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'.
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'.
No comments:
Post a Comment