DiggingBy: Seamus Heaney

Molly CalhoonBroderick Yoerg

Seamus Heaney (1939-Today)• Born in Northern

Protestant Ireland• Worked on a farm

in County Derry.• Influenced him to

write about rural life

• Nobel Prize 1995• Poet, playwright,

and translator

• Historical poems about Ireland's ancestors

"I've always associated the moment of writing with a moment of lift, of joy, of unexpected reward." -Seamus Heaney

Between my finger and my thumbThe squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

Under my window, a clean rasping soundWhen the spade sinks into gravelly

ground:My father, digging. I look down

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds

Bends low, comes up twenty years awayStooping in rhythm through potato drillsWhere he was digging

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft

Against the inside knee was levered firmly.

He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep

To scatter new potatoes that we picked

Loving their cool hardness in our hands.

By God, the old man could handle a spade.

Just like his old man.

My grandfather cut more turf in a day

Than any other man on Toner's bog.

Once I carried him milk in bottle

Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up

To drink it, then fell to right away

Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods

Over his shoulder, going down and down

For the good turf. Digging.

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap

Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge

Through living roots awaken in my head.

But I've no spade to follow men like them.

Between my fingers and my thumb

The squat pen rests.

I'll dig with it.

Paraphrase

Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

There is a pen in my hand. It feels like a gun.

Under my window, a clean rasping sound

When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:

My father, digging. I look down

There is a sound outside my window of a shovel digging. It is my father. I look out my window.

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds

Bends low, comes up twenty years away

Stooping in rhythm through potato drills

Where he was digging.

Until his hardworking butt in the garden bends down, he stands up, and it is like 20 years ago. He bends down rhythmically in the potato fields where he was digging.

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft

Against the inside knee was levered firmly.

His worn out boot was on the shovel, and he had a firm, steady grasp on it.

He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep

To scatter new potatoes that we picked,

Loving their cool hardness in our hands.

He dug up potato roots with the shiny shovel. We picked these. They feel cool and hard in our hands.

By God, the old man could handle a spade.

Just like his old man.

Wow, my dad was really good at this, just like my grandpa.

My grandfather cut more turf in a day

Than any other man on Toner’s bog.

Once I carried him milk in a bottle

Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up

My grandpa dug more turf than anyone where he worked. Once, I brought him some milk with paper in the top. He stood up.

To drink it, then fell to right away

Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods

Over his shoulder, going down and down

For the good turf. Digging.

He drank it quickly, then got right back to his technical work. He dug deep to get to the rich turf. Digging.

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap

Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge

Through living roots awaken in my head.

But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.

The smell of potatoes, sound of peat, and sharp edges all come alive through the ties to my past in my head. But I don't have the same tools to do work like my dad and grandpa.

Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests.

I'll dig with it.

The pen is in my hand again. I'll use that to do my work.

Connotation

Melody:• Inconsistent Rhyming- first few lines

o Breaking patterns was a Modernism trait; It is untraditional.

o Ex. "sound" and "ground"

• Internal Rhyming- like a song; vowelso Ex. "thumb" and "gun"

Connotation

Rhythm:• Starts in dactylic tetrameter to get a

songlike flowo Ex. "Under my window a clean rasping

sound"• Changes to free verse- no meter

o Shows Modernism again because it was breaking a comfortable norm.

Connotation

Imagery:• Simile "The squat pen rests, snug as a

gun"o Strange comparisono Trying to increase his work's importanceo Violent toolo Brings guns into question- Modernism

• Onomatopoeia- Ex. "squelch"• Very specific words- "clean rasping sound"

Attitude

Reflective• Questioning the past• Questioning his future• Differences between them

Shift

• Subject change: father to grandfathero Shows deep roots

• Tense change: present to pasto Shows that it is a memoryo Ex. "the spade sinks" to "where he was

digging"

Title

After analyzing the poem, what do you think the title means?

Win a potato!

Title

• Digging has multiple meaningso Literal diggingo Digging into the pasto Digging for info when writing

• Shows the importance of work to himo Instead of naming it "Family"

Themes

Family is the most important tie we have.

• Relates everything he does to his family• Considers them hard, skilled workers

o Ex. "By God, the old man could handle a spade."

Themes

Discovering yourself is necessary to succeed.

• Different trade from his familyo Ex. "But I've no spade to follow men like

them."• Questions his choice at the beginning;

realizes he can "dig" too at the end.o Modernism- questioning values

Purpose

• Helps everyone to see that being different is okay

• Lyric- Talks about his emotions over changing the family pattern

BibliographyDuffy, Charles F. "Heaney's DIGGING." Explicator 46.4 (1988): 44. EBCO MegaFILE. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.A. This source discusses a possible allusion to the Bible in the first stanza of the poem. It also analyzes the different connotations

of the simile included in that stanza. Lastly, it tells of the different types of digging to which the title may be referring.B. This source has authority because it was published by the literary journal "The Explicator". Charles F. Duffy was a well-

respected writer for this journal. The source is also accurate because it uses many other sources to back up its conclusions. Duffy quotes the poet in his analysis of certain phrases. He also includes relevant background information about Ireland.

C. This source was used to help analyze the title of the poem. The analysis of the simile in the first stanza was also used for analyzing the poem's overall connotation. It was unique because it focused on a few very specific parts of the poem rather than the poem as a whole.

"Digging." EXPLORING Poetry. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Gale. Independent School District 191. 28 Apr. 2013

A. This source digs into the meaning of the title and further analyzes the poet's admiration of not only his family, but the hard work they do. Also, this source describes the author's affection of rustic Irish past/tradition. Finally, this source helps analyze the poem by showing us how the author talks about nature and his love for it and the way that ties with the work of his family.

B. This source has authority because it is from a well-known poetry analyzer called "EXPLORING Poetry." This organization has been around for 5 years and has analyzed many poems. This also shows accuracy because he quotes the poem several times in his analysis, showing his depth and knowledge of the poem. This source is credible because it is from the Gale Learning Center, which many schools use to source documents.

C. This source was unique because it compared this poem to another one of Heaney's poems, "Death Of a Naturalist" and compared the two through analysis of the title and he talks about the bond they share about how they both deal with Irish tradition and Heaney's past.