Follower Flashcards
Author:
Heaney
‘His shoulders globed like a full sail strung’
- NATURE
- GETTING OLDER
Father’s shoulders seem to ‘globe’ as the muscles are working at full capacity - suggests that young speaker perceived his father as a mythological Greek god strong enough to support the world on his shoulders - emphasises Heaney’s admiration for father.
Or perhaps, speaker thinks the world of the father.
‘Full sail strung’ - suggest his movements glide like a boat on water, working at full speed and strength.
‘I stumbled in his hobnailed wake’
- ADMIRATION
- FAMILY RELATIONSHIP
- MEMORY (past tense)
Father has a ‘hobnailed wake’ - implies heavy work wear is needed (no romanticising work). Yet ‘wake’ does have just a hint of romance, continuing the sea and sailing metaphor earlier.
Also suggests vulnerability of speaker as young child, stumbling and falling.
‘I was a nuisance, tripping, falling, / Yapping always’
- ADMIRATION
- MEMORY (past tense)
- DESIRE AND LONGING
Heaney is aware that he must have been annoying to his father. His ‘tripping, falling /Yapping’ are symbolic of his failing childish aspirations. ‘Yapping’ also brings to mind an irritating puppy. With hindsight it is difficult to imagine the little boy growing into a skilled farmer rather than a superb, gifted poet.
Consonant ‘tripping’, ‘falling’, ‘yapping’, which sustain the rhythm, until the sentence ends at ‘always’.
‘It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away’
- GETTING OLD
Heaney demonstrates the effects of ageing, using the role reversal between his father and himself. In old age, father becomes child again, helpless and incapable of taking care of himself. Image of the father who ‘keeps stumbling behind me’ - distressing.
Final phrase ‘will not go away’ suggests ongoing burden, but also the relentless worry and sadness. It is a mental as well as physical weight on an adult son or daughter.
Compare with:
Before You Were Mine - admirations and changing relationships over time
Climbing My Grandfather / Mother, Any Distance - strong family bonds
Letters From Yorkshire - nature
