Seamus Heaney Essay -- English Literature

Seamus Heaney Seamus Heaney was born in 1939 in Northern Ireland into a rural farming family. The family where Catholic, living in a predominantly Protestant area of the country. I can relate to this as I come from South Africa where the tension between the black and white people is high, this has helped me to choose my first poem "Docker". The second poem I am going to analyse is "Follower" which tells the story of a young boy who grows up admiring his dad but as time ticks by, things change and people age. The third and final poem I will analyse is "Digging" which also is about a young lad who admires his dad for his skill, but feels bad because he isn't as skilled as his father is and therefore chooses to dig with his pen in the form of poetry. The poem Docker starts off with "there, in the corner" from this it can be seen that the man is a lonely man who does not want to be bothered, all he is doing is staring at his drink. "Speech clamped in the lips, vice" this use of metaphor indicates that he is a anti social person with the word "vice" once again describing the mans power and strength. The Docker is then described as a hard and tough man, "Cowling plated forehead and sledge head jaw" because he is compared with very hard objects, such as a sledge head which is made out of steel. "That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic" this verse is of a violent nature which confirms the Docker as a violent aggressive man who clearly does not like Catholics. The mans dislike for Catholics is emphasised even more in the following verse "The only Roman collar he tolerates, smiles all round his sleek pint of porter". From this it can be said that even the white foam made by his beer reminds him of Cath... ...ss. "I wanted to grow up and plough" this proves that like with all little boys, he wanted to be just like his dad when he grows up. He follows his father all round the farm "In his broad shadow" which again describes the mans huge build and strength. In this poem, the first five stanzas represent the past, whereas the last stanza represents the present. "I was a nuisance, tripping and falling" The boy, who is now a man, comes to realise he was clumsy and unskilful who was always bothering his father "Yapping always". "But today" is the main contrast between past and present, "It is my father who keeps stumbling behind me and will not go away" His father has obviously aged and become enfeebled while his son has now grown up and become more powerful and skilful than what his father is. It is his father who follows him around now and will not go away.