Poem Analysis: Digging by Seamus Heaney
English Literature Assignment Gideon Cheung S4CN (5)
Essay on Digging by Seamus Heaney
In the poem Digging, Heaney attempts to describe his admiration towards his father and grandfather. He finds their skills with the spade over the top. However, instead of following the footsteps of his father and grandfather, he chooses a pen instead of a spade as his tool for earning a living. The irregular structure of the poem, figurative devices, diction, and the title all played an important part to show how much Heaney admires his father and grandfather, but the most notable of all is the role and attitude of the speaker, Heaney himself. The first stanza begins with two lines. The second stanza has three lines. This continues to increase gradually, until the fourth. From the first stanza to the fourth stanza, Heaney only described about himself holding a pen and his father digging. This illustrates that Heaney still has a clear memory of his father digging, as there is a steady accretion. However, the fifth stanza only has two lines, and the sixth stanza has eight lines. This explains that Heaney’s memory of his grandfather’s occupation is hazy. Because of his blurred memory, Heaney only remembers some small details, such as his grandfather working right after drinking the milk brought by Heaney. In the last two stanzas, Heaney’s memory jumps back to the present. Has he chosen to dig, like his father and grandfather? No. He has found squat pens more comfortable to use than a spade. Though ‘The squat pen rests; snug as a gun’ (stanza 1, line 2), ‘But I’ve no spade to follow men like them’ (stanza 7, line 4) and ‘the squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it’ (stanza 8, line 2-3). A large number of poetic devices were used in Digging. They include rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, internal rhyme, and repetition. Unlike most poems, rhyme are not an important part in the poem as the poem’s structure is irregular; it only appears on stanza 2, lines 1 and 2
Essay on Digging by Seamus Heaney
In the poem Digging, Heaney attempts to describe his admiration towards his father and grandfather. He finds their skills with the spade over the top. However, instead of following the footsteps of his father and grandfather, he chooses a pen instead of a spade as his tool for earning a living. The irregular structure of the poem, figurative devices, diction, and the title all played an important part to show how much Heaney admires his father and grandfather, but the most notable of all is the role and attitude of the speaker, Heaney himself. The first stanza begins with two lines. The second stanza has three lines. This continues to increase gradually, until the fourth. From the first stanza to the fourth stanza, Heaney only described about himself holding a pen and his father digging. This illustrates that Heaney still has a clear memory of his father digging, as there is a steady accretion. However, the fifth stanza only has two lines, and the sixth stanza has eight lines. This explains that Heaney’s memory of his grandfather’s occupation is hazy. Because of his blurred memory, Heaney only remembers some small details, such as his grandfather working right after drinking the milk brought by Heaney. In the last two stanzas, Heaney’s memory jumps back to the present. Has he chosen to dig, like his father and grandfather? No. He has found squat pens more comfortable to use than a spade. Though ‘The squat pen rests; snug as a gun’ (stanza 1, line 2), ‘But I’ve no spade to follow men like them’ (stanza 7, line 4) and ‘the squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it’ (stanza 8, line 2-3). A large number of poetic devices were used in Digging. They include rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, simile, internal rhyme, and repetition. Unlike most poems, rhyme are not an important part in the poem as the poem’s structure is irregular; it only appears on stanza 2, lines 1 and 2