Digging

The poem, “Digging”, is, one of the most important poems of Seamus Heaney, and it
is also one of the most representative poems of him, because in it we can find his most
important features as a writer: writing about everything that surrounds him“Digging”
compares the poet’s pen to the farmer’s spade, depicting Heaney’s early struggle to define
himself as a poet The dramatic situation that is described is a son, who appears to be a
writer, looking back onto his past and thinking about the work his father and grandfather
did.  Through the use of strong language and many poetic devices, Seamus Heaney has given
a whole new meaning to the idea of ‘digging’.  Heaney uses precise words and a very
effective style to portray the idea of a son looking back on the work of his ancestors and
realizing just how he fits into his family’s history and tradition.   The character has broken
away from the farming custom of his family, but yet he still maintains the idea of creating
and using tools very precisely with his new line of work, writing.  

The poem is a cyclical poem. It prepares us for the breaking of the cycle but he will continue
the tradition of digging with a pen. He will continue it in an alternate way.

I will be dividing the poem into 5 parts as the first stanza is about himself , second and third
stanza about his fathers skills , 4th stanza about the respect he has for his father , 5th and 6th
stanza about his grandfather and last two about his empowerment

First Stanza – About him:

 The character describes basically him at the beginning of the poem.  

 Through the words, “Between my finger and my thumb/The squat pen rests;” the
reader obtains the idea of how the character is a writer.  The “squat” could lead to
negative connotations to highlight his feeling of inadequacy.
 However the writer after negative connotations uses positive simile with internal
rhyme which instils confidences to convince him what he can do with his pen. “Snug
as a gun” simile shows the pen is as powerful as gun.
 The snug could highlight how comfortable he feels and furthermore we could link
this to the idea that the pen is mightier than the word and the power of writing and
how powerful writing will be for him.
 The pen feels snug in his hand as though that is where it belongs.  
 These descriptions of the character will provide a basis to compare the people in the
later parts of the poem to the main character, and whether they are different or the
same. 
 We immediately discover his liking for writing, “squat pen rest; snug as a gun”.  This
simile suggests words are just as harmful as bullets, and that a writer has as much
freedom in expressing their feelings even in such a simple simile told in monosyllabic
words, conveying strength and power.  Instead of describing and confining to the
room he sits in, he turns his attention to the outside world where he sees his father
 undergoing the known tradition.  This displays his curiosity and perhaps his guilt in
resorting to playing with a pen and not a spade

Second Stanza and Third Stanza – About his father’s technique and how he experiences
inadequacy :

 Heaney begins to go into the past and describe the characters father. 
 The reader sees how the father was a farmer because of the fact that he is
“digging”.  
 The “clean” highlights how perfect the farming is and this is exacerbated “ with when
the spade sinks into the gravelly ground” . Alliteration reinforces the idea of
precision. There should be a hard sound made because he has a connection with his
tools. We can link this to the follower where he has described the precision of the
father
 However the son feels guilty and says “ My father, digging” showing that he is guilty
he can not continue the tradition and this emphasized by caesura. The “look down”
shows how he cannot escape the idea of inadequacy and the shadow of his father .
 The enjambment shows the speaker is going back in time.
 There are many harsh sounding words such as “rasping”, “gravelly ground” and
“digging” give a harsher sound the overall idea of farming.  It shows how it was hard
work, and maybe because of this, the character sees the strength in his father.  
 However despite this, there is also an idea of how farming was not all about brute
strength and how it was also about technique and delicacy.  The imagery created by
the words “When the spade sinks” and “stooping in rhythm” is that of the spade just
easily and neatly going into the ground to do its work.  It portrays how farming also
requires some flow to it.  This can be seen as juxtaposition because even though
farming is tough and laborious, there is also an element of delicacy and flow. 
 In Stanza 3 , the “bends low, comes up” shows the continual movement and this is
nautical imagery which highlights the majesty of movement. We can again link this
to the follow with him (dipping and rising)
 The idea of “rhythm” shows that the father is in harmony with the land and shows
how he is so good at his job. Potato drills further emphasizes that as drills is
something you do over and over again and this shows the hard working and
dedication which leads to precision

Stanza 4 – The Respect for his father:

 The reader soon starts to see the respect that the character has for his
father.  Describes his father with great admiration for his strength and skill as a
farmer.
 The character describes how the careful and deliberate way his father cuts into the
earth with his spade and makes the idea of digging sound like a very skilled craft.  He
 describes how his father worked through the words "The coarse boot nestled on the
lug, the shaft/ against the inside knee was levered firmly."  
 An example of antithetical juxtaposition.  The harsh sound of the boot contrasts with
the warm inviting nest on the lug, as if to say the spades only purpose is to perform
the tradition regardless of the type of individual. Also it shows how the father is very
comfortable. He is a good fir like “snug as a gun” but they have used different tools.
 The use of the word “course” describes how it is not an easy job and that it requires
people to be tough, however, the use of the word “nestled” creates an image of a
person being a master at farming. 
 The word “nestled” has a sound of elegance to wwhat the characters father is
doing.  The fourth stanze mainly portrays the respect that the character has for the
strength and skill that his father posesses. 
 “The fourth stanza recalls positive images of digging and even relates to the readers
touch sensitivity, with the potatoes cool hardness in our hands.  The strong, healthy
potatoes can be contrasted to the later description as “soggy peat”, this in relation
in his memory as he recalls the stages of digging.  
 The alliteration of t and b in stanza 4 shows the emphasis of the expertise and also
by very minute descriptions and visual imagery he helps us to fully see the
admiration for his father
 The stanzas are of all different length imitating unpredictable thoughts mimicking
what happens with memory relapses, moving on from one thought to another.

 Stanza 5 and 6 - Grandfather

 The fifth stanza is in the middle of the poem and this is important because it
describes the shift from the character talking about his father, to talking about his
grandfather.  
 This poem is basically written in a retrospective way in which the character describes
himself in the beginning, but then changes to talking about other people in his
family.  
 However, the character later moves into the past to describe his father and him
being a farmer. 
 This style continues to the fifth stanza when the character shifts his thoughts from
his father to his grandfather and his career, which was also farming.  
 The poem keeps on going back into the future, and this could be seen as how the
character is ‘digging’ into his past and finding about his family’s traditions and what
they used to do. 
 He interrupts himself with “By God, the old man could handle a spade.”  The
colloquial language used strengthens the conversational tone found in this short
stanza as he thinks back in his mind. The tone is of admiration and exasperation
while leads to frustration and inadequacy.
  The reader can see that the character hold much respect for his grandfather because
the character describes his grandfather as a very skilled man.
 He describes his grandfather to be able to “cut more turf in one day/Than any other
man…”.  This shows how the character’s grandfather was also very skilled at ‘digging’
just like the character’s father.  The reader also understands how dedicated the
grandfather was to his work.  
 When the character brought the grandfather some milk, the grandfather
“straightened up/To drink it, then fell to right away…”.  Also, The character describes
the idea of ‘digging’ as being practiced with great expertise by his grandfather; again,
Seamus Heaney uses words that are precise and effective, as he describes his
grandfather's skill in "Nicking and slicing neatly".  
 The reader can see that the way the grandfather is described is similar to the way
the father is described.  Through the words “going down and down” the reader
obtains a imagery of rhythm, a rhythm that the character’s father also
possessed.  This goes to show that the grandfather and the father were alike and
how they continued their family tradition.  Now that the reader sees what the family
did in the past, he can also see how the character in the poem is divided from his
family in the sense that he does not farm. 
 The repetition of digging and alliteration of d in the end shows dedication and
precision of the grandfather but it is also a reminder of his own inadequacies and
that he cannot continue this tradition but he comes to realize he can

Stanza 7 and 8 – Resolution and empowerment

 In the final parts of the poem, the character begins to realize how his father and his
grandfather carried on the family tradition of farming, and how he broke away from
 The poet now takes into account all the negative aspects of digging,  “cold smell of
potato mould” appeals sensuously as we can feel, taste, smell and see all these
unpleasant sightings.  
 The mould represents too much time has passed by and perhaps the tradition should
come to a halt.  
 The squelch and slap appeals to our hearing sense and another unattractive image
comes to mind of mud and wet, cold weather conditions as well. It refers to the
reminding of his inadequacies.
 Through this metaphor; “ through living roots awaken in my head” he thinks of all
the links and relatives from past generations; bound to agriculture and deprived
from education. 
 His ancestors are still alive within him.  
 Images of roots wriggling and reaching towards him come to mind but they fail to
touch his heart.
  In the final parts of the poem, the character begins to realize how his father and his
grandfather carried on the family tradition of farming, and how he broke away from it. 
 He views his father and grandfather as great men and it can be seen that the character
thinks that he cannot do what they did; he cannot follow them.  This can be seen through
the words “But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.”.
 The words “men like them” shows how respectful he is of his grandfather and father, also
shows how the character himself is different from them.  Also he is setting himself apart and
making distance.
 Last stanza “ echos of stanza one . he feels convinced that writer is the best for him and this
is highlighted with the lack of enjambment
 His final thought, uplift and optimistic one where he decides writing is the best way
ahead for him.  
 The perception of the pen changes in the last three lines.  “I’ll dig with it”´ becomes
an ambition and emphasizes determination to be different.  
 He is interested in talking about the physical activity that takes place in the
proceeding of the tradition
 His resolution is that with his skill of writing he will celebrate his heritage life of
father. Therefore the title is a metaphor. He will dig in his family’s history and
continue the tradition

 Conclusion

This poem reflects his own experience with his family.  He will dig with his pen, suggesting
he has a tool of his own and can be as brutal with it as his ancestors were with digging.
Digging is seen as a tradition to the poet’s family for many generations, as he expresses his
feelings related to the past, present and future. Not only does he speak of digging literally
but also digging metaphorically; going down deeper to find truth and history of the family.
Heaney does this through the use of various literary techniques such as alliteration ,
metaphors and repetition