Gillian Clarke

http://www.gillianclarke.co.uk/home.htm
Gillian was born in Cardiff, Wales. She was a poet, playwrighter, editor and a translator. She was also a freelance tutor of creative writing, from primary school children to adults. Her poetry is massively studied by GCSE and A Level students throughout Britain. She has travelled in Europe and the United States giving poetry readings and lectures, and her work has been translated into ten languages. She has a daughter and two sons, and now lives with her husband on a smallholding in Ceredigion, where they raise a small flock of sheep, and care for the land according to organic and conservation practice.

Seamus Heaney - Follower

Most of this poem describes the skill and strength of Heaneys' father. How do each of the following lines express his fathers qualities?
a) 'His shoulders globed like a full sail strung'This shows us his father is strong and highly proffessioned at plowing. His father is a very hard worker and puts all strength and effort into his work.

b) 'The horses straining at his clicking tongue'Even though the horses are tired, his father is still going strong and persists on finishing his work each day. His father is a very persistant man and insists on completing each level of work at all times.

c) 'With a single pluck/Of reins, the sweating team turned around'
The shows that Seamus' father is in control. The horses follow his commands instantly; even though they are worn out.

d) 'Dipping and rising to his plod'
This continues on the nautical reference like the use of the snail in the first quote. Maybe comparing the plowing to a wave and his father to a ship as he is strong and over powering towards his work.

What do the following lines tell you about Seamus Heaney?
e) 'I stumble in his hob-nailed wake'
This shows us that the young Heaney followed in his fathers footsteps and stumbled showing his youthful excitement and clumsiness; this may mean that Heaney is impressed at his fathers work.

f) 'I was a nuicance, tripping, falling; yapping always'
This shows that when Seamus was young he was very much interested in his fathers work by asking questions constantly and interupting his fathers work. This shows that Seamus could have been seen as annoying in his fathers point of view; a nuicance.

What kind of animal does the young Heaney remind you of?
Heaney reminds me of a young, mischievous puppy. I think this as they are very loyal to there owners and can be a nuicance at times; just like Heaney as a child. Puppies are very excited animals and always getting in the way at the most complicated times. Heaney resembles this as he was constantly getting under his fathers feet while he was trying to make a living.

How has the relationship changed according to the last two and a half lines?
According to the last few lines his father now follows Heaney instead; he is now the nuicance - the situation has been reversed. Maybe this is because his father has become older by the end of the poem and now relys on his son to take care of him; just like Seamus relied on his father throughout the previous years.

Seamus Heaney - Follower

The title of the poem is ambiguous - it shows how the young Heaney followed his father literally and metaphorically. The child sees farming as simply imitating his fathers actions, but later learns how skilled the work is. He recalls his admiration of his father; then but now his father walks behind.

Effectiviely their positions are reversed. His father is not literalyl behind him, but the poet is troubled by his memory: perhaps he feels guilt at not carrying on the tradition of farming, or feels he cannot live up to his fathers example.

The poem has several developed metaphors, such as the child following in his father's footsteps and wanting to be like him. The father is sturdy while the child falls - his feet are not big enough for him to be steady on the uneven land. There are many nautical references:
-The fathers shoulders are like the billowing sail of a ship
-The 'sod' rolls over 'without breaking'
-The child stumbles 'in his wake' and dips and rises on his fathers back.
-'Mapping the furrow' is like navigating a ship.

In these images, the father is not shown as simply but highly skilled. Heaney uses specialised terms from ploughing - terms such as 'wing', 'sock' and 'headrig'. There are many active verbs - 'rolled', 'stumbled', 'tripping', 'falling' and 'yapping'. There are alot of monosyllables and colloquial vocabulary, frequently as the rhyme word at the end of the line. Some of these terms sound like their meaning (Onomatopoeia) like 'clicking', 'pluck' and 'yapping'.

The poem uses rhymed quatrains. The poet uses contrast - apart from the general contrast of past and present we note how the father's control is effortless, while the powerful horses strain, and how the young Seamus 'wanted to grow up and plough' but all he 'ever did was follow'.

Seamus Heaney - Follower

Seamus Heaney - Follower

Seamus Heaney - First Impressions

This poem is like Follower, as it shows how the young Heaney looked up to his elders - in this case both father and grandfather. Seeing his father straining to dig, the poet recalls him in his prime, digging potato drills. And even earlier he remembers his grandfather, digging peat. He cannot match men like that but he sees the pen as being mighty and with it, he will dig further into his past and celebrate them.

The words or phrases which stuck to me most were as follows;
'By God, the old man could handle a spade, Just like his old man.' - here he is proud of his father and expressing that he has took after his father in a sense.
'Once I carried him milk in a bottle, Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up to drink it, then fell to right away.' - here he is explaining what a dedicated worker his grandfather was when it came to potato digging - his skill.'I'll dig with it.' - here he is describing the he, himself will dig into the past or the future with his pen to write about his memories.

Heaney is different from his father as his skill is writing and this is what he does for a living. Whereas, his fathers job is potato digging. Both of their job roles are very different from eachother but the meaning behind this is that - it doesnt matter what your particular job may be, you are no different to everyone else and the dedication to it is the most important aspect.

Seamus Heaney - Reading for Meaning;

Where is the writer at the start of the poem?

At the begininng of the poem, it suggests to me that Heaney is sitting somewhere in his home writing this poem; according to his comparison between a pen and a gun and mentions his window as if he is looking out.

What does the sight of his father digging in the flower bed remind him of?
When his father is digging, it reminds him of 20 years ago when his father was younger, digging potatoes; this brings back memories of his childhood.

Who else does the writer associate with skill at digging?
The writer associates the skill of digging from his father - to his grandfather many years ago.

What memory is he associated with?
The one memory that Heaney will not forget it the particular one he describes in the poem. He is telling us how dedicated his grandfather was to his hobby as he took one drink from a milk bottle then went straight back to work.

What skill does the writer decide to use?
The writer is comparing his passion to his fathers and grandfathers. He is explaining that his skill is writing which is something very different to potato digging. Although the two hobbies are different and dont come under the same catagory; there is nothing wrong with being slightly different from others.

Seamus Heaney

http://www.seamusheaney.org/

Heaney was born in Northern Ireland, not far from Belfast. As well as being a farmer, his father Patrick was a cattle dealer and his mother Margaret worked in a local Clarks linen factory. His family were catholic and he was raised in the Irish Nationalist Tradition. Seamus got his early education at Anahorish Primary School a short distance from his home.

 His teachers Master Murphy and Miss Walls were to feature in his poems Death of a Naturalist and Station Island. In 1957 Heaney travelled to Belfast to study English Language and Literature at Queen's University of Belfast. He began to write and during his third year at university his poems began to appear in the Queen’s literary magazines.

Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney - Digging