2013
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Digging. 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.
"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.
Here is an analysis of the poem ‘Digging’ by Seamus Heaney. Heaney was an Irish playwright, poet, and academic; he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995. Heaney’s career was both prolific and successful. In 1966, he published his first major work, Death of a Naturalist, in which this poem is included.
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.
Oct 30, 2023 · Seamus Heaney wrote this poem whilst watching his father digging in the garden. It is his most popular poem, using the metaphors of pen and spade to explore time and family commitments.
“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.
A poem from Seamus Heaney’s 1966 collection Death Of A Naturalist, inspired by his Irish homeland’s potato farmers and his own family history.
