Digging by Seamus Heaney

Digging -by seamus Heaney The poet, Seamus Heaney uses simple words in his numbers which is beautifully portrayed as well as easy to understand. The poem is basically about the poets respect and admiration of his fathers and grandfathers hard work. The poem begins in the present tense form. The poet, Heaney, is in his room, writing while his father is digging. It can be assumed that the poet is near a window so that when he looks outside he can see his father digging. It is important to note that Heaney looks down at his fathers straining rump.Literally his position at the window is elevated but we also get the sense that Heaney somehow feels superior to manual work and that he does not like this feeling. The next stanza takes us natural covering to previous years before his fathers retirement from farming Bends low, comes up twenty years out-of-door. We move effortlessly and beautifully from the present day flowerbed to the previous years potato drills. The poet then begins to de scribe his fathers skills. The paradoxical coarse boot clutch shows the physicality and hardwork of digging alongside the love his father has for it.Heaney uses a two line stanza beginning with the exclamatory By God to take us win back to his grandfathers digging skills. The exclamation and the conversational tone add a feeling of being with Heaney as he reminisces. Neatly Heaney has taken us back to his forefathers to show that working with the land has always been a tradition in the family. He has broken this chain by choosing to become a writer. The next stanza is a memory of visiting his grandfather as he cuts peat from the bog.The bottle corked sloppily with paper reflects Heaneys clumsiness in practical matters but also a different use of paper to the one he is really skilled at. This is a family proud of their achievements which are measured by a spade and the power to handle one My grandfather could cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toners bog. The next-to-las t stanza reveals the difficulties created by Heaneys wish to write. The curt cuts through accompaniment roots are not only the sharp edge of the spade cutting through living turf.They are the sharp words spoken as Heaney cuts his ties with his familys traditional means of earning a living. And so we return to the beginning lines of the poem with the significant change from as snug as a gun to Ill dig with it. Heaney recognizes that his skill with a pen is comparable to that of his forefathers with a spade. He also realizes that he can conduct the love for skilled work with the land through his writing. Just as his grandfather was digging down and down for the good turf so lead Heaney dig down and down for the good stuff that makes his poetry so exquisite.