follower

Question 1

description

Answer 1

the narrator describes his father’s expert plougong. as a boy, he greatly admired his fathers, skill.
the boy followed his father around the farm. sometimes he’d stumble and fall, and occasionally his father would carry him on his back.
he wanted to grow up to be like his father, but all he ever did was to follow him around being a nuisance.
now they’re both older, the relationship has been reversed, and its the father who ‘follows’ his son

Question 2

form

Answer 2

there’s a regular ABAB rhyme scheme, but some are only half-rhymes–this refects how the boy falls short of being like his father.

Question 3

structure

Answer 3

the first three stanzas focus on the father. the next two stanzas focus on the boy’s struggle with his idedtity– he admired his father and wanted to be like him, but failed.
there is a role reversal in the last stanza – now the father is “stumbling” behind his son.

Question 4

reflective language

Answer 4

the narrator sees himself as “nuisance” and maybe a failure but at the end of the poem he undertsnads that the father he admired so much as a boy is now dependent on him

Question 5

self-criticm

Answer 5

the narrator worries that he’s a failure because he didnt follow in his father’s footsteps

Question 6

family ties

Answer 6

despite not following in his father’s footsteps, the narrator still has a close relationship with him- “he will not go away”