Literary Devices In Digging By Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney’s poems ‘Digging’ and ‘Follower’ focus on family life, tradition and the pride Haney feels towards his family, particularly his father and grandfather. They also talk of generation, role reversal and the passing of the time. The poems describe his father and grandfather working on the farm and the admiration Heaney feels towards them. This essay will analyse the techniques Heaney used to convey his deep pride and admiration for his family. Throughout ‘Follower’ Heaney consistently describes the strong sense of pride he feels towards his father.

The loss of Aboriginal ethnicity is also highlighted when the land asks “Where are the laws and legends I gave?” This dates back to the Aboriginal culture, as their spirituality is inextricably linked to the land. They believe everything on the vast landscape has meaning and purpose. As long as they look after the land, the land will thereby return the favour. However, through time, Aboriginals have begun shifting away from their original beliefs as their world collides with the Western world. Different meanings could be made out of this; such as the more Aboriginals walk away from their culture, the less inclined the land will be to look after them, thus breaking the chain of their spirituality and beliefs. Caesuras such as full stops and question marks are used are pauses for a moment of reflection. Through the reader’s understanding of the poem’s structure, they are able to not only understand how the poem is to be read but also get the feel and emotions coming across from the poet.

In Seamus Heaney's poem "personal Helicon" the wells helped the child to mature, throught their passion for wells. The child is so fascinated as child that "they could not keep me from wells (line 1). The child enjoyed everything the well had to offer to him, they "savoured the rich crash when a bucket/Plummeted down at the end of the rope" (line 6-7). The well also fascinated the child to a point where they would drag "out long roots from the soft mulch" (line 11), just to be able to see themselves inside the well. At the same time the speaker was also scaresome of the wells as their were "ferns and tall/ Foxgloves, a rat slapped across my reflection" (line 15-16), this terified the child but not to a point; at the same time it helped them

A Comparison of Death of a Naturalist and Digging by Seamus Heaney The poems 'Death of a Naturalist' and 'Digging' have many similarities, and contrasts. Some of the reoccurring themes in the two poems include memories of childhood and changes in the life of the writer. There are contrasts too, in 'Death of a Naturalist'; the writer is concentrating on himself and his own experiences in life, rather than the experiences of others. In 'Digging', the opposite is true, as the writer concentrates mainly on the events in other people's lives, namely his father and grandfather.

Billy Collins uses dark rooms, oceans, hives, color slides and mouse mazes to describe his poem “Introduction to Poetry”, but also a way to analyze poetry in general. Growing up, students are advised by teachers how to analyze poetry. The speaker of Introduction to Poetry, Billy Collins, attempts to guide the readers by teaching them a unique and appropriate way to analyze poetry. The use of personification and imagery, by the author, gives the readers a new perspective to interpret and find the significance in poetry. In this particular poem, the speaker does not want the reader to listen to the teachers of the reader’s past, “tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a

Like a shovel to dirt as a pen to paper. In “Digging,” Seamus Heaney uses specific elements such as diction, and imagery to convey his meaning that children don’t always want to be like their past generations of men.

“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden, “My Father as a Guitar” by Martin Espada, and “Digging” by Seamus Heaney are three poems that look into the past of the authors and dig up memories of the authors fathers. The poems contain similar conflicts, settings, and themes that are essential in helping the reader understand the heartfelt feelings the authors have for their fathers. With the authors of the three poems all living the gust of their life in the 1900’s, their biographical will be similar and easier to connect with each other.

Family traditions/heritage is an aggregate of attitude, ideas, ideals and the environment, which a person inherits from his parents/ancestors. Individual identity entails aspect of one’s life that no one has control over, i.e., race, the color of skin, beliefs, etc. These family traditions and cultural legacies play a detrimental role in influencing one’s self-identity, which can be both negative and positive. A positive legacy consists of the trait that is inherited from consistent, diligent and thoughtful families. On the other hand, negative legacies are the ones that face opposition or rejection and are unwelcome in the family. Latter seem more prevalent in cases of adopting cultural shifts where an individual rejects legacies that were carried on for generations, and adopt a new way of life and be him/herself. Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” and Seamus Heaney’s “Digging” have a common central theme that is to show us how an individual breaks their family traditions and embrace a new way of life, and the consequences faced after that turnout.

In the poem “Introduction to Poetry,” Billy Collins contrasts a teacher’s passionate view of poetry with his students’ objective ones. The teacher urges the students to take the time to carefully examine a poem instead of forcing a deeper meaning out of its words. Collins uses imagery such as “press an ear against its hive” and “feel the walls for a light switch” to emphasize using all of the senses to fully experience a poem and to explain that there are various ways of approaching it. This imagery’s connotation also contrasts greatly with that of the students’. The teacher depicts creative and interesting ways of learning the true meaning of a poem while the students would rather “tie the poem to a chair with rope/and torture a confession

Work is one of the many personal commitments we have in life that fulfill our passion and needs. “Digging” and “Warren Pryor” are both related to work, and how having a certain occupation should be personally fulfilling. In these poems, the author portrays two different points of view. Underlying the true intention, both poems reveal the strong admiration both leads had upon their parents and what kind of work they had done. Both Seamus Heany’s “Digging” and Aiden Nowlan’s “Warren Pryor” suggest that when an individual has close relationships, they are often prone to influences, and as a result may choose their occupation accordingly.

For many, it’s difficult to stop greed once the first promise of satisfaction is made. Blackberry Picking follows the journey of pickers who, upon finding the first sweet fruit, become enraptured in their greed even as signs point to the inevitable rotting of all they’ve found. Through Blackberry Picking, Seamus Heaney criticizes humankind’s tendency to become overwhelmed with desire even though it always results in disappointment.

Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.

In the poem ‘Digging’ the persona maintains a sense of belonging through the relationship he has with his family. “The old man could handle a spade, just like his old man.” The proud recognition of his family history is obvious through the

For as long as it can be remembered people have used multiple forms of literature in order to gain knowledge, entertain, and even express a certain idea. Poetry is in fact one of those forms of literature, and before people began to write it, it was known to be told verbally by many. A person would tell a tale and those who listened would memorize it, what eventually caused poetry to spread around. Still to this day, many come to fall in love with the magic poetry possesses. It is the writer’s decision to either have a specific rhythm to it or just have a simple list of words. This essay argues that poetry is a creative way of expressing one's emotions and that it should be, not only preserved, but celebrated, even by those who have not considered themselves poetry fans in the past.

conversation. It isn't like a poem at all. It says "By god the old man