http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177017
You can
hear him read the poem here
Digging
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Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.
Snug
Rasping schnarrend
Gravel
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Under my window, a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down
Rump
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Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
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Stoop
Nest/nestle sich schmiegen
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Lever - aushebeln
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep Root out
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.
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My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.
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The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.
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Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.
Turf
Bog - Moor
Sloppy
To fall to to start (work)
Nick ein-schneiden
sod Spatenstich, (Scholle?)
Vocabulary
Words
Description
potato drills (line
parallel ridges in the earth for growing potatoes
8)
the flattened top edge of the spade blade, against which the digger pushes with
lug (line 10)
his foot
shaft (line 10)
the pole between the handle and the blade
turf (line 17)
a section of peat, cut from the ground for fuel
Words
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Description
“Seamus Heaney was not merely a central figure in the literary life of Ireland, but in its
emotional life, in its dream life, in its real life. In his last book, Human Chain, published in 2010,
he wrote about growing older and weaker with a shivering honesty and grace. It is hard to come
to terms now with the idea that there will be no more such books “. Colm Tóibín: The Guardian
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(/ˈʃeɪməs ˈhiːni/; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) In this poem Heaney sees his
father, an old man, digging the flowerbeds. He remembers how his younger, stronger
father used to dig in the potato fields when Heaney was a child - and how his
grandfather, before that, was an expert turf digger. Heaney knows that he has no spade
to follow men like them - he is a writer, not a farmer - so will dig with his pen. He will
'dig' into his past.
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The poem consists of nine stanzas that vary between two lines and five lines in length.
There is no pattern to the stanzas, perhaps to reflect the idea that there is no pattern
or predictability to our memories.
Language
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Think about how the language the poet uses helps to convey his ideas. Here are some
points to consider:
• The title is blunt. It is only when we have read the poem carefully that we realise
that all three generation are involved in digging: his grandfather dug turf, his
father dug up potatoes, Heaney is digging up his memories and his past.
• The poem begins in the present tense as Heaney describes seeing his elderly
father straining among the flowerbeds, then goes into the past tense when he
remembers his father and grandfather at work. The last two stanzas return to the
present, when Heaney realises that his work is to write. The final line, however, is
in the future tense, to emphasise Heaney's determination - "I'll dig".
• Heaney remembers his own role in the digging: he and other children would
gather the new potatoes that his father dug up, and he was responsible for taking
milk to his grandfather on Toner's bog. It was this involvement that enabled him to
watch his father and grandfather at work and describe their movements so
precisely.
• His father was clearly skilled at his work. Heaney remembers him "Stooping in
rhythm through potato drills" (line 8) and his boot and his knee fitted the spade
perfectly (lines 10/11). He uses technical terms (lug, shaft) to stress that the
spade is a precise tool. "By God, the old man could handle a spade" (line 15) is a
simple, loving exclamation of pride.
• He was also proud of his grandfather, who was so keen to work that he hardly
stopped when Heaney brought him some milk. His work was precise - "nicking and
slicing neatly" and he was strong - "heaving sods over his shoulder" (line 21).
Perhaps the repetition of "old man" (line 16) suggests not only Heaney's affection
for his grandfather, but his father's affection for him too: the love between them
bonds the three generations.
• Heaney does not explain exactly why he has "no spade to follow men like them"
(line 28). Do you think he feels he is not physically strong enough for this type of
work? Or that he is no longer emotionally equipped for it, having broken the
family tradition of working the land? Does he fear his grandfather and father
might not approve of his having left the land?
Imagery
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• The opening simile is striking - Heaney's pen is "snug as a gun" (line 2). It shows
how perfectly the pen fits his hand - and, accordingly, how well suited Heaney is
to write. (In the fourth stanza, Heaney describes how perfectly his father's body is
in tune with the spade, showing how well suited he is to dig.) The gun image also
suggests the strength of the pen: it is a weapon for writing.
• The enjambment between the second and third stanza is dramatic. Heaney looks
down from his window to see his father digging - and then we find he is looking
back twenty years. The pause between the stanzas indicates the gap in time.
• The penultimate stanza appeals to our senses. Heaney gives us the cold smell of
"potato mould" (line 25), the sound of "squelch and slap / Of soggy peat" (lines
25/26), the sight of the "curt cuts" (line 26). This helps to make what he describes
more vivid. How does alliteration heighten the experience further?
• The final stanza almost brings the poem round full circle. It repeats the opening
lines: "Between my finger and my thumb The squat pen rests." Yet the gun image
is replaced by "I'll dig with it." His pen becomes a metaphorical spade. This
suggests that his pen is his tool, just as the spades were tools for his father and
grandfather. It also suggests that Heaney wants to 'go back to his roots' - to dig
into his past through his writing.
Sound
• Look out for repetition through the poem. For example, how many times are the
words "dig" and "digging" used? What effect does this have?
• Alliteration is used a lot to recreate the feel and sensation of digging: for
example, "the spade sinks into the gravelly ground" (line 4) - where the s sounds
suggest the slicing of the blade through the earth, and the g sounds the gravelly
resistance of the soil.
• A few lines near the beginning of the poem have fairly conventional rhymes:
thumb/gun, sound/ground/down; thereafter the poem is unrhymed, though there
are repeated sounds such as the echoing ing sounds in "nicking and slicing neatly,
heaving sods" (line 22)
Attitude, tone and ideas
Much of the meaning of a poem is conveyed by the attitude it expresses toward its
subject matter. 'Attitude' can be thought of as a combination of the poet's tone of voice,
and the ideas he or she is trying to get across to the reader.
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A good way to decide on the tone of a poem is to work out how you would read it aloud.
Should this poem be read:
• in a regretful tone, because Heaney is not outside digging too, and feels he
somehow ought to be?
• in a proud tone, as Heaney is displaying the skills of his father and grandfather for
everyone to appreciate?
• in a loving tone, as if the poem is a gift to his father and grandfather?
Well, Heaney's description of his father and grandfather is very loving. He values his
sense of connection with them, and he is clearly very proud of the work they did, even
though he has "no spade to follow" them. Far from regretting his break with the family's
traditional work on the land, Heaney asserts that he is continuing their work, by digging
with his pen.
Ideas
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The ideas in this poem concern our relationship to our forebears, and to work. Heaney
describes his relationship to his father and grandfather purely in terms of their work on
the land. He takes the idea of digging, the commonest form of work in any rural
community, and uses it as a symbol for productive, creative work in general - and for
writing in particular.
By using this metaphor of digging, Heaney also suggests that he himself needs to dig into
the past, and dig into the English language to say what he wants to say.
Have a look at these , and our suggestions about how they fit into these themes.
Themes and Ideas
Quotation
Loving their cool
hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man
could handle a spade.
Commentary
There is a sense of Heaney's love of the earth throughout the
poem. His father and grandfather seem to be in harmony with
the earth; he himself, as a child, loved picking up the potatoes
that the earth produced.
This reminds us that Heaney's father is now an old man, but also
shows his fondness for him: old man is a common term of
affection. Heaney is clearly proud of him too.
My grandfather cut
Heaney boasts about his grandfather's skill - he presents him as
more turf in a day /
a champion digger. Perhaps the young Heaney boasted as a child
than any other man on
to his friends about his grandfather's ability.
Toner's bog.
These roots are both actual roots the grandfather's spade cuts
.. living roots awaken in through, and Heaney's metaphorical roots in the land and in his
my head.
family. Even though he doesn't dig with a spade like his father
and grandfather, these roots are still alive in his mind.