Digging Flashcards
Between my finger and thumb
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun
‘Snug…gun’ - repeated sounds which emphasise that the pen fits in his hand like a gun - it is comfortable - part of him - an extension of his own arm
What could the title ‘digging’ suggest that the poem is about?
H is digging into his emotions because he feels guilty - physically digging - digging into his past - digging into his mind (memories)
Under my window, a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
There is emphasis on sound as H cannot see his father and so he is paying attention to what he can hear
My father, digging. I look down
H could physically be looking down on his father or could refer to the fact that H might be considered better than his father because H is a writer, not a farmer
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
‘Rump’ - described like an animal - refers back to his father being lower than H?
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
H is digging into the past
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee levered firmly
‘Nestled’ and ‘levered firmly’ - like the pen is an extension of H’s arm, the spade is an extension of his Father’s
By God, the old man could handle a spade.
Just like his old man.
‘Old man’ - slang
‘Could’ - his father can’t dig as well anymore
H is reflecting which is all caused by the sound of his father in the flowerbed - this reminds him of his grandfather
My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Turf - peat
He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
The comma emphasises the tipping the head and the bottle back to drink
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
Hard sounds which sound like the way peat is cut
‘Down and down’ - digging further which is emphasised by the sound
The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
‘Potato mould’ - reminds you of the potato famine in Ireland
‘Squelch and slap’ - alliteration - flopping sound of peat
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
‘Curt cuts’ - assonance
Through living roots awaken in my head
‘Living roots’ - could refer to his ancestry or the grass on too of the peat
Shows he’s cutting through his own roots because he’s not doing what his ancestors once did
But I’ve no spade to follow men like them
He’s not a real man
