Follower - Quotes and Context Flashcards
Finish the quotation - My father _______ ____ a horse plough”. This implies that the father was skilled and was powerful by being able to tame and control farm animals, this shows that the speaker viewed the father as a powerful and masculine man.
Worked with.
What type of relationship is explored in the poem?
A paternal relationship.
What profession was Seamus Heaney’s family lineage a part of?
They were a long line of Irish farmers.
What did Seamus Heaney do that broke family tradition?
He didn’t become a farmer but chose to be an academic and a poet, which his family may not have accepted well.
Finish the quotation - “The horse _______ at his clicking control” this shows how his father was seen by him as a strong, disciplined man and encouraged him to become like him as a child.
strained.
Finish the quotation - “the sod ______ over without ________”. This again shows how his father was seen as a master in his field by the speaker when he was young, aspiring to be like him. This could also be a metaphor for the father controlling the family and holding it together.
rolled, breaking
Finish the quotation- “His eye ________ and ______”. This implies that the father is focused and concentrated on his work, furthering the idea of him being seen as a masculine and intelligent man at the beginning of the poem.
Narrowed, angled.
Finish the quotation - “Sometimes he ____ me on his ____”. This past participle shows how he is reflecting on how powerful his father seemed and that perhaps as a child he was naïve.
Rode, back.
Finish the quotation - “I wanted to ____ __ and ______”. This past participle shows his change in mindset as he became older and the lexical field of farming shows how his father influenced him to be more like him and to follow his lineages but he chose to be different and the fact he is reflecting on this could show he is no longer near to his family,
Grow up, plough.
Finish the quotation - “All I ever did was _____”. This shows that the son felt he was in his father’s shadow and inferior to him, perhaps due to his age or maybe because he wasn’t a talented farmer.
follow.
Finish the quotation - “I was a nuisance, ________, ________, yapping always”. This further builds on the idea that he felt he was in his father’s shadow and felt inferior to him, which could explain why contextually he left the normal occupation of farming for academia.
tripping, falling.
Finish the quotation - “But today it is my _______ who keeps stumbling behind ___, and will not __ _____”. This implies that his father is now inferior to him and he feels like he has taken on the role of man in the family and no longer views the father as masculine and strong.
Father, me, go away.
When is the Volta in the poem?
Where the speaker goes from the past to the present.
What types of stanzas are used? How is this symbolically important?
Quatrains, the repeated use throughout shows perhaps the long lineage of farmers that he is breaking.
How is love presented in Follower?
The love is parental and there is a tone of respect and admiration for the father which later turns to more of a sense of apathy or resentment.
