Cultivating for Sustenance in Digging by Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney's poem “Digging” is an eminent, esteemed and well cherished piece of art. This poem became the primary literary composition in Heaney's first revealed book, which acted as milestone in his career and he ultimately became one of the world's most illustrious writer’s. In this piece of art, Heaney’s sturdy feelings about his early life, father, grandfather and land are reflected directly or in a hidden way. His childhood was spent at the farm looking at his father who used to work at the fields and grazed cows for a living.

Literary elements like metaphor, alliteration and repetition are used by the poet. Metaphor: By using “The pen is the spade” expression, the speaker is announcing that he will utilize the pen to burrow with, deserting the device of his ancestors. Alliteration: Few instances of alliteration is also seen that carries assortment and enthusiasm for the one who reads. For example, gravelly ground (para 2), squelch and slap (para 7), curt cuts (para 7).

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Repetition: Repetition of some words and expressions can also be seen like the words; digging, spade, and the principal line and a half “Between my finger …the squat pen rests”.

In 8 paragraph, 31 line ballad Heaney talks about present initially then turns back to the earlier times, afterward comes back to the present scenario and gives a sense of future at the end. “Under my window….I look down” (para 2), the reader feels the psyche where speaker is keeping an eye out the window as his dad burrows the patio nursery.

What is eminent is the way that there is a pen in speaker’s hand, from the main line “Between my finger and my thumb the squat pen rests, snug as a gun” the pen holds the present times intensity, while the spade utilized by the dad is separated, a past times device. Also, the speaker is thinking about the provincial history of his family and men who worked at the land. He feels very proud of his forefathers. He believes that he is a black sheep that is different from his forefathers, so he will utilize the pen similarly that his ancestors utilized the spade.

In the beginning, Heaney sets the scene for the reader of the speaker's finger and thumb holding a pen. This pen is incredible and brimming with extraordinary potential. In para 2, writer writes about noise of someone delving into soil, his dad. He realizes it's him without looking down actually. In the following 3rd para, “Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds… Where he was digging”, he recalls those times when he was a youngster and used to watch his dad doing potato drills. He remembers details of his father doing farm work as he used to watch his father’s diligent work. The words ‘knee’ and ‘hands’ “Against the inside knee was levered firmly. Loving their cool hardness in our hands”, (para 4) describes his and his father’s physical presence at the farms which gives essence that they both used to work together. By reading the poem it can be inferred that speaker feels unpleasant pride about his father and grandfather. He portrays a picture in front of readers where a picture of a working family at the field can be seen, the dad burrowing and the kids assisting. Heaney is having clear memory about his childhood. He remembers once his granddad was out with his spade and he took a jug of milk for him. “Once I carried him milk in a bottle” (Para 6, Line 3). After recollecting memories of past, Heaney abruptly comes back to present time. Soon he realizes that there is no need of the spade, this is the enlightment. Heaney feels the pen among finger and thumb is what he chose for, regardless of his family tradition of digging. With his pen he would delve into his heart and brain and produce worthy thoughts as his ancestors used spade to dig fields and get something worthy out of it. “Between my finger and my thumb. The squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it” (Para 8).

To put in a nutshell, it is understood that the 'Digging' isn't only a portrayal of cultivating for sustenance, it is a symbolizes for a man's actual reason over ages. The granddad's motivation was to search for fuel to satisfy the family's fundamental needs, the dad's underlying reason was to supply sustenance for the family while the speaker endeavors to scan for his actual reason in the documentation of feelings, recollections and family inheritances. This poem illuminate readers with the irrefutable message that in spite of the fact that we should tune in to our own hearts and pursue our interests and dreams, we ought to dependably esteem recollections, we should never overlook our foundations, and in conclusion we should teach the great qualities and morals of our antecedents and mean to proliferate them into generations to come.