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By Seamus Heaney. 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.
"Digging" is one of the most widely known poems by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney and serves as the opening poem of Heaney's debut 1966 poetry collection, Death of a Naturalist. It begins with the speaker hovering over a blank page with a pen, preparing to write.
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This poem is autobiographical in nature. The speaker, presumably Heaney, is sitting at his writing desk, preparing to write, when he hears his father working in the garden outside. This conjures memories of the speaker as a young boy, listening and watching as his father digs in the potato garden. The speaker marvels at how well his father digs, wh...
The poem is comprised of eight stanzas of varying lengths. There is no set rhyme scheme, though some of the lines do rhyme.
While this poem certainly is not political in nature, it does give a glimpse into the lives of hardworking Irishmen. In previous generations, men had to dig for both food and fuel. Because Ireland does not have a wealth of coal, men often had to dig through the bogs to acquire enough peat moss that could be burned as an alternative means of fuel.
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Summary & Analysis. When Seamus Heaney opened his debut poetry collection with “Digging,” he staked out a powerful claim for his future as a poet. Like Heaney himself, the poem’s speaker is a man whose family has roots in the rural landscapes of the Irish countryside.
Overview. “Digging” is a poem by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney . The poem centers a speaker who has chosen to pursue poetry as his vocation. Whereas his father and grandfather both made their living through agricultural labor, the speaker will metaphorically use his pen to “dig” through layers of history, memory, and meaning.
1 viewer 32.6K views. 18 Contributors. Digging Lyrics. 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...
Oct 30, 2023 · Andrew Spacey. Updated: Oct 30, 2023 11:57 AM EDT. "Digging" by Seamus Heaney. Photo by Gabriel Jimenez on Unsplash. Seamus Heaney and a Summary of “Digging” New Statesman Death of a Naturalist. Work, ritual and the need to craft are three of the themes that run throughout his poetry.
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