Follower Flashcards
“Follower”
Seamus Heaney
Son looking back at his childhood relationship with his father, and the way it has changed as he has grown up.
Establishes relationship- implies themes of admiration and hints at a power imbalance
“His shoulders globed like a full sail strung”
‘globed’- father means the whole world to him
Compares fathers shoulders to a sail on a boat which emphasises how much he admires his power.
Nautical imagery is introduced creating and extended metaphor in which father is in control of his plough as a captain is of his boat
admiration, strong and powerful figure
mythology link to ‘Atlas’
‘full sail strung’- harnesses nature to complete his work, the way a sailor harnesses the wind to move boat over sea.
sibilance suggests father works smoothly and is in harmony with his work
“An expert”
Establishing fathers experience and that he understands everything, making farming an admirable occupation
“I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake”
Nautical imagery
Heaney is inexperienced and failing to follow in his fathers steps due to his clumsiness as he is young
“He rode me on his back”
Transposed sentence so that father is 1st and son 2nd, structure mirrors father being the leader and son following as father is active and son is passive.
‘his back’- link to ‘globed’ as son is fathers whole world
“broad shadow”
‘broad’- sense of size of father contrasted with smallness of Heaney emphasises fathers control and that he is an idol to him, expresses wish to follow in his footsteps hen older
‘shadow’- sense of dependency as he will always be there.
“Yapping always. But today”
caesura marks turning point of father following son and is an abrupt change as the roles are reversed
close proximity of ‘always’ and ‘today’ sharpens the contrast
“It is my father who keeps stumbling”
Repetition of stumbling
now the father which highlights cyclical structure and the role reversal taken place
Half rhymes
Unpolished, may suggest differences between the father and son
