An In-Depth Analysis of 'Digging' a Poem by Seamus Heaney

A detailed Summary of 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

e no spade to follow men like them.'

However the best possible example of this is when the poet uses two senses to emphasize sight 'The cold smell of potatoe mould, the squelch and slap Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge.'

I think the poet's attitute to work is that of a perfectionist. I get this impression because of how picky he is about describing the way his Father and Grandfather worked. For example, 'Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods Over his shoulder, going down and down For the good turf. Digging!'

The first line is clearly used to emphasize and make the second line clearer. That line also paints an image in the readers mind of the spade sinking in and the scratching/rasping sound it makes. An example of how the author does the same thing only with the sense touch is, 'The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft Against the inside knee was levered firmly.' In this case the second line emphasizes the first. It does this by using the words levered and firmly they make the whole phrase seem more realistic.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Father Grandfather, Seamus Heaney, Heaney Irish, , father grandfather, 'between finger, seamus heaney, turf cutters, poet senses emphasize, coal central heating, pen gun poet, finger thumb, mind's eye, describing father, poet senses, pen rests, 'between finger thumb, thumb squat, finger thumb squat,

Approximate Word count = 1146
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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