An In-Depth Analysis of ‘Digging’ a Poem by Seamus Heaney
“Digging” is about a person looking out of a window at their Father digging, describing what he/she sees and then the poem goes on to describe what he/she feels. I believe that the narrative voice in the poem is in fact that of Seamus Heaney. There are a number of clues that lead me to this conclusion. The first and most obvious one is in the first line, The poet writes in the first person throughout the poem. He writes about his Father and his Grandfather and he seems to move from describing his Father to describing his Grandfather. He does this so smoothly that the reader harldy notices the transition that took place. The second clue is slightly more hidden. The poet mentions turf. Now Ireland is one of the only countries left in Europe that still have turf bogs. Since Seamus Heaney is Irish there is an obvious link to his country. When the poet writes about his Grandfather he implies that there used to be a lot of turf cutters in his day. ‘My Grandfather cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toners bog.’ In that line there is a lot of pride on the part of the Grandson. The line also implies that there used to be a lot of turf-cutters in his day. So when Heaney writes, ‘But I’v
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Father Grandfather, Seamus Heaney, Heaney Irish, , father grandfather, turf cutters, seamus heaney, finger thumb, thumb squat pen, finger thumb squat, squat pen rests, poet writes, pen rests, describing father, squat pen, poet senses, coal central heating, senses emphasize, curt cuts edge,
Approximate Word count = 1146
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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