Seamus Heaney's Digging
His Pen Will be His Spade
Seamus Heaney’s “Digging” features scattered rime in eight stanzas of varied lines. The speaker compares his own style of work with that of his forefathers. It is a poem of love and respect for the achievements of his father and grandfather.
First Stanza: “Between my finger and my thumb”
The speaker places himself in his upstairs room writing: “Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun.” The slant rime of thumb and gun implies the old adage, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” But soon the reader learns that the war this writer fights is of a very different nature from the soldier. His thoughts roam and muse on the nature of the war every living creature fights for survival.
Second Stanza: “Under my window a clean rasping sound”
Looking down from his window, he sees his father working in the flowerbeds. The rhythm and rime of this short stanza underscore the skill with which the father works at the same time it demonstrates the dexterity of the poet: “Under my window a clean rasping sound / When the spade sinks into gravelly ground: / My father, digging. I look down.”
Third Stanza: “Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds”
The speaker then notices that while he sits writing, his father is out digging in the soil. As he watches his father, his thoughts are carried back “twenty years” to when his father was digging potatoes instead of digging to plant flowers, as he is now doing.
Fourth Stanza: “The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft”
The speaker describes his father’s work with the spade back when he was laboring in potato fields: “He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep / To scatter new potatoes that we picked.“ The speaker admired his father’s dexterity then as he does now. He remembers the pleasant sensation of the “cool hardness” of the potatoes in their hands.
Fifth Stanza: “By God, the old man could handle a spade”
The speaker then remarks about how well his father could “handle a spade.” That memory brings on a further memory about his grandfather, who handled the spade with great agility also.
Sixth Stanza: “My grandfather could cut more turf in a day”
Remembering that his “grandfather could cut more turf in a day / Than any other man on Toner’s bog,” the speaker also remembers how quickly the old man could return to his work after a quick sip of milk that the lad had lovingly brought him. The speaker gained great respect for his grandfather’s ability to continue “Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods / Over his shoulder, digging down and down / For the good turf.”
Seventh Stanza: “The cold smell of potato mold, the squelch and slap”
The poet/speaker’s memories provide him with images of what he had seen and experienced because of the work of his father and grandfather. He recalls “The cold smell of potato mold, the squelch and slap / Of soggy peat.” And “living roots” awaken in [his] head.”
However, he avers, “But I've no spade to follow men like them.” Besides not having a literal spade, the speaker feels humbled when thinking of the hard work these men had to accomplish to feed their families. The speaker does not have the same kinds of adversity to face, but he does have his own.
Eighth Stanza: “Between my finger and my thumb”
The speaker then repeats his opening lines, “Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests,” but adds that his pen will be his spade, and he will “dig with it.”
Another Heaney article: Heaney’s Hugging Destiny: “Whatever you say, say nothing”
Seamus Heaney
|
More in Reading & Literature
Latest Articles