English Literature
Digging
For some context on Seamus Heaney, see the Context section of Storm on the Island
The Poem
Digging
Picture courtesy of Jill Davies
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 flowerbedsBends low, comes up twenty years awayStooping in rhythm through potato drillsWhere he was digging.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaftAgainst the inside knee was levered firmly.He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deepTo scatter new potatoes that we pickedLoving 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 dayThan any other man on Toner's bog.Once I carried him milk in a bottleCorked sloppily with paper. He straightened upTo drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sodsOver his shoulder, going down and downFor the good turf. Digging.
The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slapOf soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edgeThrough living roots awaken in my head.But I've no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumbThe squat pen rests.I'll dig with it.
Vocabulary
| Words | Description |
|---|---|
| potato drills (line 8) | parallel ridges in the earth for growing potatoes |
| lug (line 10) | the flattened top edge of the spade blade, against which the digger pushes with his foot |
| shaft (line 10) | the pole between the handle and the blade |
| turf (line 17) | a section of peat, cut from the ground for fuel |
In this poem Heaney sees his father, an old man, digging the flowerbeds. He remembers how his younger, stronger father used to dig in the potato fields when Heaney was a child - and how his grandfather, before that, was an expert turf digger. Heaney knows that he has no spade to follow men like them - he is a writer, not a farmer - so will dig with his pen. He will 'dig' into his past.
Structure and Language
Structure
Picture courtesy of Michael Verhoef
The poem consists of nine stanzasstanza: A group of lines of poetry that make up a unit - like a paragraph in a piece of prose; a verse. that vary between two lines and five lines in length. There is no pattern to the stanzas, perhaps to reflect the idea that there is no pattern or predictability to our memories.
Language
Think about how the language the poetpoet: A writer of poetry. uses helps to convey his ideas. Here are some points to consider:
- The title is blunt. It is only when we have read the poem carefully that we realise that all three generation are involved in digging: his grandfather dug turf, his father dug up potatoes, Heaney is digging up his memories and his past.
- The poem begins in the present tensetense: The verb formation that describes the time at which the action occurred, eg past, present or future. as Heaney describes seeing his elderly father straining among the flowerbeds, then goes into the past tense when he remembers his father and grandfather at work. The last two stanzas return to the present, when Heaney realises that his work is to write. The final line, however, is in the future tense, to emphasise Heaney's determination -
"I'll dig"
. - Heaney remembers his own role in the digging: he and other children would gather the new potatoes that his father dug up, and he was responsible for taking milk to his grandfather on Toner's bog. It was this involvement that enabled him to watch his father and grandfather at work and describe their movements so precisely.
- His father was clearly skilled at his work. Heaney remembers him
"Stooping in rhythm through potato drills"
(line 8) and his boot and his knee fitted the spade perfectly (lines 10/11). He uses technical terms (lug, shaft) to stress that the spade is a precise tool."By God, the old man could handle a spade"
(line 15) is a simple, loving exclamation of pride. - He was also proud of his grandfather, who was so keen to work that he hardly stopped when Heaney brought him some milk. His work was precise -
"nicking and slicing neatly"
and he was strong -"heaving sods over his shoulder"
(line 21). Perhaps the repetitionrepetition: A word or phrase that is used again and again so that it forms a pattern of sound or meaning, often for emphasis or to make a particular point. of"old man"
(line 16) suggests not only Heaney's affection for his grandfather, but his father's affection for him too: the love between them bonds the three generations. - Heaney does not explain exactly why he has
"no spade to follow men like them"
(line 28). Do you think he feels he is not physically strong enough for this type of work? Or that he is no longer emotionally equipped for it, having broken the family tradition of working the land? Does he fear his grandfather and father might not approve of his having left the land?
Imagery and Sound
Picture courtesy of Andy Logan
Imagery
- The opening similesimile: An explicit comparison of one thing to another, using the words 'like' or 'as'. 'Sleeping like a log' and 'bright as a button' are similes. is striking - Heaney's pen is
"snug as a gun"
(line 2). It shows how perfectly the pen fits his hand - and, accordingly, how well suited Heaney is to write. (In the fourth stanzastanza: A group of lines of poetry that make up a unit - like a paragraph in a piece of prose; a verse., Heaney describes how perfectly his father's body is in tune with the spade, showing how well suited he is to dig.) The gun imageimage: A visual representation of something; a mental picture; a persona that is presented to the world. also suggests the strength of the pen: it is a weapon for writing. - The enjambmentenjambment: Lines in a poem or play that run on from one to another without pause or punctuation. between the second and third stanza is dramaticdramatic: To do with a drama or play. A description or portrayal that is vivid and immediate - as if it is being acted out in front of you. Something that is tense or exciting.. Heaney looks down from his window to see his father digging - and then we find he is looking back twenty years. The pause between the stanzas indicates the gap in time.
- The penultimate stanza appeals to our senses. Heaney gives us the cold smell of
"potato mould"
(line 25), the sound of"squelch and slap / Of soggy peat"
(lines 25/26), the sight of the"curt cuts"
(line 26). This helps to make what he describes more vivid. How does alliteration [alliteration: Words strung together with repeated (often initial) consonants, eg 'Max made many men mad'. ] heighten the experience further? - The final stanza almost brings the poem round full circle. It repeats the opening lines:
"Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests."
Yet the gun image is replaced by"I'll dig with it."
His pen becomes a metaphorical spade. This suggests that his pen is his tool, just as the spades were tools for his father and grandfather. It also suggests that Heaney wants to 'go back to his roots' - to dig into his past through his writing.
Sound
- Look out for repetitionrepetition: A word or phrase that is used again and again so that it forms a pattern of sound or meaning, often for emphasis or to make a particular point. through the poem. For example, how many times are the words
"dig"
and"digging"
used? What effect does this have? - Alliteration is used a lot to recreate the feel and sensation of digging: for example,
"the spade sinks into the gravelly ground"
(line 4) - where the s sounds suggest the slicing of the blade through the earth, and the g sounds the gravelly resistance of the soil. - A few lines near the beginning of the poem have fairly conventional rhymes: thumb/gun, sound/ground/down; thereafter the poem is unrhymed, though there are repeated sounds such as the echoing ing sounds in
"nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods"
(line 22)
Attitude, tone and ideas
Much of the meaning of a poem is conveyed by the attitude it expresses toward its subject matter. 'Attitude' can be thought of as a combination of the poet's tone of voice, and the ideas he or she is trying to get across to the reader.
A good way to decide on the tonetone: The mood or manner of a text or part of a text. The author's 'tone of voice' or way in which they expect to be understood. The emotional load carried by a text. of a poem is to work out how you would read it aloud. Should this poem be read:
- in a regretful tone, because Heaney is not outside digging too, and feels he somehow ought to be?
- in a proud tone, as Heaney is displaying the skills of his father and grandfather for everyone to appreciate?
- in a loving tone, as if the poem is a gift to his father and grandfather?
Well, Heaney's description of his father and grandfather is very loving. He values his sense of connection with them, and he is clearly very proud of the work they did, even though he has "no spade to follow"
them. Far from regretting his break with the family's traditional work on the land, Heaney asserts that he is continuing their work, by digging with his pen.
Ideas
potatoes in the ground
The ideas in this poem concern our relationship to our forebears, and to work. Heaney describes his relationship to his father and grandfather purely in terms of their work on the land. He takes the idea of digging, the commonest form of work in any rural community, and uses it as a symbolsymbol: An image or thing (usually something physical - eg a flag) that stands for or represents something else (usually something abstract - eg a nation). for productive, creative work in general - and for writing in particular.
By using this metaphormetaphor: An expression used to describe and/or compare a subject/action/person by the way it feels or what it resembles - eg 'sea of troubles', and 'drowning in debt' are metaphors. of digging, Heaney also suggests that he himself needs to dig into the past, and dig into the English language to say what he wants to say.
Have a look at these , and our suggestions about how they fit into these themestheme: A central, unifying idea that runs through a text or performance..
Themes and Ideas
| Quotation | Commentary |
|---|---|
| Loving their cool hardness in our hands. | There is a sense of Heaney's love of the earth throughout the poem. His father and grandfather seem to be in harmony with the earth; he himself, as a child, loved picking up the potatoes that the earth produced. |
| By God, the old man could handle a spade. | This reminds us that Heaney's father is now an old man, but also shows his fondness for him: old man is a common term of affection. Heaney is clearly proud of him too. |
| My grandfather cut more turf in a day / than any other man on Toner's bog. | Heaney boasts about his grandfather's skill - he presents him as a champion digger. Perhaps the young Heaney boasted as a child to his friends about his grandfather's ability. |
| .. living roots awaken in my head. | These roots are both actual roots the grandfather's spade cuts through, and Heaney's metaphorical roots in the land and in his family. Even though he doesn't dig with a spade like his father and grandfather, these roots are still alive in his mind. |
Comparison
In the exam, you will be required to write about several poems, some pre-1914 and some post-1914. To which poems would you compare Digging? There will be a number of ways in which the poems can be compared, and you may well be able to think of ones which we have not!
Comparisons between poems
| Poet and poem | What to look for in your comparison |
|---|---|
| Clarke: Catrin |
|
| Blake: Little Boy Lost / Found |
|
| Yeats: Song of the Old Mother |
|
Now try a Test Bite
Digging: Test
In the exam you'll be asked to write about four poems, two pre-1914 and two post-1914 (Heaney and Clarke or Duffy and Armitage), comparing and contrasting them with each other. The poems will usually have something in common - such as their subject matter, or an aspect of their language, or the ideas expressed - but also important differences. In comparing them, you may be able to notice things about the way the poems convey their meanings which you might not have noticed before.
When you are asked to compare poems, it's a good idea to run through in your mind each of the headings under which we have looked at the poems in the revision bite: subject matter, structure, language and imagery, sound, ideas, and attitudes and tone.
Now look at this question:
- Question
Compare Digging with two other post-1914 poems and one pre-1914 poem of your choice that present the relationship between a parent and child. How do the poets show the nature of the relationships?
Three poems suitable for this comparison would be Gillian Clark's Catrin, Seamus Heaney's Follower, and William Blake's Little Boy Lost/Little Boy Found.
What would you want to include in your comparison? On a piece of paper, note down some points to make in comparing Digging with each of these three poems.
Then hit Next to compare your points with ours...
Digging: Test (answer hints)
Clarke: Catrin
- Answer
- Both poems are very personal.
- Catrin is from mother to a child, while Digging is from a child to a father (and grandfather).
- Catrin suggests that relationships between parents and their children are not always harmonious, but Digging shows no conflict.
- Catrin explores how a mother and child are bound together through the actual birth; Digging suggests that different generations are bound by sharing the same occupation - Heaney, his father and grandfather all 'dig'.
Heaney: Follower
- Both of Heaney's poems show the contrast between his father as an old man and his younger self.
- Both describe his expertise in farm work as a means of illustrating Heaney's admiration for is father.
- In both poems, the young Heaney is present in the fields, but in Digging he was helpful, gathering in the potatoes, while he was a nuisance in Follower.
- There is a determination at the end of Digging to work and explore the past, but there is a hint of frustration in Follower - today It is my father who keeps stumbling Behind me, and will not go away.
Blake: Little Boy Lost/Little Boy Found
- Heaney gives us a detailed description of his father and grandfather at work, but we are given no visual impression of the father in Blake's poem.
- Blake's boy becomes lost as no father was there, which suggests he was irresponsible, but Heaney shows that his father worked hard to provide food for his family.
- Digging suggests a close family relationship. Blake, though, shows the love of the boy's weeping mother and the ever nigh love of God.
- Blake's poem implies praise of God ' the father' of us all, while Heaney's poem shows his personal love and respect of his father and grandfather.
Of course, these suggestions do not contain everything there is to say! You may have thought of other relevant points, and there may be other poems you have read which you could use in your comparison. The important thing is to be able to write two or three sentences pointing out similarities and differences between the poems.