Seamus Heaney - Digging - Analysis. Poetry Lecture by Dr. Andrew Barker
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- čas přidán 5. 06. 2014
- DIGGING. Seamus Heaney's mission statement poem. "Digging" is the first poem from Heaney's first book of verse, the one that sets out his intentions for his poetry and tells us what kind of poet he wants to be. "Digging" achieves this, but it is also a celebration of family tradition and how traditions can be used and moulded by the next generation, who may have different work and different tools but still find an ethic to emulate.
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Andrew Barker
I don't even need this for homework I just love listening to this guy talk about poetry
I swear. He's so effortless.
I know what you mean!! He is indeed a joy to listen to, every lecture is a rich lesson in analysis of an otherwise very complex topic.
You d riding
My eleven year old granddaughter had to study Blackberry Picking and I turned to Google for help as I had never read Seamus Heaney before...And Lo and behold came across these lectures and I am hooked. So absorbing and so many layers unfolding in a very intimate telling. Thank you Dr Andrew for bringing the enchantment of poetry back into my life.
On “snug as a gun.” The analysis of this simile here is somewhat incomplete and is improvable for sure. For those who like this sort of thing, we can perhaps see the pen, at the start of the poem, as a tool that will assassinate or at least “end” Heaney’s link with his father’s way of making a living and his own past. At the start of the poem Heaney knows that his pen has that potential. Incorporating that reading into the poem, which is omitted from the lecture, helps it read as not just a dawning awareness of the usable influence of roots, but as move from a more violent negativity to positivity about that influence. Imagining the gun as a potential weapon against the past that gets transformed during the duration of the poem into a tool to investigate the past is a worthwhile addition and, for me, definite improvement on how I present it here. At the end the pen is no longer a comfortable potential weapon against the family's influence but a tool for unearthing it.
I’d perhaps argue against how “comfortable” the pen should feel at the start of the poem. Would Heaney, or the persona of the poem if we must, ever have been 'comfortable' about violently ending his relationship with the past? I don’t think so, but this is a minor quibble? Having said that if Heaney changes it from “snug” as a gun, to something less comfortable he loses the near palindrome in the line, and the palindrome is too much fun to wish away.
Hope that helps.
Andrew Barker
Another way of looking at the gun/pen image .... At the opening of the poem, he has the immature poet's romantic and grandiose notion that he is going to be the literary equivalent of the revolutionary gunman, shooting down everything that requires such treatment - but is, in fact, sitting there in comfort with nothing to say. Literally lowering his sights, to his father working in the garden, he sees what he has come from, and, metaphorically, what he is; the tool of his father and grandfather was not the gun, but the spade - not romantic, not revolutionary, but having a value worth examining and celebrating. And he realizes there is an object lesson in the kind of hard work - combining pride and humility - needed to accomplish something useful. His pen is pointedly not 'long and slender'; being 'squat' (like Sancho Panza), it foregoes any claim to elegance or romance. He seems to be saying, Now that I have accepted who I am - a farmboy - I'm ready to do something worth doing. Edit: Thinking some more about this - I think 'outlaw' rather than 'revolutionary' may be the persona that is tempting the young poet - his obvious models would be, on the one hand, the patrician Yeats, on the other, all the various Behan-esque Irish literary figures .... He seems tempted by the outlaw persona - the gun is 'snug' - but, of course, realizes it won't be productive for him. But he's clearly not the elegant patrician, either. As I say, he comes to see and accept, even embrace, what he is.
@@nozecone Yep. To nozecone. That's exactly how I see it too. I particularly like your idea of the gun-wielding 'romantic outlaw' persona being brought down, literally we might say, to the earth enabling him to become the poet and man he was soon to be. Fine piece of writing that.
Interesting analysis of that opening line. I never thought of it as anything else except a description leading into the main body of the poem.
But fascinating to hear your interpretation.
On "as snug as a gun" - my interpretation.
This poem was published in 1966 - 4 years before "The Troubles" started. Therefore I think it is unlikely to refer to a handgun. Most political agitation at that time was around civil rights and social politics - voting rights housing conditions, employment discrimination, etc, etc. The politics of nationalism (small n), was of secondary importance and really came back to the fore in the early 70s as The Troubles escalated.
As Seamus came from a farming background, it is likely that there was a shotgun in the household.
The line always conjures up to me how farmers can be seen walking around their farms with the shotgun broken open sitting snugly in their arms - comfortable, familiar a working tool just like his father and grandfather's spades and his pen.
I think he's signalling that he has come to the realisation that his days working a farm are over.
His work tool is the pen and didn't he master it.
@@johnmcloughlin3607 Didn't he indeed! Nothing I disagree with there and I always like alternative readings of lines in poems that make sense. It make me feel as if I am getting more for my money when poems yield coherent extra meanings. I've this memory of hearing of a shotgun being carried in the snug of the arm, but can't find that definition of snug anywhere so perhaps the memory is a phantom one. My qualm with the gun being a farmer's shotgun would be the rather literal one that the handgun actually is held between the finger and thumb, like a pen, and the shotgun is not, but the rural imagery as opposed to the more violent imagery created by the handgun is certainly tonally preferable. I agree with you about the dates, but which of us doesn't think we know what a gun feels like even if we haven't handled one? Personally I'm not a big fan of the simile and even tend to think that it was the near palindrome that Heaney found so irresistible about it.
I’m a very late in life coming to the beauty of poetry. Just love Dr Bakers analysis of all poems. I could listen for hours on end. I know the whole beauty of poetry is that it speaks to people and can be interpreted countless ways. For me. “The coarse boot nestled on the lug” could be a reaction to the coarse language used by his frustrated father whilst digging that he instantly recognised as it nestled on his lug (ear) something he heard for the first time 20 years ago. Which made him get up and look out the window in the first place. Poetry is just wonderful.
I couldn't agree more.
We studied this poem in class this year but i couldn't understand much as our teacher has explained it in a very complicated way... glad i found your video, love your analysis, thank you so much.
Thank you so much Dr. Andrew Baker! Your analysis of this poem was extremely helpful for my interpretation of poetry class.
The concept of digging that Seamus Heaney portrays in this poetry is exactly what I think writing is like. The metaphors in this poem are easy to understand because it is vivid. But I'm not sure that whether "snug as a gun" means that things that he writes with his pen would just be bullets. This idea is just simple but unique.
Moreover, Heaney seems to appreciate what his family gives him and loves to recollect those memories which is with his family. It's quite different than most of the poets because as I know Parents is a theme that poets would always portray in poem as a blockage of their life. So it's quite outstanding when Heaney talks about a new way to be like his ancestors.
This is life saving. THANK YOU
It is clear that Heaney feels confident that he is very skilled with a pen and demonstrates and proves that he is an accomplished poet by writing this very thought provoking poem.Heaney realizes that in choosing 'the squat pen' over 'the spade' he is in fact 'digging' up memories of his ancestors, and thus enabling the process of the historical past giving meaning to the present. So all in all, he draws the conclusion that whilst we must not forget our roots,we must pursue our own passions and dreams in life. For Heaney, it is his chosen calling as a writer in which he finds solace, which enables him to transfer memories onto paper, giving old thoughts the power to transcend time.
Really appreciate you doing this. Great stuff. Many thanks,
I really dug this
Can't believe nobody wrote that before.
I wish you would put up more videos. I really enjoy your views on literature.
Andrew, many thanks for the great job!
You're a wonderful lecturer, not boring at all; really enjoyed it. I'm a fan now.
For me, this poem is as simple as it can be but the feelings behind was something very unique. It is amazing that a poet could turn something so simple and related it back to ideas about his heritage, his jobs and his relationship with his father and grandfather. I like the similie The squat pen rests: snug as a gun". I think it does take into account about the pen is mightier than the sword. When we think of gun, I think of something loud. It is as if he was going to write something "loud" (do something to present himself) with his "gun" pen.
Moreover, for me, the only present was the first stanza and the last stanza. He is thinking about something to write in his poems. So the pen rests there in the begining. He is thinking about the time when he was young that he saw his father working under his windw, digging. The entire poem was about him remembering his younger days to find something worthy to write. So when he finished remembering, he will dig with these ideas and write with it. So he will dig with it in the final stanza.
I do think he likes his heritage of his father working in hard labor. It is something he wants to keep as his heritage. He wants to keep digging with his pen to write something meaningful.
I also want to know more about metafictive. I searched the net aout it. "Metafiction- It poses questions about the relationship between fiction and reality, usually using irony and self-reflection." Can there be irony in this poem as well as self-reflection?
Completely agree with this excellent lecture. I would just add one thing. It seems to me there is a movement from the gun to the spade, just as there is a movement from 'looking down' on his father/ancestors to the deep respect for them that his thought process expresses through the poem. It is as if he recognises that the only way he can have the impact that he seeks with his poetry is by coming at it from an attitude of great respect and through a search for deep understanding.
Addictive lectures! Thank you! for the series! :)
This is an extraordinary analysis of this poem. Thank you very much.
Brilliant job, it's a pleasure to listen to you.
Please upload more videos. Love it
Seamus was an artist I was so happy to have known him. He knew us. God bless you, Seamus I will never forgetyou.
Thank you so much Mr. Barker, i am a student of literature from India, i have followed your videos well, they are really good. My last duchess was also brilliantly explained, big thumb's up.
I miss Seamus Heaney's wonderful voice, it brought his poems to life. Not that you don't read his poem well, you do and I can catch every word as I'm familiar with your accent and these days my ears don't work as well as they did, but the tone of voice isn't his, that rich, lilting tone of the Irish, the intonation. Maybe I was a little in love? He catches the mood like no other ....... so sad he's gone
+Ruth Writes I'd have to agree with you there, Ruth. I was lucky enough to hear Seamus read this one in his last years which was a bit like hearing Paul McCartney sing Yesterday and the audience reacted with much the same reverence. There was a way the man could lightly growl a vowel, which doesn't even seem a possible sound but he could do it, that was simply inimitable.
+mycroftlectures re Paul McCartney :) I was lucky enough to have been nearby when the Beatles did there last live performance on the roof in London....it was magic and lifted the mood of all the people around me :)
Because a pencil could being as a gunshot.
Beautiful voice! Thank you very much for the wonderful analysis. It certainly helps poem lovers and students who are preparing for exams.
This explanation of the poem was very helpful. Thanks for this wonderful explanation .
Thanks a lot for this. Someone further down in the comments said that this lecture helped them "see things" - the same is definitely true with me.
Thank you very much. You really helped me to get a good marks in my final exam.
Congratulations. Glad to be helpful.
Thanks, this was brilliant!
Andrew great analysis of one of my favourites
Thanks! It really helpful.
wow
your video is really useful. it helps me to understand "digging" more.
i would write thay analysis in my thesis.
I enjoyed listening to your lecture and appreciate your additional information about the "snug as a gun" simile here in the comments section.
Owww okay tysm ,i will dig with it sir Andrew Barker! 😉❤️✨
Thank you soooooo much!! These videos actually helps me a lot in the exam!!!!
Brilliant analysis 👏👏👏👏
thanks....it's so good
Poetry often takes small moments, things that are insignificant in every day life and shines a light on them, brings back the moment to the reader in vivid colour, let's the reader pine for the image as it gifts it to them in the written/spoken word.
Very good analysis that I enjoyed.
A few point. 25:42 When digging potatoes in Ulster the man digging stands on the potato ridge or drill and moves back when digging the potatoes out from under the withered potato stalks. He does not throw the potatoes over his shoulder and back. He throws them out “scatters” them carefully over the previously dug earth where the previously dug potatoes are scattered on the ground. It is easy then for the following children to pick up the “cool hard” potatoes.
Digging turf is different. Turf is saturated with water and very heavy as a result. Hence the heaving.
The paper for the cork was usually made of brown paper - more commonly available in the past than now.
The first layer of turf, the scraw, was full of roots. The lower levels had fewer roots (they had been turned into peat with time).
And just when I think I have nothing new to learn about a poem. Many thanks. Andy. That "heaving" bit makes perfect sense. I do like it when there is an extra bit of attention that can be given to a single word like that.
From peat diggers that I have seen all the dug peat is lined up neatly in rows, not tossed. Also to be noted that digging for potatoes I would use a fork not a spade and the peat diggers I think have a special spade that is long and narrow. I love the word scraw. I like the union in the poem between the sloppy, hurried paper cork in the bottle, getting wet as Seamus ran to his grandfather with the milk sloshing and the grandfather at work drinking and getting back to the job in hand, laborious work for money and not tending of a garden for potatoes . I have used paper as a bottle stopper. I thought that Seamus's dad had died 20 years before he was writing the poem, when he was alive and digging, not 20 years younger. I love explanations of poems as I am 1D and never see. At present we are all more aware of the commercialisation of peat and the need to preserve peat bogs so now as you all know we are finding alternative products to grow our potatoes in and to not use or to use less peat.
Beautifully described a beautiful poem. As the spade goes "down and down", you've given a detailed picture of the poem with every layer of it brought up and shining. I could clearly see the image the poem makes. Thank you. Subscribed, going through your other lectures, and looking out for more.
Praveen Singhmar Many thanks. Much appreciated comment, nicely in tune with the poem itself.
mycroftlectures
:)
great video!
Great Work
Beautiful
I think Digging is a simple piece of writing. I really enjoy reading the last part of this poem. Heaney does not have a spade like his father or grandfather, but he has a pen, and he will dig with it. To me this is a fantastic piece of writing that Heaney compares the jobs that different generations do, but as long as we go down deep to it, work hard on it, we can be successful and be professional.
The way the pen replaces the spade and becomes the poet’s or the persona's tool is significant in this poem. His father’s and grandfather’s inheritance enables him to reach his mental depths, where the past activity of digging connects and continues with his present. In the poem, we are presented with different working styles, one is more physical and the other more knowledge based, and it seems that one is reflecting another. Nevertheless, the spade, the gun and the pen place the importance on the agents, without an agent the tools will only rest, it is the effort of men that digs, transcends their best qualities.
I appreciate the details in the poems. I like how he has experienced digging potatoes and has the experience of being in his family's shoes. That's how he can achieve greatness in poetry. He sees their intellectual disconnection differently. But he also dims a point that there are other people who are experiencing the same thing but they might see their family differently. There is closure in this poem because it is comforting to know that two classes could blend well together in the ending.
Could you please talk more about the last point in your lecture?
Great work on the full analysis of the poem I find it very helpful for my english literature gcse preparation. Thank you :) But I can't stop laughing at all the 'unmeant' euphemisms xD
When first reading ‘Digging’, I think the language is too simple and blunt. However, after watching the poetry analysis by Dr. Andrew Barker, I start to love this fantastic poem. In the analysis, I am really interested in the definition of ‘seeing things’.
In the analysis, it is said that noticing things can be defined as either noticing things that other people don’t notice or noticing things aren’t there and I totally agree that Seamus Heaney has the ability to notice things that other people don’t notice. In my opinion, as for this poem, the poet actually notices two kinds of things; one of them is concrete while the other one is more abstract. The first thing, just as mentioned in this video, is the ‘bright edge’ of the spade, which can show that the poet’s father is very professional and hard working. The second thing is the ‘prowess at manual labour’ of his father and grandfather because after knowing about the specific social context at that time, we can find that the educated children may feel disconnected with their families in many cases, but Seamus Heaney sees the ‘prowess at manual labour’ of his father and grandfather, which is unnoticed by others. Furthermore, it also makes him realize that the spade is the tool of the trade of his family, in the same way; the pen is the tool of his own trade. Although they seem totally different, the spirit of digging further can be passed on from generation to generation and in terms of Seamus Heaney’s poem writing, it means to think deeper thoughts to get deeper poems, which is very crucial for his future creation.
In addition, I think it is also a rite of passage for the poet. Perhaps when he was a little child, he couldn’t understand the ‘prowess at manual labour’, and even wanted to escape from his family and this kind of life. However, as time goes by, he starts to see it positively because he gradually realizes that working hard is the capability that he also needs in his poem writing and ‘there is an inheritance there for me’ as mentioned in this video.
Although this poem seems like a narrative diary at the first sight, it is very profound and meaningful.
(ENG3379-1 He Han Chun, Lucy 4072336)
This poem is really vivid and descriptive one that makes it possible for readers to fully imagine and follow what Seamus is showing. The lecturer explained about 'twenty years away' as the memory when his father was 20 years younger and when it was much easier for him to stoop in rhythm. For me, it sounds like the poet looking back his memory when his dad was alive. Rasping sound of something reminds him of his father digging with spade when he was alive and through his memory or remembrance of his family, he continues the poem. Throughout the poem, even if there's some kind of different 'class' system of Marxism among his family, the poet is not showing off his higher, educated class but revealing his pride or almost his awe towards his family.
The beginning and the end of the poem have the same lines of 'Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests.' In the first stanza, the squat pen which is 'snug as a gun' rests in the poet's hand. For me it's quite weird to use a simile with pen and gun but I can somehow see the difference when I compare the first stanza and the last stanza. Pen and gun are both useful when they have certain aim. At first, the poet seems uncertain even if he knows that he is educated and he has to do something with pen because he's probably good at writing during his education. However, after recalling his childhood memory and his family's dignity as manual laborers, he ends with 'I'll dig with it'. Even if he cannot do the same digging what his ancestors did, he decides his aim of writing, unearthing and going down and down for his family's tradition and dignity.
An excellent review
Wow...good work. By God this bloke can handle a Heaney Piece!
Thanks. And I got the reference there.
Wonderful explanation, sir.
You also digged the poem by spade and gone down and down.
I like your method of delivering lectures on poetry.
I enjoyed your Shakespeare sonnets, and i am waiting for your explanation of the sonnets of the master poets.
As I read the line, TILL HIS STRAINING RUMP AMONG THE FLOWERBED'S. it makes me think that his father is digging for pleasure rather than need as he is in a flowerbed but straining because of his age. This is in complete contrast as to when his father was capable of digging potato's twenty years ago with ease and would scatter them to be picked up by the younger people, as his father had done before him. The use of describing a crop of potato's is the same as the cycle of life itself, things are born, die, then a new generation takes over, but this time the digging with a spade is going to stop, and the writer is starting to use the pen to earn his living, and not the spade as his for-bearers had. I really enjoyed reading this work of art, it brought back to me so many happy similar times of my own life, although I must point out that we would plant potato's with a spade, and when they were ready to crop, we would use a fork to dig them up. Many was the time I spent day after day digging trenches down the high-ways and by-ways of England for the electric or gas companies, and nothing in front of me but the RUMP of my mate clad in well worn corduroy, digging away the same as me. On my first day of this work, I can well remember being told to get off the end of my shovel, and dig deep, throw well back by some aerate ganger. Oh how I wish I had some talent to put things into words of meaningful beauty.
+ROBERT LEE-MELLOR I love it when people point things out I hadn't considered. The point about the flowers makes perfect sense, but it's the point about the fork that I'd never considered. I remember my own granddad digging spuds and I'm pretty sure he used a fork to dig 'em up as well. Never noticed that before, and I must have read the poem a thousand times. Ah, well, artistic economy and all that. Would introducing a fork into the poem have been necessary? Maybe, for reasons of his own Seamus's dad did use a spade instead of a fork? (Though it would be far easier to shake the dirt off the freshly dug up potatoes with a fork though, wouldn't it?) Just a thought; he's rooting out the tall tops though, isn't he? And tall tops are not a type of potato, as I mistakenly say in the video, but a part of the potato. Maybe you use a spade to do that? I'd go with a fork though. All good fun to contemplate. One of Heaney's greatest strengths, for me, is in his ability to write of what you mention without making the act of hard work seem more "pretty" than it actually is. There is another Irish poet, Patrick Kavanagh, who I much admire very good on that as well and well worth reading.
Thanks for that.
+mycroftlectures Many thanks for your very kind word's, yes I thought about the fork, could it have been used a a metaphor for a bayanette, as in A FINISHED LIFE by stabbing. Also as I look deeper ( maybe to deep ) Potato's would never be planted in GRAVEL, indeed they would have been planted in MANURED medium to heavy soil, this could have given rise to the thought that throw dirt ( excrement ) sustenance is made possible = LIFE AFTER DEATH. Which leads me on to my other thoughts that I got from this work of art, it points out the frailty that await,s us all in our later live's, going from strong young man to a old wearyer person ( as myself ) reflecting on his past life. But of coarse this is all for the individual to translate by use of his own life experiences. Also the gun represents death, or at least the chance of death laying there in our hands, do I pull the trigger, or do I write a letter? THE PEN OR THE SWORD as with our own individual translations of this work, we must choose what is best for ourselves.
+ROBERT LEE-MELLOR Firstly I'd say you're right, potatos never would be planted in gravel. (Even Matt Damon could find better soil than gravel to plant potatoes in). But the potatoes aren't planted in gravel in the poem. The gravelly ground the spade sinks into is presumably fine for growing flowers, but the potato drills won't be dug in that as well unless Heaney's dad was really trying to set himself an agricultural challenge.
oh yes, Punishment. I love that. I had do do a comparison with that at Plath's lady lazarus as an undergraduate. That's when I started to love poetry. A lecture on Punishment would be interesting. Its a great thing you are doing here.
In truth, such a poem doesn't need analysis. It's beauty is its simplicity. Any farmer's son, could understand it. It has a few onomatopoeic images ( rural, oral speech is full of imagery). Even in the Cockney accent I grew up hearing, they had a term for male sexual encounters- ''Shirt lifter''- which is a vivid metonym, or, as in Anglo Saxon Poetry, an example of Kenning.
I suppose the argument against that would be a farmer's son may well have the cultural connections to find this familiar but what if the person trying to understand it were not a farmer's son but the son but the son of a tech engineer? What if the person reading it were too young to fully understand it? What if the person reading it spoke English as a second language? What if the person reading it was new to poetry and just didn't GET it? I taught it to all those, and many more who had no idea what was going on in the poem. People often have a tendency to think that just because they understand something everyone else does too. I agree that it's beautiful and, for me, quite simple, but I am not everybody. Incidentally I always thought shirt-lifter was Australian.
@@mycroftlectures I perhaps implied an English speaking student. Even, subconsciously, an Irish student, or an English student of Irish heritage. I have never visited Ireland, but my grandfather was from Donegal, Heaney's part of the country. My mother picked potatoes on cold,dewy farmlands in 1940s Scotland, as a child. Planted, harvested, cooked and eaten, the potato is also symbolic of Irish suffering, and travels within the Irish psyche. I knew they were cold, and hard, but also muddy and dusty., although I am a city child. But your analysis for the category of students mentioned, needless to say, is wonderful. Apologies for any presumptuousness.
a billion thanks, absolute savior!!! it is after watching this video, i got the poem completely !! u must do punishment as well :)
Digging, to me, is a simple but beautiful poem that celebrates Heaney’s family heritage - the contributions that the previous generations had made to the family and by extension society - on one hand; and a self-reflexive poem that examine the significance of his poems, of poetry, and of literature to society on the other.
In the poem Heaney addresses his father and grandfather lovingly as ‘the old man’ and narrates how both of them had worked very hard as farmers - his father dug diligently everyday to the extent that the edge of his spade had turned ‘bright’ whereas his grandfather ‘cut more turf in a day/ Than any other man on Toner’s bog’ - just to support the family. Their hard work and sacrifices have inspired Heaney to take up a spade of his own as a poet- his pen - and dig: dig deep into the family history, and also the possible contributions he could make to society.
This critical examination of his role as a poet to society can be evidenced, I think, by his describing his pen ‘as a gun,’ which can be useful or lethal. In his time, society has transformed from one of agricultural based to one of knowledge- based. He no longer needs to do manual labour - to dig potatoes and peat - to earn a living; instead, he’s given a pen to write. And the last line of the poem that comes after all the praises he gives to ‘the old men’ - ‘I’ll dig with it’ - sounds very much like a resolution: that he’s determined to work diligently like the old Heaneys for the good of the family’s name and also of society.
Digging reminds me of the ‘Always on the side of the egg’ speech that Murakami gave in a prize giving ceremony, in which he questions his role as a novelist - ‘a professional spinner of lies’ - and the value of his work. According to Murakami, novelists spread values to the world through their literary works; and so it’s important for them - ‘one of the novelist's most important duties’ - to make judgments about right and wrong in their works. And I think Heaney’s Digging is also about the same thing - to use his ‘pen’ that is ‘snug as a gun’ carefully and wisely and bring good to the world.
Most of us are not professional and renowned writers like Heaney and Murakami, but I think their words still have some relevance to us. Digging is written in the 60s, when the Internet was less popular than it is now. And nowadays there are lots of the so-called ‘keyboard fighters’ who have little, if any regard to people’s feelings and take malicious pleasure in attacking other people online. And I think this poem has reminded us the power of our words and its potential danger if not used with care.
fabulous.
Legend
I think the line “But I’ve no spade to follow them” indicates the end of the working class generation and the tradition of his family will stop and he can only reminisce from his memory. His family understands the change of economic situation of the society and stop passing the tradition of being a professional worker to Heaney. He acknowledges the attitude of being professional and hard working as a tradition of his family. Even though it is impossible to live with digging anymore, he decided that the spirit and tradition has to be continued with his career as a poet.
Comparing the first stanza and the last, I can see he has both quality of being professional and spirit of working class which he wants to inherit from his family. The first stanza, “The squat pen rests: snug as a gun” indicates he know he has the talent to master words and write good poems, as professional as his father and grandfather. In the last stanza, it is not only the professional talent that he has that matters, he is making a promise that he will carry on the spirit of his family tradition by saying “I’ll dig with it.”
Thank you Dr Barker for introducing me to this wonderful poem and your superb analysis, this really resonated with me as someone who was raised by a hard-working parent and a certain amount of guilt one carries whilst pursuing a career in the arts and you feel, well at least I do that I need to prove myself by having a certain work ethic, perhaps it has to do with the masculine pride that admires and is partly envious of the physical robustness of certain professions🤔 PS I would love to see you return to these longer detailed analysis of works of poetry and perhaps even the occasional song lyrics dissected 😌🙏🏼
Many thanks. I'm actually working on recording some some new lectures now.
mycroftlectures Excellent .. looking forward to them ..🙏🏼 Azam / Hunted
As a matter of fact, digging does require skills and tools. To be more exact, one might need a spade or shovel to carry out the work of digging. As for the persona in the poem, his pen is the only tool he has. In the poem, it shows the speaker’s willingness and inclination to use his pen to dig some deeper things and to present all those deeper thoughts with the use of his pen. At the first, the speaker was uncertain that whether his pen can be as great and powerful as the spades of his father and grandfather. But, in the end of the poem, I might feel that the speaker has made up his mind to dig with his pen. Back to first stanza, it quite like the poet’s use of simile - ‘The squat pen rests: snug as a gun.” It reminds me the old saying: ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’. For me, I think sometimes the use of pen is more powerful than the weapon just like guns. When the persona has dig sometime deep, it can alter the reader’s thoughts and beliefs and even it can change the world. In this sense, I think the speaker’s use of pen can indeed as great as the spades of his father. Last, I quite appreciate the poet’s skills of ‘seeing thing’ - that is noticing things that other people don’t notice. In fact, most of us would not regard digging as a talent or skill but in in this poem it did. He has showed respect for the skills and works his father and grandfather have achieved.
Oh man! What an explanation
Tai naki Mawlana Emon?
To me, this poem is about praising his ancestors' digging profession with vivid description during the digging process. The feeling is most the time positive, because he is glad that he could look up onto their ancestors and learn from them the diligence in digging. He also uses metaphors to reveal that he is going to pass on this tradition and positive characteristic to his next generation by using his pen to contribute to the literary field. However, I could feel a slightly regret in Heaney that he could not follow this practice of digging. It seems like he is the one who cuts of the link between his family bloodline. For me, I think he is not blaming himself of being a literate worker instead of a physical labor. He admits directly that he is going to use a pen instead of a spade. However, still there is a little regret for him that his strongest ability or interest is not in digging. Therefore, here is the one little sad moment behind the praising positive feeling created in the poem. But all in all, he is quite positive to his literary gift since he expresses in the poem he wants to contribute and try his best in his field, like what the ancestors did.
My old impression of the line. Bends low comes up twenty years away. Was Heaney transcending time. Regarding the soil not the father. I was thinking along the lines of soil ageing not his father. I thought this because Heaney was fascinated by bog bodies etc. Now I think that line was simply a reference to his father as 20 years younger.
can u please analyse more of heaney's poems from the same collection please
There is one lecture on Mid-term Break, which is also from the "Death of a Naturalist" collection. Another poem I like a lot from that collection is "Personal Helicon", the final one. The last line "I rhyme to see myself, to set the darkness echoing," is a nice link to 'Digging.' Here the well takes the place of the spade uncovering art.
When I read this poem, my first impression of ‘digging’ is that this is not a poem, it is more like a diary or memoir. He is use few stanzas to describe his Golden childhood memories. In fact, I was wrong. Because the key word ‘seeing things’, I am more in favor of second explanation, seeing things is noticing things that other people don’t notice. I think attention to detail is the charm of this poem. ‘Twenty years away’ mean his father has been engaged in this profession. ‘bright edge’ Side description his father is very conscientious about his work, seems like the story ‘perseverance will prevail’. And he also describes his grandfather, he is the best worker. I think he is emphasizing the Spirit Inheritance of their family.
The title ‘digging’ also make me interesting. His father and grandfather are use a spade for digging, but he uses ‘pen’. I think in here, he uses his father and grandfather to be the foreshadowing. He also could engage in this profession and ‘digging’ his imaging for compose a beautiful poem.
At last, I also think he write this poem is telling us he is creating value just like his father and grandfather, they are creating money and he is creating authentic value or spiritual values. And ‘The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun’, gun is used here because he also wants to tell us he wants fight for something with his verses, maybe for his family, maybe for himself.
My brother in law grew up on a potato farm in the 50s and 60s here in Canada. Just cutting the thousands of seed potatoes to plant was horrific.
seamus is a poet of the people
I like his idea of linking the family job of digging with his aim of being a good writer. I agree with you that 'snug' here might mean that the pen is lying safely on his hand, like people who hold their guns as a means of protection or attacking. On the other hand he might be describing the way he holds the pen or the way he turns the pen, forming the shape of his hand and fingers to look like a gun.
I wonder if it was the case in the past or was it just the case for his family, that he didn't describe how his family had trained him as a professional manual labour, didn't teach him how to use the spade. I think it's probably that his family has never asked him to inherit their job, because he has the chance to be well-educated.
great stuff, cheers. Might you consider trying to find meaning with this particular poem, please :-)
'Hurting'
Little creatures with uncomfortable violence - a smiling yet decidedly unhappy individual
The swan song will probably be a tad bit unutterable - gathered and dutifully plain sailing somebody's these perishable people faulted by crying shy time
Why have their scrupulous sails however been torn treacherously asunder, and we get to watch it fall to plunder by manner of undeniably speaking
She grabs her favourite son's empty arm to take a moving moment for her own manmade manoeuvre - something to remember all awhile trying to falter her fall from plagiarised grace
And her little red face - an undesirably pock-marked thing of yesteryear's beauty wherein cigarettes aside late a.m. whisky tends to taking it all away - mutters a speech bubble carried softly aloft by hopeless hope
When what's eerily ordinary fetched extraordinary
Her lack of noise is her rope - no noose, no nothing, just metaphorical meaning transformed itself into a thing of equally physical, secretive and sickening agony
All along she writes with her mind for her hiding utensil, waiting for people to play her particularly peculiar gain - inevitably using the might of their imagination built by their brain
Under-utilised and mesmerised by it all
Trusts no-one but herself to manipulate and sedate - her words were her world and her wonder where everything else goes?
Classified a lazy literary genius at the age of thirty-three yet nobody will see too little too late...
When one such dullard medium falls heavily behind its very own landscape - age-old and wasted in archaic and distasteful behaviour, seems the visual will always be off by a million degrees
As i've said before, i much enjoy the way you dissect poems. I liked this not just because I just bought Heany's 100 poems book. I think you might just enjoy dissecting a poem I wrote recently. Can i find your uni email and send it. I am not a Nobel poet, but I am an Australian published poet. How about it?
What a fantastic line by line analysis of Digging. Thank you. Although the poem may seem simple enough and centered around re-visiting family tradition and heritage, what struck me the most in my own interpretation of Heaney’s words is the bringing about of potential loss of connection with the land that progress too often brings about. I get a sense of this disconnect first and foremost through Heaney's physical location in the poem - in shelter, not on Land, looking down. This brings me to question, might he not only be nostalgic about what men his father and grandfather were but, also about how land was once what he touched, connected to, understood and loved (“To scatter the new potatoes that we picked/Loving their cool hardness in our hands.”)? Might he be looking at socio-economic progress through his own critical lens of longing for loss of that connection, the love for the land? That even though the thing that Heaney is now holding in his hand “snug as a gun” is a squat pen, he still aims to do his family justice through the continuation of hard work but, also foreshadows that he will not forget what has made the transformation from spade to squat pen possible - the Land and our indebtedness to it.
Also, one who is able to use onomatopoeia in such a sultry way to describe digging through the soil is one who has the utmost adoration and respect for the all involved in the process - tools, man and land. This, to me in a way, equates the tools to man to soil and shows them all as equal, all crucial part of the process, and therefore, further solidifies my above interpretation.
I could reply simply with a "Yes" to the questions raised above and they are well observed and clearly articulated. But in an attempt to try to add something to the discussion, (and to try to make myself sound clever), may I expand on Heaney's nostalgia "about what men his father and grandfather were but, also about how land was once what he touched, connected to, understood and loved." As I say, the simple answer is obviously "yes" but nostalgia itself is a very powerful artistic motivator, especially in poetry. I suspect that this is because when we are creating something nostalgic, or from nostalgia, we feel we are both preserving something of a vanished or vanishing past, which is often almost a social service, and recreating a personal image for ourselves. We feel we are benefiting both ourself and society in general and perhaps we are. ‘And I think it doesn't really matter how small, or seemingly insignificant, that nostalgic remembrance is. Take this one from 'Uncoupled,’ from the final collection "Human Chain". Heaney is describing a woman carrying the remains of a fire outside in a “firebox, weighty, full to the brim / With whitish dust and flakes still sparkling hot / That the wind is blowing into her apron bib.” The beauty is in what he notices of the ash. It’s not ash, it’s “whitish dust” . I can remember seeing that, and now I remember it there were flakes of fire still there and they were sparkling. I can remember what he’s describing here because my grandmother would do the very same thing. Heaney does not have to create the image from nothing, but for those of you deprived of the need to empty the firebox under the roaring flame, there it is for you, a nostalgic reminiscence both personal, and preserved for others. On the larger nostalgic level we get the memories of being a worker on the land itself. So, in part here, my question to you would concern the artistic USE of nostalgia for the poet, or anyone creative, as an artistic generator. I know the poem says "go down and down for the good turf," but this is also "go back and back into the past for the good memories useful for artistic creation," isn't it? Certainly, even late into his life, examination of that nostalgia imbued past provided the inspiration for many of Heaney's most memorable and moving pieces.
A great response, thank you! Nostalgia is something that I should have also brought up as I do agree, it is not just a way for the author to reminisce, it is also a technique or artistic generator as you refer it to. My curiosity peaks, I guess, in the part through which we recognize the nostalgia...if the author is using it intentionally, how does he know the precise language that will help the reader identify the nostalgia and feel the words? In other words, must the author feel the nostalgia in order for it to translate as nostalgia? Or is this something that is used as an artistic technique?
This is a fascinating area to investigate and obviously I can only give my own observations and opinions and not a definitive answer, but I think what you are really questioning is the difference between and preference for art created by a reaction to a specific powerful event that really happened to the author, and art created from imagination by a talented author with a superior artistic ability. Here we are looking at a genuine nostalgic reminiscence versus a imaginatively constructed reminiscence but the same argument is true of any "real" v "imagined" construction. I think that unless the art is definitely imaginary, say a science fiction novel, most people like to believe that the art they are impressed by really happened to the person who wrote it, this gives the artistic creation greater validity. Do we not feel somewhat cheated when we discover that the writer of a poem about say, a death in the family or the troubles of mental illness, experienced no such thing? I think we do? Yet does that make the actual words on the page any less impactful? It is after all the words placed in a certain order that are supposed to stand alone, not the biography of the writer that impresses us to the beauty of the words. Or it should be. I think it is undeniably true that most of us are as interested, if not more interested, in the teller than we are in the tale, a fact I could even relate in sonnet form:
Sonnet 118. The World Does Love a Story.
The world does love a story. Always has.
From Keats in Rome. Died here. At twenty-four.
The Tuscan lake where Shelly breathed his last
Sends Byron of to Grecian Turkish wars.
The duel that Pushkin wrote. The duel he fought!
The suicide of Plath. All Hemingway.
What Oscar said that fateful day in court,
To Rushdie’s fatwa. Shakespeare might be gay!
We like, we want, we need, the extra spice
For time to keep the Work within our view.
We often want the Work less than the Life
That lets us think we know what artists do.
From touch screen, keyboard, ink and pen to quill,
The world does love a story. Always will.
Andrew Barker
We love those stories. We seem to need the supposed authenticity of the author's life and the author's reaction to events before we believe we have been given an articulation of REAL experience.
To anyone who asks, 'How can a writer write about something they haven't experienced?' I would wonder at the poverty of imaginative expectation that person has to deal with. But then it takes imagination to imagination people with a greater imagination than ourselves. Presumably people with no imagination have problems imagining such individuals. On top of imagination there is I suppose technique and practice.
"Must the author feel the nostalgia in order for it to translate as nostalgia?"
I don't think so. Not at all.
But do readers want to believe that the author felt that emotion in order to write about it?
Yes. Absolutely. And I think that is only natural and preferable.
Searching for one of "esoteric" poems from Seamus, here I arrive at apparent simplicity of a declaration of intent and more...
Many thanks. I think this and Mid term Break, on which there is also one of these lectures, are fine places to start with his work. For me the great piece I enjoy revisiting again and again is Station Island. It's a long piece and certainly has its more esoteric moments, but I have ever found it enjoyable and rewarding. It concerns Heaney dealing with the type of writer he wants to be, considering his time and place in history.
can u please comment on the rhyme-scheme and punctuation.
the poem used a lot of simile and I find it interesting of how he compared his pen and the gravel. One is a gun and the other is a spade. In a way, there's the implication of how the newer generation has evolved on how to help the family/nation's life in a way. First you have the spade, an older weapon, that helps feed the family, which leads to the growth of their children, and they helped them grow intellectually till they no longer have spade but gun. Although both are different, Heaney used the word "digging" to connect the two as the common purpose, which is to plant and let things grow, in this case, maybe the next generation.
In all honesty I'd say that a lot of that is a bit of a stretch for me, and I wouldn't be able to claim that what you say it born out of the words in the poem itself.
Isn't 'snug as a gun' referring to the troubles in Ireland?
SH was fascinated by bogs, I suppose the most obvious work he did with the pen/spade here, was his descriptions of the human sacrifices found in the bogs in Europe.
*Old man - Patrick Heaney (Seamus's Father)
*His old man- James Heaney (Patrick's father)
*Living roots - their family's profession i.e. digging.
Correct.
Fantastic poem. Also, another allusion made to the 'Troubles' - there is a NI expression that infers allegiance to one faction or the other depending on which foot one uses to dig with a spade (www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-1121,00.html). I sense a tension here - what foot is his father digging with?
I just read that link, and my first thought is that I've never heard the saying, 'dig with the wrong foot,' which by no means goes to show that it doesn't exist. I suppose that literally speaking whichever foot you dig with would depend on which handed, or footed you are. A right footed person would stand on their left leg and press down with the right, a left footed person would stand on their right and press down with the left, so as an accurate indicator of a religious belief it's wayward to say the least. On the other hand there are far more right footed people than there are left footed, so to call someone a 'left-footer 'is often just an indicator of them being in a minority, as Catholics were in Northern Ireland at the time of the poems being written. Discovering an accurate origin for the phrase might just be wishful research. Heaney's family were Irish Catholic, though the depth and relevance of theistic thought to Heaney himself is touched on far less than people might suppose. What is dealt with far more closely in his work is the degree to which other people, both Catholic and Protestant, both English and Irish, make assumptions about his thought processes and the effect religion and politics SHOULD have on that work. Heaney writes some great poetry on the influence and expectations of others on his own poetry. He was certainly culturally catholic, but the complications and confusions of that belief structure are rarely played out in his work in the way they are in, say, Graham Greene.
Though I do not personally believe the 'which foot his father is digging with?' question is an important one within the poem, one could argue that the fact that it is NOT mentioned is the relevant comment on it.
I hope that's useful.
My first encounter with MyCroft. Very enjoyable and enlightening. Early in the video you referred not only to Marxian but also to Freudian implications in the poem. I assume you were referring to pen, gun, shaft,etc. Is it right to assume that Heaney is alluding to the virile, life-creating force and energy that is the creation of art, and of poetry specifically? This seems to be a "man's poem." Thanks.
Hi Michael. Glad you enjoyed it. The Marxism and Freudian observation, thought true, is a throwaway line because, as we all know, any good Marxist or Freudian can find Marxism and Freudianism in anything. That said, we are dealing with the potential class and economic differences differences between the generations here and there's fertile ground for Marxist thought to till. As for Freudianism, I was thinking less of the specifically sexual, more of the psychological impact of the split from the family and how the child deals with it. Which is to say, very well. So I'm using the term Freudianism loosely, but once again, any good Freudian could find fertile earth to work with here too.
As to "Digging" being a "man's poem." Well, there are only men in it, son, father, grandfather, that can't be denied and it would be easy to agree and a feminist reading would be forced, not unreasonably, to make that point. But putting that aside, does the poem deal with issues that apply only to men? Have not many women from working class backgrounds not return home after schooling and faced their changing circumstances much the same as Heaney does in this poem? The answer to whether this is a "man's poet" would probably depend on the woman who read it. Many would say, "There's no women in this poem, it doesn't apply to me," many would say, "I understand completely the situation being expressed here, as if it were written about my own state of mind," and for me both would be right.
Thank you for your quick and thoughtful response. Yes, I agree this is certainly a poem that can mean and apply as much to women as it can to men. By "man's poem" I was referring also to the tone of the piece (By God, the old man could handle a spade) as well as to the act of digging itself, especially digging that requires great strength and vigor (heaving sods). I promise to let this go, but if the spade and pen are both phallic images, and if we keep in mind the line "I have no spade to follow men like them," Heaney might be paying his father and grandfather a "compliment" that only a man can give to another man. Then again, maybe I need psychiatric help. Seriously,' though, I think you're doing poetry lovers a great, great service!
A natural precursor to Heaney changing through education and observing his father doing manual work was detailed by Thomas hardy in the woodlanders. Grace melbury returned to little hintock after attending university
Wow! (again)
Wow
Do you think there are phallic symbols in the poem?
Yes and no. But for me, no. I'll explain. People who look for phallic symbols can and will find them in anything and everything. Anything longer than it is wide will signify a penis, any time a hole or wetness is mentioned will signify a vagina. Therefore the spade will be seen as a phallic symbol for a penis and the hole the spade makes can be seen sexually, and the "squelch and slap of soggy peat" brings on an Andrew Marvell's Coy Mistress level of 'Look at the phallic imagery here.' What's more, as the poem is about the act of creation the act of digging can be seen as the act of intercourse. Sounds persuasive? But isn't finding phallic symbols like this just too easy to do? We can do it with anything. What do these supposed symbols add to the poem? I would suggest they add nothing. As Freud said: "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." I would add that those who see phallic symbols just for the point of seeing phallic symbols tend to flatten out the instances when the symbols are very real and actually contribute to the poems. So while we can engage in a thought exercise to imagine how phallic imagery COULD be seen in the poem, I don't believe such imagery really helps to enhance our appreciation of the piece.
I am not developed enough in literature to add to your fantastic analysis. But one massive question. Why oh why are so few people following these lectures? If Kim kardashian tweets her newest handbag it gets 20 billion hits. Holy god.
Seamus would never have pronounced "levered" in the American way as this reader does. In Ulster we pronounce it "leeverd". His work is about place and authenticity.
Yeah, you're right. czcams.com/video/KNRkPU1LSUg/video.html I just checked it. He does. Thanks. That's the first time I've realized I pronounce the word with an American accent as well. Twenty years I've been doing that for.
You should do Punishment!
Good suggestion, actually. Great poem with a lot to be said about it. Thanks
melunited90 mycroftlectures Absolutely agree. I'm dying for some new lectures, Dr. Barker, they're just brilliant and extraordinarily enjoyable. It's given me a ton of fresh perspective and new, interesting points to consider. Fantastic job.
Literature on Children 2021. "The final four words of Digging show the poet as an adult with an adult's focus." Consider Digging as a coming of age poem."
Hera, Chan Pui Ki
“The final three words of the poem show the poet as an adult with an adult’s focus. Consider Digging as a coming of Age poem.” Only address parts of the poem that are directly related to the question set.
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Digging can be a poem to mention the transition of a mentality from a child to an adult.
"Digging" starts with the speaker hovering over a blank page with a pen, immersing himself in his own imagination. Then, he shifted his focus to the present in which he was looking at his father, digging. Starting from the third stanza, Heaney looked down the window and saw his old father’s straining rump among the flowerbed and then he was absorbed in his memories and imagined his father was 20 years younger. The line “comes up twenty years away” can be interpreted as him travelling back in time when his father was still a young and vigorous man. Heaney brought up the idea that his father is an experienced farmer who can handle his spade to dig potatoes from the soil easily and skillfully and puts his spade “against the inside knee” to pull out the spade effortlessly. However, his appreciation for his tireless and skilful father had to end since his father was no longer capable of working as hard as before. This stanza mentions the ageing process of his father in which he transits from vigorous to feeble as we can notice his father’s "straining rump among the flowerbeds".
While in the sixth stanza, Heaney addresses his scattered childhood memories that he remembered his granddad’s hard work and expertise as farmland labour. He was the one who cut the most turf in a day “than any other man on Toner’s bog”. Besides, the poet used to bring paper-corked milk to his granddad which showed the connection between Heaney and his grandfather in the farmland since it was his detailed childhood memories living with his grandfather. After drinking the paper-corked milk, his grandfather would immediately go back to work. In other words, his granddad was a productive and diligent farmer. Heaney addressed his appreciation toward him, yet Heaney points out that “ I’ve no spade to follow men like them” since he grew up in a different generation in which knowledge and education were valued and he managed to go to study. For Heaney, his squat pen is his tool for making a living and digging for “good turf” which means good pieces of writing. His mentality of “The pen is mightier than the sword" is addressed here since Heaney likes appreciating discourse more than manual labour jobs, yet he still manages to keep his familial tradition as a hard-working man. The poem shows Heaney adult’s focus that he present his determination to be a great writer who inherits his father’s and granddad’s hard work and skills as farmland labour. Although their job natures are distinct, these jobs require professional skills and years of practice. As the poem ends with the final words “ I’ll dig with it”, Heaney promised to go down deep in his thinking and imagination and continue to create great pieces of writing by his unique skill “seeing thing” just like how his father and grandfather did with their digging skills.
Karen, Lau Hung Ying 4169971
The last three words work as a mission statement. The speaker commits to uphold his father’s and grandfather’s attention to detail, dedication and craftsmanship as a writer. He vows to ‘dig’ with the pen. As an adult, he understands that following his former generations’ footsteps in exactly the same way is not the only means to preserve his familial tradition. Similar to his grandfather, his father digs as a farmer. Obviously, the cultivation skills and heritages are passed down from one generation to the next. Likewise, when Heaney was small, he helped pick up potatoes in the farmland. There is a sense of continuity among the three generations. However, when Heaney has grown up, he superficially breaks this tradition reflected by ‘But I’ve no spade to follow men like them. Although he devotes himself to writing instead of manual labour, he promises to apply those traits taught by his elders such as persistence, concentration and hard work in his own craft. The final three words metaphorically imply that the speaker is going to use the pen to write as his elders used their spades to dig. In other words, the pen is Heaney’s version of a spade. To highlight his commitment to writing, Heaney intensifies the poetic sound of the word ‘dig’. Additionally, Heaney makes use of consonance, namely the 's' and 't' sounds of ‘The squat pen rests’, together with the assonance, including the 'e' sound of ‘pen rests’ and 'u' sound of ‘thumb’, ‘snug’ and ‘gun’ to emphasize that the pen fits perfectly right in his hand. This implies that he feels comfortable being a writer and enjoys his job. Compared to his childhood, he now understands how to do what he likes while adhering to his familial traditions. This change proves that Heaney starts to think and act as an adult, showing a transition from a child to an adult.
Although the first and last stanza focus on the almost identical image, in between, Heaney has changed his thoughts from a child perspective to an adult’s view. Unlike the inactive image of holding a pen in the beginning, after revisiting his childhood memory, he eventually resolves to ‘dig’ with his pen, in other words, to write actually. This proves that Digging is a coming of age poem. It illustrates the significance of role models in Heaney’s childhood for inspiring him for a career direction and strategy. For example, the alliteration of ‘spade sinks’ in stanza 2 and the stressed syllables of ‘strain’ and ‘Bends low’ in stanza 3 depict the physicality of manual labour. Heaney appreciates his father as a determined farmer. He appreciates his grandfather’s total commitment to cultivation when recalling that he got back to work after drinking milk. Writing does not require this kind of manual labour but commitment and effort are still essential. To get better turf, his grandfather ‘going down and down’. Similarly, to compose better poems, Heaney should think deeper and deeper. He, therefore, knows that expertise is essential for being a professional in different fields. Being professional farmers, his father and grandfather know how to use a spade skillfully. Moreover, as an adult, he no longer stays in the past memory. Instead, he looks forward to his future at the end. Apart from learning from his elders, he is entering the adult world and going to explore the future.
The final three words of the poem show the poet as an adult with an adult’s focus. Consider Digging as a coming of Age poem. Only address parts of the poem that are directly related to the question set.
While many coming-of-age events are often triggered by some traumatic experience that force the child to rethink his/her “naïve” ways of seeing things, such as a tragedy, a mistake or even death (See The Pond by Michael Schmidt or Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney), this poem provides a different perspective as we catch a glimpse at how the poet considers his family’s line of work as potato farmers, which subsequently allows his mind to grow by the end of the poem, ending with three powerful words that can only be spoken with the maturity of an adult. There are many signs that signify the poet’s maturation, starting with the metaphor on the second line of the first stanza comparing his pen to a gun. It is unlikely that a child would appreciate the power of writing, though they may be taught in school that the pen is mightier than the sword, it will take a matured mind to realize how writing can influence the times. Another sign is his description of his father and grandparent’s work. Unlike a child describing what his father does for a living, the young poet speaks of their labor with reverence. For instance, the last line of the fourth stanza “Loving their cool hardness in our hands” revealed his family’s dedication and passion in every potato they plant, or the next line “By God, the old man could handle a spade” shows how he almost sees his grandpa like a superhero with spade. These detailed trips down the “ancestral lanes” show how unlike a child, who might see these as fun or interesting, he truly admires their work and this poem is a salute to them.
But the most convincing proof of his coming-of-age lies in the last two stanzas. To be precise, the line “But I’ve no spade to follow men like them” and the last line of the poem “I’ll dig with it”. After saying so much, he had a realization that even with all his knowledge, he can never match his father/grandfather’s work on the field. It might be possible to argue that he is expressing a slight sadness even, because he can never be as skillful as his father with a spade or strain his rumps under an unforgiving sun. Rather than stressing how his academic knowledge will get him a better social standing, or even sighing over how hard they work, his inability (He is not unable, just not as skilled/experienced) to work the potato fields has become a weakness, that he might not be able to carry on the legacy of his family’s work. This may also be a reference to his work as a budding poet, that even in his field, he must still continue to strive, to look (create) for those good poems. This is why in the last line; he concludes with the idea of digging with the pen. He will carry on the legacy of his family by remembering their work, never stopping from discovering that “good turf”, even if the sun is relentless and he is tired. This means he has achieved a form of self-realization, or perhaps a sort of discovery of the self. He realizes his calling as a poet, but never to be complacent; he sees his family, though not as knowledgeable as he was at the time, as someone to aspire to. It is possible to say that coming-of-age events often involve a form of discovery or realization of the world, while in his darker work Mid-Term Break, one can argue that he realizes that fragility of his life (or anyone’s) through the death of his younger brother, here he realizes his potential as a poet and reminds himself to pass on the legacy with diligence in the field of literature. This is why this also acts as a coming-of-age poem for the budding poet that is to become the highly respectable British poet even after his death.
IP Mei Po, Mable (4177215)
“The final three words of the poem show the poet as an adult with an adult’s focus. Consider Digging as a coming of Age poem.” Only address parts of the poem that are directly related to the question set.
Unlike the poems The Pond and Mid-term Break, there is a moment when the child becomes an adult when they witness the fragility of life that kills their childhood. Heaney talks about the family history at manual labor in Digging which consists of a deeper thought between the family and the things he wants to achieve in the future that can be seen as a coming-of-age poem. The poem starts with Heaney’s imagination of his squat pen fits like a gun, there is either way to interpret the simile which his pen is mightier than the sword or it’s a tool that will assassinate Heaney’s link with his father’s way of making a living and his own past. Without an answer, the poem continues with the observance of Heaney’s father straining rump among the flowerbeds, it reminds him of the golden memory of twenty years ago when his father was digging the potatoes drill. Heaney describes how professional his father is when digging the potatoes in stanza four that his father skillfully digs a hole. The line ‘buried the bright edge deep’ highlights the professionalism of his father in attention to detail. The line ‘Loving their cool hardness in our hands’ reveals Heaney enjoys helping his father in farming when he was a child. Heaney’s father is undoubtedly a role model to him which can be seen in the lines ‘By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man’ that shows his pride.
Not only impressed by his father’s attention to details but also inspired by his grandfather who ‘going down and down for the good turf’. The father’s and grandfather’s prowess at manual labor in digging deep for the good turf leaves the ‘living roots awaken’ in Heaney’s mind. He knows that his family has all been extraordinary professional manual laborers, but he as an undereducated also acknowledges he is more capable in writing. He does not want to be a farmer but to do more with a pen than a spade. The sorrow that he thinks he has cut off the family tie can be seen in the line ‘But I’ve no spade to follow men like them’ which also reveals the struggle of Heaney to become a poet that emotion is unlikely a child would have. In the last stanza, Heaney does not compare his pen to a gun but a spade instead which can be seen as a realization that being a poet would not assassinate the linkage between him and his family, the only difference between is the tool of the trade. As long as he is able to do with his pen to uphold their craftsmanship in writing, he needs not to be followed his father’s path to be a farmer to pass on the family tradition. The last three words ‘dig with it’ is like a declaration made by Heaney to use his pen like a spade as his father and grandfather do at digging, the determination to think deeper thoughts to get deeper poems is the manifestation of maturity.
Hillary Chan 4181412
"The final three words of the poem show the poet as an adult with an adult's focus. Consider Digging as a coming
of Age poem."
'Dig with it' represents Heaney's determination to pursue his career aspiration with the hardworking attitudes of his ascendants, father and grandfather. Digging symbolize the relationship between generations that continue and pass on the
expertise of being determined. 'But I've no spade to follow men like them', although Heaney is 'digging' into the writing world's field using his pen, he would still like to follow his ascendants' heritage and skills of using spade in the field from his childhood experience. In other words, the persistence and diligence of digging potatoes, cutting turfs are just the same as Heaney's written work, which he deems as his honor to do so when he grew older. As a grown-up, he no longer treats his family's manual labor as routine and repeated. 'By God, the old man could handle a spade'; instead, he realizes and discovers the prowess and beauty of the demanding physical works, admiring and adoring their talents. 'He straightened up To drink it, then fell to right away', Heaney's grandfather portrayed an image of being responsible for and commit to his job, to inspire Heaney writing poetry with his pen. His family's embodied values educate Heaney to dedicate his career to writing poems.
In the first stanza, Heaney held his pen 'the squat pen rests: snug as a gun'; while at last, he repeated the line with the small amendment as 'the squat pen rests. I'll dig with it.' Heaney never mentions he would write but instead, Heaney used 'dig'. He had learned to 'dig' from his family of the way working properly, no matter its physical work like digging using spades or
literary work 'digging' using the pen. Digging with his pen allows Heaney to explore further the unseen soil of the field of poem and literature with dedication from his memories of digging. The simile used in 'gun' also attributes to the poem's theme as coming of age. Gun as an arm on Heaney's hand to fight against the past time and childhood. When he grew older, the more he encountered, the more his family tradition and heritage faded in his mind. Thus, with the gun, he is able to protect and continue the inherited values by 'firing', writing poems. Firing, writing, and digging play the same role as
continuity of the family tradition and pride. Mentioning the manual tools used in the poem, it appears with another significant one to address the progress of time --spades. 'Buried the bright edge deep', if without Heaney's talent of
seeing things, one might probably miss out on this time-related evidence. That shining edge is due to the repetitive digging action that friction of the soil gleans the spade's bottom. The time and effort-consuming act of digging indicate hard work and professionalism. Therefore, it further inspires him to be a mature man as his ancestors performed when time passed.
Bill lonergan
Hugh Grant?!!! 😳
What is Toner's bog??? You forgot to describe it. Can anyone help me?
Toner's bog would be a field where his grandfather worked digging peat out of the ground. The field, bog, would probably be owned, or once have been owned, by the Toner family, hence Toner's bog.
Lifewriting 2020. Analepsis and Prolepsis.
Lifewriting Demi, Kong Yui Yan
Heaney is very good at writing time. From his poem “Digging”, he takes his readers together down his memory lane. But he does it differently than most writers do. He strategically uses analepsis to tell the memories of his ancestors, his father and grandfather. Physically, Heaney is looking down from his window to his father who is digging. When he keeps digging, Heaney has dug into his memories as well. So, the first flashback is the moment of twenty years before when his father dug out the potatoes. And then echoing with this incident, he remembers the time when his young self, most likely more than twenty years before, brought milk to his grandfather who was at work. His grandfather’s work also involved digging as well, except he dug peat. These two flashbacks tell the readers that both his father and grandfather worked manually and very hard. He pays tremendous respects to his forbears, yet he knows he will not be a manual worker as they were.
To fully understand the poem, the use of prolepsis is needed to look at as well. It is relatively tricky, as a reader myself, to locate this device. The narrative is not taken forward to show events in the future exactly in the poem, instead Heaney keeps suggesting he is going to write a poem, which he has already done and it is the poem that the readers just read, in the frame of the poem. He intentionally creates a circularity in this metafictive poem. He also implies that he is going to become a hard-working and great poet, which we know he successfully achieved.
The analogy of pen and gun Heaney draws at first is very crucial. He only mentions it once while being very nonchalant. The reason why Heaney mentions it may because of the political or post-war environment in Ireland at that time. He tries to remind people that words can do more than violence. And he indeed became a poet who wrote to address society and politics directly. Besides, there is the phrase “fair dig” in Northern Ireland meaning people fighting to solve their problems. Therefore, the digging memories he remembers may involve more than being manual and hard-working but physical and violent. As far as Heaney respects his ancestors, their lives must be primitive to a certain degree and the well-educated poet does not want that at all. The lines “Through living roots awaken in my head / But I’ve no spade to follow men like them” tell the readers that. “Spade” can be the tool for digging but also a possible weapon. It suggests that Heaney himself is not manual labour neither a person agrees with violence.
Heaney goes on an autobiographical journey in this poem to tell the readers what kind of poet he wants to become. He is also very smart to put it as the first poem in his first published book Death of a Naturalist (1966), as readers can get a clear sense of who the poet is before they keep reading.
Name: Hera, Chan Pui Ki (4064389)
In the poem "Digging" of Seamus Heaney, the writer remembers his father and grandfather's days as farmers in Ireland and tries to relate to the labor work with his families. The poem uses the poetic device of analepsis and prolepsis to travel back in time, from present to the past, and then to the present again, including the linking landscapes in the present, twenty years before, and even the time when his grandfather worked.
This poem is in Heaney's first collection, it can be treated as an autobiography since he made his manifest of being a professional writer by revealing meanings and beauty by his words just like his father and grandfather have been doing with a spade to dig the potatoes and peat in the farm. At the beginning of the poem, Heaney uses the poetic device of analepsis, by "flashing back" to an earlier point in the story, he tries to focus on his squat pen, then changes his focus to his father's tools, from the line "The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft/Against the inside knee was levered firmly.", we can see the associates his pen with his father spade. Besides, Heaney also uses prolepsis, a "flashing forward" to a moment later in the chronological sequence of events, to use his writing skill to become closer to his family or he hopes to have the same diligent mindset like his father or grandfather. For example, in the last line, "I will dig with it." to state that he would use his pen professionally like his grandfather. The poem also has a line to describe his grandfather as a strong and professional digger who dug for fuel. He writes the detailed process of digging of his grandfather with a bottle of milk corked with paper, his grandfather drank the milk and returned to work immediately with more vigor. This moment patently proves his grandfather's hard work and skill as a farmer.
Another Heaney's personal connection with farmers also appears in the third stanza. From the lines "He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep", "To scatter new potatoes that we picked,", and "Loving their cool hardness in our hands." Although we do not know about the characters of these lines, the writer would tell the new potatoes are hard and cool after reading these lines. A special connection is shown here, it might refer to the writer's childhood experience as a family member of a farmer family. Moreover, "we" refers to the speaker and his siblings. Again, here indicates that there is a very close relationship between the writer and his father and grandfather as labor on the farm.
The final stanza echoes with the first stanza exactly. "Between my finger and my thumb", "The squat pen rests." The writer compares his pen to a spade at the end, but not a gun as stated in the first few lines. Importantly, the writer promise he will use his own tools, his pen, to dig like his father and grandfather to achieve his profession as a writer. (513)
Aison Clark Laborte, ENG-3385
Heaney used analspsis by connecting his obsevation of his father digging in the present time and twenty years ago. Heaney contrasted the time period with his father’s age when he described his father’s “straining rump” and the “stooping in rhythm”. The “straining rump” represents his father’s old age while the “stooping in rhythm” represents his young age. The contrast was shown through the efficiency of his work. He was still young and strong when he was able to stoop in rhythm which is similar to playing music where he has a consistent beat, on the other hand, when he became older not only was he no longer able to dig with a consistent rhythm, his body started to strain. The poet ,then, also thought of his grandfather which was another analspsis he used when he was recalling how amazed he was about his father handling a spade at an early age.
Prolepsis was then used when Heaney flashforward back to the present time with the “awaken in my head”. He woke up from his flashback and, at the same time, having a realization that he would never be able to handle a spade like his old man and the older man that came before him but, instead, he vowed that he would be as good of a writer as his ancestors were good at their jobs. This was seemingly said from “Through living roots awaken in my head” to the end of the poem. The “root” refers to his bloodline which in this particular case refers to his father and grandfather. Through digging his old memories, he remembered those two old men‘s prowess were being demonstrated from their days of farming and digging. It was then that the poet realized ,although he would not be able to do that kind of labor work like them, he would be able to inherit their prowess for his work as a writer.
The whole poem is his autobiography on his journey in becoming a great writer/poet. A lot of famous people who are professional in their own fields, have some sort of origin and an inspiration that made them become who they have ultimately became. For Heaney, his source of inspiration was from the two men he talked about in the poem. His final line in the poem “I’ll dig with it” marked his beginning in becoming a great writer that he became. Perhaps, the final line itself is also an analogy of Heaney wanting to dig deeper into himself whenever he is working on his art, just like how he dug through his memories from his earlier years and wrote a remarkable piece, "Digging", with deep meanings.
Name: Cheng Chun Yiu, Dickson
Student no.: 4199287
The analepsis in this poem could be found when Heaney saw his father digging in the gravelly ground. The image under his window brought up the memory of his father digging the same way twenty years ago, stooped his straining rump in rhythm. Besides, Heaney even jumped further backwards to describe the memory of his grandfather in the poem in order to further reinforce his family’s inheritance of prowess in farming. By jumping backwards to talk about his father and grandfather, Heaney is guiding the reader to follow his mind in understanding his appreciation towards the professional attitude and skills that his family possessed in farming.
Regarding prolepsis, after Heaney recalled the details of his grandfather digging in the farm, his mind process of realising he was different from his ancestors had brought him back to the room where he was writing the poem. By changing the time and space from his ancestors farming in the farmland back to him sitting in the room with a pen, ready to start writing a poem, Heaney also wants the readers to focus back to “him” as a poet in his room, determined to dig with his squat pen. Certainly by reading this poem, we as readers could also know that Heaney has realised his goal and become the type of poet that he aimed, as the poem we have just read is the one that he wrote(digging).
The autobiographical journey that Heaney went on in this poem is his journey of realising and actualising his passion and dream. From recalling his past, Heaney underwent a journey of self reflection. The understanding Heaney reached in the poem is the fact that he had his own way of inheriting his family’s professional spirit by writing and literacy. By recalling the details and processes of his father and grandfather digging in the farm, Heaney was trying to extol his family’s spirit of hard work and professionalism in working. But meanwhile Heaney himself also recognised the fact that “he has no spade to follow men like them”, this implies that Heaney understood his talent and speciality is not working as a manual labourer, but to dig with his pen, be a poet or writer. He was not spoon fed by his family’s tradition but knew deep down what interests him the most, and what he wanted to devote his life to. Although Heaney did not inherit his family's tradition and dig deep for the good turf in the farmland, he learnt from his old men’s mastery and conscientious attitude in farming, thus reached the determination that he would work hard and make good poem in the field of literacy.
Kwan Chin Long,Calum
This short essay will explore the poet, Seamus Heaney’s autobiographical journey in his poem, Digging and explain his realization regarding the poem, followed by the analysis on the concepts analspsis and prolepsis that work in it.
According to the poem, Heaney’s autobiographical journey set off when he looks down from the window in his room, he notices his old dad is digging outside in the gravelly ground. At this particular moment, he conjures up the memory of his golden childhood with his father twenty years ago as well as the memory with his grandfather years before that, which he recognizes those specific memories are crucial for him to become a successful poet. From his memory of dad, Heaney specifies the incident of him and his brothers pick up potatoes behind their dad, who has a spade in his hand to dig up the potatoes skillfully. Moreover, Heaney father’s great ability to dig perfect holes in the ground has impressed Heaney. His father’s professionalism could be illustrated from his sophisticated digging posture with the spade and its bright edge, which positively driving Heaney to the brilliant achievement of his career.
As the poem goes on, the poet continues to mention his grandfather, who contributes to the important moment in his life. Since his grandfather is also a master of manual labour (digging peat), who is endeavour to his job. For instance, he cuts the turfs, nicks and slices them neatly, then throws over his shoulder. Heaney admires his granddad’s ability and plainly is inspired by his earnestness at work.
Suffice to say, both Heaney’s father and grandfather play the most significant role in Heaney’s life and the aforementioned moments with the two elders are essential to develop his character and dream. Heaney realises that although he does not have the capability like his family: prowess at manual labour, their ability to work hard and do the job well are something that he can learn from in order to succeed in his work, writing and poetry. Furthermore, unlike other educated people, Heaney never looks down upon his father and grandfather’s job duties. Instead, he is proud of their work, treating the situation as an inheritance and accomplishment for him and going to learn from them.
Given that the poem begins with Heaney at his desk, upstairs in his room and he wants to write a poem, yet he is distracted by his father, who is digging outside. Analspsis occurs when Heaney looks out of his window and sees his dad, reminding him of his father working in the potato field when he was a young boy. This can be seen from “Bends low, comes up twenty years away” (stanza 3, line 7) to “Just like his old man” (stanza 5, line 16). This part is the flashback of Heaney’s childhood with his father reveals Heaney’s enthusiasm and admiration towards his father’s work and conjures up the memory of picking potatoes with his family. The flashback stretches even further back to Heaney’s grandfather and the hard work he does. This can be suggested from “My grandfather cut more turf in a day” (stanza 6, line 17) to “ Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge” ( stanza 7, line 26). Those lines indicate Heaney is praising his grandfather as a tireless peat harvester. For example, he is strong enough to deal with the heavy turfs at work.
Lastly, prolepsis appears in the last stanza of the poem “I’ll dig with it” (stanza 8, line 31). That line is a flashforward, which represents the expected events in future. It is because the “it” may refer to the pen, the pen that Heaney is going to use to write this poem - Digging, hence it is a metaphor. In other words, the poet expects he will write his writings or poems with the pen, which allows him to go down through layers to find the creation of his poem, resembling his elders, who use their spades to work sophistically.
In conclusion, the poet demonstrates his autobiography journey by recognizing the important memories with his two seniors as well as appreciating their professional attitude at work and his understanding of the memories.
Text and Experience 2020. Metaphor and Simile.
Chang Cheuk Lam Cherry (4117708)
"Metaphor and Simile of Digging"
The metaphoric language that Heaney used in “digging” is to take his pen in his hand. In the final stanza “Between my finger and my thumb, The squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it.”
In this, Heaney employs the metaphor of the non-literal digging that he himself will embark on as a poet to explore and exploit knowledge. The use of this metaphor is significant in the context of the overall structure of the poem. In this comparison of Heaney’s metaphor and literal digging “When the spake sinks into gravelly ground, My father, digging… But I’ve no spade to follow men like them, Between my finger and my thumb, The squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it, ”Heaney is able to show his own role of a poet by ultimately comparing his squat pen to a spade in developing the idealogy that both instruments are equally powerful in different forms of digging.
For similie, The line “as snug as a gun” is one of the examples. He directly compares these two unlike objects, making the gun as an adjective for the pen and how they relate. The reader can really imagine that it is secure in his hand, probably steady (by using the word snug). The poem also puts a lot of focus on agricultural tools, particularly the spades that the speaker's father and grandfather used to dig up peat and grow potatoes. The speaker knows that he is not capable enough to do manual labor like they did. He only has his pen. But still, this simile might be suggesting that his pen can be as powerful, or even more powerful, than spades. Perhaps holding a pen, he would be able to access a certain power that it’s not less than his father and grandfather?
Tsui Long Yin (4142272)
Metaphor and Simile
At the beginning of this poetry, Seamus used guns as a simile to describe how firm and tight he is holding his pen. You can aim at your target and fire with accuracy only when you hold it tight. Similarly, you have to hold a pen fit in your hand to write properly and come out with good "turf". Also, the detail about the pen i.e. a squat pen gives me the idea of people choosing their tools, i.e.guns/pens by their preferences. Seamus is saying words are more powerful and do more than any weapons and violence, I think it is so true by thinking how words are dangerous and harmful if you don't use it correctly which are very alike to the weapon, but more imperceptible. This brings out the message from the poetry saying we should dig deeper for good turf, we shouldn't stay at the superficies of writing, think deeper before you write.
Throughout the poetry, we could see the metaphor of digging used. By describing the way his father digs in the past and present which is how people think of digging originally. He is reflecting his own way of digging; he is digging with his pen. In this poetry, Seamus lauded and appreciate the capability of the professional work of this farm laboring, he is proud of his family and evaluates himself that he will never be as good as them on physical work. It can reflect on different people choose their own way of digging, the variety of work doesn't really matter. Moreover, he links with his father and ancestor on their attitude on digging. They dug deep and strived for good turf that's why his father and grandfather are the best harvester in the field. The writer inherited their spirit, but in his way i.e. writing.
Tan Kai Teck Desmond (4198776)
Topic: Metaphor and Simile in Digging
The biggest, and the most important metaphor in the poem, would be the line “For the good turf. Digging” in stanza six. As mentioned in the lecture, the action of “Digging” would be the process of thinking, of writing a good poem. Then by logic “the good turf” would be a good poem. The author deliberately uses the action of “Digging” to link his profession to that of his dad and granddad’s potato farming. This metaphor works both ways. It first serves as an homage to their profession, elevating it to the same level as his literary works; secondly, just like digging for good turf, one must take time and effort to produce a good poem. This serves as a good intro to his poems, that he doesn’t just write about anything, almost only as if he deems his subjects worthy, when he sees through the depth of things, at the right time, in the right place. Another important metaphor found in the poem is the “living roots” from stanza seven. Before this, the author incorporates the sound, sight and smell of his grandfather digging for potatoes into his poem, almost as if he is right beside, watching him sweat as he excavated the little brown golds. These “living roots” thus represents the living memories of his family and ancestry, as well as the work they do. This metaphor is perhaps another tribute to his heritage and to the hard work they did. Though he has become educated, he has not forgotten nor disrespected his origins.
Then there is the simile, in the first stanza, associating his pen with a gun. It is hard not to think of the phrase “The pen is mightier than the sword” when one sees this, thus I too believe that this simile alludes to the power of literacy or of writing. This also links to the purpose of this poem, as a poet’s “mission statement”. With power, comes great responsibility. A good poem can touch hearts and last eternal. The author was perhaps contemplating about the responsibility for wielding such a weapon, thus he has to be extra careful and put more care when he writes a poem, for he holds the power to affect generations of lives.
Lee Pui Hei (4001117) ENG3374
Metaphor and Simile in Digging
The metaphor of the poem is obviously digging, from the literal digging of the poet’s fathers to the poet’s symbolic digging in the literary field. Digging can also be the poet and his relatives’ jobs for life, a probable element of their pride, and universally a process of hard work. There are other things related to the digging process, which seem like low-key metaphors as well. “The good turf” in stanza 6 line 8 of the video’s poem is at the beginning of the line. It should be a part of the “He straightened up” sentence, which would make the “good turf” the potatoes the grandfather dug for. However, the format of the poem makes “The good turf” the beginning of a new line, which looks like the new line can be understood on its own as “For the good turf. Digging.” This can be understood as digging is a necessary process for good turf. One interpretation is that the poet works hard for good poems. Another, I guess, is the moral of the story.
The most obvious simile is the “snug as a gun” at the beginning of the poem. Just as a gun ready to be used. True, pens are mightier than swords (sometimes, for when a killer is in front of you is not the right context for this idea), that is why it is also dangerous. I guess we need to write carefully since we don’t want to point our weapons in the wrong direction. Of course the touch of a pen feels comfy compared to a spade, for it is lighter in weight. Yet, the importance of literature, or simply literacy is not to be underestimated. After all, written things can cause the usage of guns.
Lam Wai Sum Phronesis (4074243)
“Metaphor and Simile in Digging.”
- The used of simile by Heaney in Digging was introduced neat and clear in the beginning of the poem. Here in the first two sentences, ‘Between my finger...pen rests...’, we could already know that the pen was ‘lying on his hand comfortably, doing nothing, which he describes, it is ‘snug as a gun’. Basically saying that he’s like holding a gun. This simile is a fun fact being said that when people is writing with a big, fat pen, once you take away the pen and hold still the gesture of the hand, the pose is a perfect fit for holding a gun. With the simile between gun and pen, it is suggested that Heaney wants to bring out the idea that “pen is mightier than the sword”, which we clearly noticed that the “pen” which is said to be a “gun”, is literally more powerful to “fight” with than using the sword. That is, we can do more by writing than by fighting, maybe somehow associating or implying some political background where Heaney was writing this poem. In fact, my own interpretation here between the pen and the gun is that, perhaps Heaney might also wanted to suggest that he wanted to use the pen to ‘fight’ for his own career, just as people nowadays use ‘gun’ to literally fight in the war.
- The metaphor used in Digging could be seen obviously in ‘I’ll dig with it (the pen)’ in the last sentence. After a series of observations and memory flashbacks by looking down from his window, Heaney highlighted his view on the labour work that his ancestors have been doing, that it is positively regarded. He appreciated the professionalism and vehemence in his father and his grandfather doing the work, and he would like to adopt these extraordinary qualities into his own career, indeed, writing but not ‘digging’. So apparently, Heaney is creating an analogy between the ‘digging’ by his ancestors and the ‘digging’ he would like to do by his pen, which means, he wants to dig deep-to go deep into something with his pen writing. He wants to be a better writer, so he will ‘go deep’ to explore his writing as professional as his ancestors. Just as he mentioned, the only thing that his grandfather could get ‘the good turf’ was to ‘going down and down’-dig deeper and deeper, he was going to emulate his grandfather’s qualities as a role model.
Firmly, not gently.
Rite of Passage.
In this poetry analysis by Dr. Andrew Barker, I am really interested in the two definitions of ‘seeing things’ and I totally agree that Seamus Heaney has the ability to notice things that other people don’t notice. In my opinion, as for this poem, the poet actually notices two kinds of things; one of them is concrete while the other one is more abstract. The first thing, just as mentioned in this video, is the ‘bright edge’ of the spade, which can show that the poet’s father is very professional and hard working. The second thing is the ‘prowess at manual labour’ of his father and grandfather because after knowing about the specific social context at that time, we can find that the educated children may feel disconnected with their families in many cases, but Seamus Heaney notices the ‘prowess at manual labour’ of his father and grandfather, which is neglected by others. Furthermore, it also makes him realize that the spade is the tool of the trade of his family; in the same way, the pen is the tool of his own trade. Although these two tools seem totally different, the spirit of digging further can be passed on from generation to generation and in terms of Seamus Heaney’s poem writing, it means to think deeper thoughts to get deeper poems, which is very useful and crucial for his future writing.
In addition, I think it is also a rite of passage for the poet. The rite of passage not only can be shown as a real ceremony, but also can be shown as an invisible self-reflection. Perhaps when he was a little child, he couldn’t really understand how precious the ‘prowess at manual labour’ of his father and grandfather is, and even wanted to escape from his family and this kind of boring life. However, as time goes by, he starts to see this kind of life positively because he realizes that digging deeper and working hard is the capability that he also needs in his poem writing and ‘it is an inheritance there for him’ as mentioned in this video. His gradual understanding of what tough life his family has lived is an important symbol of maturity as a young adult, or even a man and becoming mature can be seen as a rite of passage.
(ENG3379-1 He Han Chun, Lucy 4072336)
ENG3379 tutorial2 Eunice Hon digging
When Seamus Heaney sees his dad, who is digging in the gravelly ground and comes up to those memories about his dad and grandfather, he eventually reaches a significant realization in his life. As Seamus Heaney’s dad and grandfather are manual workers, so digging is a practice for them. Although Seamus Heaney has received more education, so he does not have to do those physical works, he does not look down on them. In fact, he respects, appreciates, and acknowledges their professional and hard work, for example he describes how his dad digs in detail, in order to make it sound very professional.
Seamus Heaney does not forget his roots. Once he digs the memories of his ancestor one by one, there is a self-realization. As he realizes that what he wants to do is to use his pen to write something meaningful and have deeper thoughts, and that is his goal, just like his dad and grandfather use their spades to dig deeply into ground for potatoes and the good turf. Although their tools are different totally, they can still have something in common that can pass on to the next generation, which are their spirit. Because of those memories, it allows him to think of what kind of author he wants to be and then follow his passion. Instead of just realize it, Seamus Heaney also achieve his goal in this poem, as he writes about the old memories from the latest one to the earlier one and gives them new meaning. It can be seen that there is a process of digging in his mind and this poem. Hence, I would regard it as a self-actualization.
Heaney’s description of his father and grandfather is very loving. He values his sense of connection with both of them and he is definitely proud of what they are doing even he has “no spade to follow” them. He does not feel regret for not doing the same family’s traditional work and custom, but rather asserts that he is going to continuing their attitude of work through his pen. Granted, Heaney, being a working-class son, chooses a different path from his father and grandfather, but he works out to use his pen to perform another form of digging in the field of writing. Pen can be perceived as a farming tool and an instrument of exploration, which explores and produces products, just like what Heaney’s father and grandfather do. He realized even they are doing different things, he can contribute and still do the best according to his own ability. He has constantly been concerned with self-exploration as a poet.
Taking Heaney’s childhood background and memory into account, the poem can be seen as a rite of passage. Since Heaney makes us understand his history, traditions and therefore his difficulty in leaving his family tradition behind and pursuing a different path and identity. At the end of the poem, Heaney shows his determination to work on what he likes, and he becomes more confident in what he does. The act of digging is an indication of his father and grandfather putting their hearts and souls working in real life. This kind of attitude is what Heaney is running after also, he wants to do his best in being a great poet.
ENG3379-1 Lam Kun Kam, Tina
As a mission statement poem, it informs the readers of Heaney's aspiration - being a professional and hardworking poet who is capable of thinking deeply. The rite of passage of Heaney is a gradual process of self-realization since his childhood, where he was growing up with his peasant family and observing his parents "digging" in the potato fields. Although the 'digging' ritual appears as a mundane practice to the harvesters, Heaney accentuates the negligible details such as "the bright edge" of the potatoes, which are freshly uprooted from the farm. From the details, it is revealed that both his father and grandfather are accomplished manual labors, who have achieved their professionalism by working hard.
Highlighting these trivial aspects of harvesting, Heaney does not only take pride in his parents' professionalism, but also celebrate their family tradition, which has inspired him to think deeper thoughts in order to be a good poet. Growing up as an educated person, he has turned out to be a poet who uses pen instead of spade to write poems despite his peasant family background. Although he is doing something different from his parents, who use disparate tools to attain professionalism, he is proud to be incredibly rooted in his family. Admiring his father and grandfather's work ethic and skill, Heaney has been stimulated to relate "digging" to writing poetry - the deeper you dig, the better the potatoes obtained. Similar to harvesting, Heaney has realized he needs to think deeper thoughts to be an extraordinary writer. Overall, the rite of passage for Heaney is not a sudden event but a gradual process of realization, where the family tradition and values have been deeply ingrained in his mind and shaped him the person in his adulthood.
ENG 3379-1, WONG Pui Shan, Sandy
Heaney’s poem, Digging, is seen as a memoir of his childhood and reflects upon his rites of passage. Throughout the poem, he uses various metaphors to compare the difference of his rite of passage to his father’s and grandfather’s. For instance, he establishes the notion in the last two stanzas. He writes, “But I’ve no spade to follow men like them”, and follows with “The squat pen rests, I’ll dig with it.” From these few lines, it shows that Heaney recognizes that his rite of passage to adulthood or entering the society is different from his paternal figures in his family. Although the “tool of his trade” is unlike his father, he does not give himself an excuse to not strive and dig deep and find meaning in life through writing.
Heaney also uses various imagery to help develop a vivid picture for his readers. This is important because it allows us to experience his rites of passage. The second and third stanza helps illustrates the imagery produced, his recount and his father’s physical experience of digging will be something that he would not experience physically but instead, mentally. Moreover, the use of onomatopoeic devices in this poem also exemplifies these experiences. For example, in the second stanza, he writes “Under my window, a clean rasping sound when the spade sinks into gravelly ground”. These experiences also act as an epiphany and appreciation he has towards the deeper meaning of manual labor and his father respectively. Lastly, this poem shows that rites of passage in a family does not always have to be the same, but is inevitably passed on to the next generation through experience, respect and appreciation.
-ENG 3379-2
-Thinakaran Deena Ravi,4058330
2019. Childhood's End.
I would say that the main 'rite of passage' of growing up reflected in Heaney's poem is the continuation of the previous generations' 'legacy'. In this case, said 'legacy' is his ancestors' virtues of doing their jobs with their utmost effort, no matter how hard they are. In the poem, we can see just how hard their daily routines are: while the father had to bend low to harvest potatoes (stanza 3), his grandfather had to dig deep to find the ‘good turf’ (stanza 6). Apart from this, they probably worked under the blazing sun, which made the already physically demanding tasks even more unbearable. Still, their dedication towards their duties seems to remain unaffected, as they carried on digging with all their strength, holding their tools firmly. Heaney’s grandfather, in particular, didn’t even bother taking long breaks during work, which can be seen when he carried on working right after he finished the bottle of milk the poet handed him (stanza 6).
Judging by how he describes his father and grandfather in the poem, it is pretty obvious that Heaney admires and respects them for their sheer dedication to their work, to the point that he is ashamed that he doesn’t have the tool (and possibly, the strength) to follow his family’s ‘roots’. This also shows that the ‘legacy’ I’ve mentioned earlier isn’t on a material level. Instead, said ‘legacy’ is on a spiritual level. Although he doesn’t have the tools to continue the works of his ancestors, he chooses to adopt their virtues of sheer persistence. In the last stanza of the poem, Heaney pledges to ‘dig’ with his pen, just as his ancestors dug deep into the soil with their spades. And just as the lecture suggests, he is going to use his pen to ‘dig’ into deeper thoughts, to write better poems, and in the end, become a better poet. These virtues of immense passion and unrivaled persistence are perhaps the best ‘legacy’ one could ever pass along to their offspring.
- Ian
This poem is talking about what kind of poet he wants to be.
Between first stanza and second stanza, we could expect that the speaker is next to the window that he used to be in young days. By moving to second stanza, the speaker is turning reader’s eyes from top of the desk to under the window. This kind of flow shows how the poet is reminding his young days; digging back the memories to find something special to himself. Surprisingly, reader is also persuaded to follow his thinking processes without noticing it. In second stanza, the sounds like ‘-d’, for example, ‘sound’, ‘ground’, ‘down’ is making readers to keep going down deeply with his thinking process. It keeps going down until he notices that he’s father is literally digging lands hard for 20years in the same place and now, father is old.
However, the speaker is recognizing that he’s father has some experienced skills and strength. It shows in second stanza and third stanza in ‘stooping in rhythm’ and ‘levered firmly’. Also, the speaker finds out that he’s father not only have coarse strength but also some loving mind about lands that brings out lives. He ‘nestles’ his feet and scatters new potatoes without mashing it. Because of this, the speaker could feel ‘cool hardness’ in young days and he is feeling it now. This is the reason why speaker says ‘By god, the old man could handle his spade’. From this point, he realizes those ‘wonderful’ skills and sincerity are what exactly his grandfather had. Finally, he reminds his grandfather who knew how to dig down lands for finding ‘good turf’. The speaker wants to have some experienced and meaningful skills with sincerity to his job but didn’t know at the first time. In the very last line, poet shows that he found the way to use the pen and presents determination; ‘I’ll dig with it.’
ENG3379
Kimberly(Heijin Suh)
Digging was Heaney's first poem of his first collection 'death of a naturalist'. In the second line'The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.' means that he believes in pen is mightier than a sword, meaning that he believes that being knowledgeable can change a person's life. And then when he looked out from his window, he saw his father was digging for the potatoes. It reminded him his childhood memories of helping his father to dig. Also, this reminded him his grandfather too. He appreciated the work that two men contributed and he was proud of them of how they were excellent doing work with spades.
In the second-last stanza, 'But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.' shows that Heaney wants to use his pen to write poem, but with the same spirit of when his grandfather or father was digging. The rite of passage ceremony of growing up here is that Heaney was no longer a young boy who would help collecting potatoes with his father anymore. As he was grown up, he had option to choose whether he was going to do the labor work or to use a pen and be a poet. This simply means that he had turned from a boy to a man. However, although he was a grown up man and had his own choice, he did not think that his father or grandfather embarrassed him because they were labours. He admired them. He learnt from his father and grandfather of their endurance, of their hardworkingness. This means that you would face choices and paths when you are growing up. Just like Heaney, but he has no spade to follow men like them. Even he chose to use a pen, he could still learn from his older generations.
In the poem, Heaney portrays scenes that his father and grandfather digging potatoes in detail. His father and grandfather are very grounded and hardworking people, outstanding in their generations. Heaney, at a young age, marvels the outcome of their labour, which reflects his respect in nature and power. Their images too, in the boy’s mind, may associate with some powerful macho figures, who own force to alter nature. His father and grandfather are role archetypes that he abounds up with. He appreciates their capability. He is proud of his old man for standing on his own two feet. But he knows that the man that he longs to be has a different image with the ancestors. The fruitful creativity in his mind is more remarkable than him doing physical work.
This is simple truth that only having deep roots, will leaves grow luxuriantly. The rite of passage is about finding his family roots, so he can get access to the ancestors, or the archetypes. Digging, as he finds out, represents the hard working family trait. Has known his talent, he makes the choice. He determined to work as hard as his ancestors have done, dig with the pen as a tool in his hand. The rite of passage is also an initiation in Heaney's career. He passes the initiation and begins not hiding his identity away. Finding the inherent, he takes on a journey that tangible life outcomes are positive.
What Digging tells us about the rite of passage is that it determines new direction and new life for a person. The poem overthrows the bygone hereditary tradition of families. As a child, Heaney followed his father and grandfather to work. It seems that he was likely to inherit his father’s and grandfather’s jobs because from his lines he expresses his attention to every detail and admiration to the diligence of his father and grandfather. However, we know that Heaney didn’t accept the old path that had been walked by someone and had been paved for him by someone else so he later became a poet. What the rite of passage reminds Heaney is that inheritance is not about following suit and it is not a conveyor belt. He didn’t have to blindly take everything given. If he has a dream, he can definitely alter his fate, digging for literary masterpiece instead of digging for farm produce.
The rite of passage can project new life but it also emphasizes the importance of one’s root. Heaney’s success can partly be attributed to the capabilities which he derived from his ancestors. The rite of passage has provided a really good chance for him to look back and review what good qualities that he could learn from his ancestors. With a lot of dreams and determinations popping up in the rite of passage, Heaney could think of the best way to incorporate those capabilities from his root into the cultivation for his own dreams. As Heaney has gained so much success, he could hardly forget that it was his root which made him a successful poet and the influence of his family was significant and everlasting.
Angel
Hon Nga Chi (4077520)
Man looks like Todd Howard
If you think you are qualified to analyse Heaney's work, at least read it right. Three times you read a word wrong.
If only it had been you doing the reading ... and the analysis ....
I love what you're doing, but I feel like this stalls so much. I may not be your target audience, but by God (This means wow in case you didn't know), you explain the most obvious things and pause so much. I apologize for the rudeness, but I felt a good chunk of this was stalling and repeating yourself getting nowhere for a minute.