Seamus HeaneyPoet

Born: 13 April 1939, Derry, Northern Ireland Died: 30 August 2013, Dublin, Ireland(74) Poet, playwright, translator

“Digging” Between my finger and my thumb

The squat pen rests; as 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 could 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 awayNicking and slicing neatly, heaving sodsOver his shoulder, digging down and downFor the good turf. Digging.

The cold smell of potato mold, 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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNRkPU1LSUg&feature=player_detailpage#t=20

“Digging” Language

I was first attracted to this poem because of the title, I was interested in what way the author would describe “Digging”. I found this poem interesting because the author uses figurative language to describe how he is the 3rd generation to “Dig”. His grandfather dug turf, his father dug up potatoes, and he is now learning to dig in another sense. He is writing his poem, bringing back the past.

In his writing Seamus Heaney uses a lot of literacy including run-on-lines on many occasions, where one line of poetry flows into the next without the use of a paragraph, carrying on the meaning. Examples of this are seen in lines 1-2, 3-4, 6-9. in one instance he has one stanza flowing into the next very effectively to tie his thoughts together.

This is a narrative poem that tells a story as the poem progresses, and uses the first person seen with the use of “my”. He tells the story of his father and grandfather and how it leads him to respecting his elders but following their footsteps in another way.

He uses a simile in line 2 to express the similarity of how he holds his pen, to the position a gun would take.

Class Work

1. Where is the poet and what is he looking at?

2. How do you know that he goes back in time in his memory?

3. How do you know that the poet is proud of his father?

4. Is the poet able to dig like his father and grandfather?

Class Work

1. What decision does the poet reach at the very end of the poem?

2. What comparison is made in the opening lines of the poem?

3. There are two types of “Digging” in this poem, can you identify and explain them?

4. There are a number of sound, smells and texture in this poem. Can you find them? How do they add to the description?

“Mid-Term Break” I sat all morning in the college sick bay

Counting bells knelling classes to a close.At two o'clock our neighbours drove me home.

In the porch I met my father crying--He had always taken funerals in his stride--And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.

The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pramWhen I came in, and I was embarrassedBy old men standing up to shake my hand

And tell me they were "sorry for my trouble,"Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,Away at school, as my mother held my hand

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.At ten o'clock the ambulance arrivedWith the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.

Next morning I went up into the room. SnowdropsAnd candles soothed the bedside; I saw himFor the first time in six weeksPaler now,

Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four foot box, a foot for every yearhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF0U0pVK0bk&feature=player_detailpage

Class work

1. What is happening at the beginning of the poem?

2. Do you think that Seamus and his brother was close?

3. What does Seamus mean by “The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram”

4. Why didn’t he see his brother in six weeks?

5. “A four foot box, A foot for every year” explain this in your own words.

Homework

Compare Heaney’s two poems “Digging” and “Mid-Term Break” under these headings:

1. Theme

2. Language – imagery, alliteration, striking words

How do I do this?

- In theme- write how the themes are different, be personal, did they affect you in any way?, which one did you like better?, Are they universal poems?.

What did you like about the language used?

- Did you notice that Heaney likes to use alliteration – what affects does this have?, Is his imagery easy to understand?, Can you picture his images?.

Be personal!

- means to offer your own opinion as you write, for example, I feel that in this image…This reminds me of…I can see clearly here that Heaney….OR ...I know that…I would certainly like to read more of Heaney’s poems.

Phrases to use!

- This is a vivid image…The poet points a picture of….It is evident(clear/obvious) that…There is no doubt that…How ever in the other poem.

Class Work

1. Compare the tones on the two poems “Digging” and “Mid-Term Break”.

2. Choose an image from one poem, say why you liked it.

3. Explain the meaning of one poem in your own words, do it stanza by stanza.

Homework

Write a poem, use the following:

1. Image2. Metaphors

3. Personification

4. Run-on-lines

5. Mood

6. Onomatopoeia

- (Your poem can be about anything)

Test

In your test there will be:

1. Fill in the blanks on the poems.

2. Questions.

3. Basic Information about Seamus Heaney.