Digging

="**Digging"**=

**By: Seamus Heaney**
media type="youtube" key="EuLnm2OZyY0" height="315" width="560" Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: My father, digging. I look down Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills Where he was digging. The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft Against the inside knee was levered firmly. He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep To scatter new potatoes that we picked, Loving their cool hardness in our hands. By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">My grandfather cut more turf in a day <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Than any other man on Toner’s bog. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Once I carried him milk in a bottle <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">To drink it, then fell to right away <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Over his shoulder, going down and down <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">For the good turf. Digging. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Through living roots awaken in my head. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">But I’ve no spade to follow men like them. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">Between my finger and my thumb <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">The squat pen rests. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #505050; display: block; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px;">I’ll dig with it.

Biographical Overview:

 * Born in April 1939 [[image:http://www.poetryfoundation.org/uploads/authors/seamus-heaney/448x/seamus-heaney.jpg width="491" height="321" align="right" caption="Seamus Heaney"]]
 * Oldest of nine children
 * Father owned small farm in Northern Ireland
 * Poetry influenced by life on the farm
 * Attended St. Columb's College and Queen's University
 * Became teacher and first started writing poetry
 * Married Marie Devlin in August 1965
 * 1957 - 1984: Heaney's poems gained popularity
 * 1966: Heaney wrote "Digging"
 * Accomplishments
 * Heaney guest lecturer at University of California, Berkeley
 * Awarded two doctorates from Queen's University and Fordham University
 * 1985 - 1997: Professor of Rhetoric and Oratory at Harvard University
 * 1989 - 1994: Elected Professor of Poetry at University of Oxford
 * 1995: Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature
 * Poems described as "works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past"

Popular Interpretations:

 * Heaney's elevated position in the window represents his aversion to manual work
 * "bottle corked sloppily with paper"
 * Reflects Heaney's clumsiness in practical manners
 * Shows different use of paper
 * Heaney is inefficient using paper in any way other than writing

TIME

 * T**heme: Strength and skill are necessary in any occupation or aspect of life.
 * The speaker's only tool is the pen
 * "the pen is mightier than the sword"
 * Speaker has decided to be as strong as possible with his pen
 * I**magery:
 * Symbolism
 * Pen
 * Spade
 * Figurative Language
 * "The squat pen rests; snug as a gun" (Line 2)
 * "a clean rasping sound" (Line 3)
 * "The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap" (Line 25)
 * M**eter:
 * Free Verse: lacks regular meter or rhyme scheme
 * Some use of meter
 * "Under my window, a clean rasping sound When the spade sinks into gravelly ground"
 * Speaker: Writer
 * E**motion:
 * Tone
 * Resolute
 * "I'll dig with it." (Line 31)
 * Respectful
 * "By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man." (Lines 15-16)
 * Fond
 * "Loving their cool hardness in our hands." (Line 14)

Questions:
1. Which literary technique is used in Line 25? a. Alliteration b. Onomatopoeia c. Hyperbole d. Elision

2. Why are details about the father's work included in the poem in the second through fourth stanza? a. To describe the process of digging b. To highlight key events of the past c. To provide a description of a task that is meaningful in the author's life d. To provide an example of the differences between father and son

3. How does Seamus Heaney intend to "dig" with his pen? a. He will use his pen as his way of continuing the family tradition of digging b. He admires the occupation of his family and will write about it c. He will create thoughtful, evoking works d. He will "dig" into his family's past history

4. What could the poem be best categorized as? a. Free Verse b. Sonnet c. Ballad Poem d. Elegy

5. Which line best describes Heaney's feelings about his father? a. "My father, digging. I look down." (Line 5) b. "Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds bends low" (Lines 6-7) c. "By God, the old man could handle a spade." (Line 15) d. "But I've no spade to follow men like them." (Line 28)

**Works Cited**
Mcintyre, Stella. "Poetry analysis: Digging, by Seamus Heaney." //Helium//. Helium, Inc., 23 Apr. 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.helium.com/items/1426524-poetry-analysis- digging-by-seamus-heaney>.

"Seamus Heaney." //Poetry Foundation//. N.p., 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/seamus-heaney>.

"Seamus Heaney - Biography." //Nobelprize.org//. The Nobel Foundation, 1995. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1995/heaney-bio.html>.

"Seamus Heaney Biography." //Poetry Foundation//. N.p., 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/seamus-heaney>.

// Seamus Heaney - Digging //. //YouTube//. N.p., 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuLnm2OZyY0>.