Follower

Question 1

“His shoulders globed like a full sail strung”

Answer 1

Technique: simile, nautical imagery
-“globed” suggests widespread, vast and covering a large area. Helps with all kinds of problems speaker has.
-“sails” are in important in directing a boat/ship. Reflects how speaker’s father supports him.
The reader immediately gets the sense that they are a close pair and that the speaker gets support from dad.

Question 2

“The horse strained at his clicking tongue”

Answer 2

Technique: auditory imagery
-“clicking” - reader can almost hear it, very vivid.
-Father is powerful and talented; can control horses with click of tongue.
The reader starts to see the speaker admiring father.

Question 3

“An expert”

Answer 3

Technique: caesura
-Brings attention to this to further enunciate his admiration for his father.
-Can’t find a fault in his dad, looks up to him.
The reader continues to recognise the high regard he has for his dad.

Question 4

“with a single pluck

Of reigns”

Answer 4

Technique: adjective

• This reinforces former ideas of strength and control.
• Made to seem effortless.

Question 5

“I stumbled in his hobnailed wake”

Answer 5

Technique: verb
-Highlights his own mistakes.
-Contrasts to the perfection of his dad.
Reader finds that the speaker thinks of himself as always making mistakes, unlike his dad.

Question 6

“Sometimes he rode me on his back

Dipping and rising to his plod.”

Answer 6

Technique: enjambment
-This shows the continuation of the father’s strong role and his constant mistakes.
Father is seen as the son’s support again.

Question 7

“I wanted to grow up and plough,

to close one eye and stiffen my arm.”

Answer 7

Technique: repetition
-Repeats dad’s actions; looks up to him.
Reader notices that although he doesn’t seem suited to ploughing, he wants to do it to be like his dad.

Question 8

"All I ever did was follow
.............
But today 
It is my father who keeps stumbling 
Behind me, and will not go away."

Answer 8

Technique: enjambment

• How often the father follows the son reflected by enjambment.
• “not go away” implies the speaker has tried to make him leave; contrasts to the way his dad treated him.
• Roles have switched.

Question 9

Rhyme scheme, context

Answer 9

-ABAB rhyme scheme, some slant rhymes - mirrors act of ploughing.
Poem shows his own break from tradition and how his father wanted him to continue it by farming.