Follower By Seamus Heaney

Question 1

What is the job of Heaney’s father ?

Answer 1

Farmer

Question 2

What are the Themes of Follower?

Answer 2

Paternal Relationship, Frustration, Role Reversal, Change

Question 3

What rhyme scheme is used?

Answer 3

ABCB

ABAC

Question 4

What oxymoron is used?

Answer 4

Polished Sod

Question 5

What is the significance of the word ‘exactly’?

Answer 5

Shows the precision and skill of his father at work. This is suggested multiple times with words and phrases such as “An expert.”

Question 6

What is the significance of the word ‘mapping’?

Answer 6

(Nautical Imagery) The skill of a sailor and smooth progress of a ship on a rough sea is evoked through these nautical phrases

Question 7

What significant happens in the last stanza?

Answer 7

Role reversal - Seamus Heaney can’t take having to care for his dad even though his father cared for him when he was ‘Stumbling’

Question 8

Context (AO3) ?

Answer 8

• Born in County Derry in 1939
• Oldest of nine children
• Won the Nobel Prize for literature
• He died in 2013
• His poetry is often highly personal

Question 9

What does the phrase ‘shoulders globed’ suggest?

Answer 9

The power and size of his father in his eyes. He meant the world to him or looked like the Greek Titan ‘Atlas’ who carried the world on his shoulders