he is keeping the legacy of the "Digging" alive.
In conclusion, this poem speaks of a man's fond memories of himself as a boy who admired the strength and work ethic of his father and grandfather. The author subtly lets the reader know that he too is strong in his own way and will continue the "Digging" through his penmanship which will always be his spade and the writing he completes will be his harvest.
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