Digging by Seamus Heaney
Digging 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,
�Between my finger and my thumb.�
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�ve no spade to follow men like them.�
This could be because of a number of reasons; one could be that he just doesn�t want to be a turf digger. He might not find it mentally stimulating enough. But he shows a lot of pride in what his Father and Grandfather do and did for a living. It may be because turf cutters are no longer needed. In other words the world is changing and �men like them� are no longer needed.
Turf cutters are no longer needed because firstly turf is a lot harder to obtain than coal or central heating and secondly people in Ireland are not as poor as they used to be so they no longer need turf now that they have enough money to buy coal and to have central heating. So Heaney dedicates his life to writing.Digging is written primarily about what Heaney sees through the window, �Under my window��
So the poem is based on sight. However, the poet uses the other three senses to emphasize what he sees. For example, ��a clean rasping sound.When the spade sinks into the gravelly ground�
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...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.