Digging Essay -- Literary Analysis, Seamus Heaney

Digging Digging by Seamus Heaney is the initial poem in the first full volume of Heaneys poems, Death of a Naturalist. Death of a Naturalist is close to the transition into adulthood and the loss of innocence. The poem shows how Heaney looked up to his father and grandfather, especially their hard give way. Even though Heaney did not follow in their footsteps and change by reversal a farm laborer, he respects the work they do, especially their dexterity at jibe.The poem is a free verse poem. It has eight stanzas with both couplets. It rhymes occasionally, but it does not have a patterned rhyme. The first ii lines rhyme with thumb and gun, the second stanza also has some rhyme words. The poem is a first person narrative this is evident from the first line that uses the word my and other lines throughout that use words much(prenominal) as I and we. The title relates to the poem because all three generations mentioned be digging. His father dug potato drills an d flowerbeds, his grandpa used to dig peat, and he is digging up the past. Because of this, the title is very fitting. Throughout the poem Seamus Heaney uses shifts in the tense to convey his memories as well as his determination for the future. It starts run into in present tense as he sees his father essay with the flowerbed. The poem then shifts to past in order to recall his grandfathers work digging peat and his fathers stronger days digging potato drills. The poem returns to present tense during the last two stanzas. The final exam line is future tense in order to show that Seamus understands that his work is writing. The first stanza of the poem says the pen in his hand fits snug as a gun (line 2. The second stanza is Heaney looking down from is window to s... ... as they fill the bucket. Another shift occurs in the second stanza when the speaker says they hoarded the scented berries in the byre (line 17). Byre means a shed, but it can also be a support for a casket or co rpse. This foreshadows what is to come. The berries begin to rag because more were picked than could be eaten in time. The rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache (line 19) got to them. The berries would have lasted long-run if they had been left on the bush, but desire and greed overwhelmed the speaker when weft the luscious berries. Because he lost the berries due to rotting, the speaker says, I eer felt like crying. It wasnt fair / That all the lovely canfuls make of rot. / Each year I hoped theyd keep, knew they would not (lines 22-24). The speaker collects berries all(prenominal) year, more berries than needed, and he always sees them go bad.