Examine how Heaney presents his relationship with his father in :: English Literature

Examine how Heaney presents his relationship with his father in Digging and Follower. In the poem the Follower, the poet admires his father with all factions. The poet, Heaney, describes his father on verse 2, stanza 1 as being a very strong, well built man and classifies him as an "expert" (verse 5, stanza 2) when it comes to working in the field. In verse 10-12, stanza 3, Heaney describes his father's eye as "his eye narrowed and angled at the ground mapping the furrow exactly", this verse describes his father as if he was a sailor, carefully, watching the field as a map with a close eye making sure that everything is moving or growing the way they should be. In the poem digging, the reader begins to get a sense that time has moved on, and that the young boy has now become older as so did his father. The poet, Heaney, says on verse 7, stanza 3, "till his straining rump along the flowerbeds", this verse indicates that his father is old, and strains as he bends over to the flowerbeds, but even though the father is aging, he is still a strong man who can still hold a spade. Also, in the poem digging, it mentions about the grandfather of the poet. Heaney describes his grandfather through a series of recollections he had with him. In stanza 6 of the poem Digging, it is there the reader, reads about the poets past with his grandfather. From, the memories the poet recalls, the reader can see that the grandfather was like the father, careful and we also catch from verse 19 -21, stanza 6, which is a memory Heaney recalls of giving milk to his grandfather, he drinks it but than falls right away to work. From these verses the reader sees that he is extremely dedicated to his work and feels very strongly about it. In the end of the poem the Follower, the poet ends it very sudden, and leaves the reader puzzled. The end of the poem the poet says, "à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦It is my father who keeps stumbling behind me, and will not go away" (verse 23-24, stanza 6). These last two statements speak about the poet, as he is older. He is now taken on the tradition of continuing the legacy of farming as his father had done when he was young. When Heaney says he now stumbles behind me, the poet does not literally mean that his father is, but metaphorically instead is. In the past the son has admired his father's abilities to be able to farm with such elegancy,