Seamus Heaney - Follower Flashcards
1
Q
What is the poem about?
A
The narrator begins by describing his father’s expert ploughing and how, as a child, he greatly admired his skill. He’d follow his father around the farm, he’d occasionally stumble and fall, sometimes he’d ride on his father’s back. He wanted to grow to be like his father but found he was always following him around, being a nuisance, however, now that they’re both older, the roles have reversed, and it’s now the father who stumbles, following his son.
2
Q
Give a brief synopsis of the poem
A
- The speaker introduces his father who works on their family farm
- He compliments his father’s aptitude for the work he does
- Focuses specifically on how good he is at working with machinery and the fields
- Compares his own clumsy behaviour and nature to his father’s abilities
- Mentions how his father would give him a ride on his back
- Expresses how he wanted to grow up and do what his father did
- Concludes mentioning that now the roles have reversed and his father is now following him
3
Q
When was the poet alive?
A
1939-2013
4
Q
When was the poem published?
A
1966
5
Q
Context regarding Seamus Heaney
A
- Heaney heralds from a rigid farming community, and was born in Northern Ireland into a tradition which values physical labour.
- He was the eldest of nine children, which meant his had a lot of pressure to conform to the expectations of his environment and upbringing and be adept at farming.
6
Q
Context regarding “Death of a Naturalist”
A
- From “Death of a Naturalist” (1966)
- Included a lot of poems with a focus on rural life. ‘Follower’ is often compared to ‘Digging’ which similarly expresses autobiographical points, his father, and his connection to nature.
- For example: “When the spade sinks into gravelly ground // My father, digging. I look down.” continues the theme of respect for his father and the physical to provide for his family. It also references the prominence farming has had on his upbringing and on the world
7
Q
“My father worked with a horse-plough,”
A
- Instantly sets up the focus of the poem onto his father, and the possessive “my” centres the poem around their relationship
- By mentioning the “horse-plough” readers are being introduced to the farming environment the poem is set in
8
Q
“His shoulders globed like a full sail strung”
A
- Sibilance of “shoulders” and “sail” suggests the father works very smoothly and deliberately - father appears larger than life to son
- Compares father’s shoulders to a sail on a boat, which emphasises how much he admires his power - simile shows that, just as a sail harnesses the power of the wind, the father uses the power of the horses in order to plough the field.
- The assonance of the long “o” sounds emphasise the broadness of the father’s shoulders.
9
Q
“Between the shafts and the furrow.”
“The horse strained at his clicking tongue.”
A
- “strained” - demonstrates the father’s ability to get the horses to work hard
- “clicking” -onomatopoeia draws the reader’s attention to his skill, he is able to control the powerful horses just by clicking his tongue
10
Q
“An expert. He would set the wing”
“And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.”
A
- “an expert” - describing the father as an expert shows that he’s technically skilled as well as strong. The bluntness of the short sentence and its position at the start of stanza 2 makes it seem confident and an incontestable statement.
- repeated “t” and “k” sounds - reflects the precision of his work
11
Q
“The sod rolled over without breaking.”
A
- Establishing his father’s aptitude for and experiences with farming to emphasise his own feelings of displacement in the farm environment when trying to establish his own identity
- “rolled” and “breaking” - continues the nautical imagery of the first stanza 1, the sods are like rolling waves rather than waves that crash and break on the shore, it shows the father’s skill, he is capable of not breaking the sod when he ploughs.
12
Q
“At the headrig, with a single pluck”
“Of reins, the sweating team turned round”
A
- The use of enjambment between the second and third stanzas reflects the way in which the father smoothly turns the horses around and starts the next furrow.
13
Q
“And back into the land. His eye”
“Narrowed and angled at the ground,”
“Mapping the furrow exactly.”
A
- “exactly” and “stumbled” - the stanza change emphasises the contrast between his father’s skill and precision and the clumsiness of the narrator, which shows how unlikely it is that the narrator will grow up to be like his father.
14
Q
“I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake,”
A
- “Stumbled” implies the uncertainties Heaney has about his ability to take the same path as his father, and may also imply the innocence and inexperience he has due to his young age, further planting the poem in the realm of childhood memories
- “Hob-nailed wake” - symbolic of the family footsteps’ Heavy is being expected to follow, especially as the oldest of nine children
- Plosive sounds of “stumbled” and “hob” replicates the jittering untrained movements of Heaney’s younger self and contrast with the smooth sibilance used to describe Heaney’s father and his work
- “wake” - reference to a ship’s wake continues the nautical imagery of previous stanzas and creates the image of choppy waters, which reflects how the narrator found it difficult to follow his father.
15
Q
“Fell sometimes on the polished sod;”
A
- Shows how much Heavy is struggling to mould and identity when he cannot follow the same path as his father
- “Fell” contrasts with the “polished” adjective used to describe his father’s work, which indirectly compares the father and son
16
Q
“Sometimes he rode me on his back”
A
- Unusual phrasing of “rode me” suggests that Heaney is remains a passive character by contrast to his father who plays a very active role in both his childhood and the poem.
- Alternative interpretation is this may be a reflection of the Northern Irish dialect
- Also an activity taking place away from work, suggest his father strengthen the father-son bond exclusively through working on the farm
- The paternal image demonstrates that the narrator and his father had a good relationship, he’s patient and loving with his son.
17
Q
“Dipping and rising to his plod”
A
- He describes his father’s motion like a ship, he rides the “Dipping and rising” waves of the furrows. Likewise, the rhythm of the poem also dis and rises, imitating the boys movements on the father’s back.
18
Q
“I wanted to grow up and plough,”
“To close one eye, stiffen my arm.”
“All I ever did was follow”
A
- “plough” and “follow” - half rhyme demonstrates how the son hasn’t fulfiled his desire to be like his father.
- ‘all I ever did’ - shows the reader how the narrator felt like a failure for not being as good as his father at ploughing.
19
Q
“In his broad shadow round the farm.”
A
- Expresses his wish to follow in his father’s footsteps when he soldier
- “broad shadow” - he felt like he was living in his father’s shadow, he wanted to be as skilful and impressive as his father was
20
Q
“I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,”
“Yapping always. But today”
A
- Transposed sentence: this would make sense as “always yapping”, but incorrect grammar could either display traditional dialect or show how all consuming the boy’s admiration for his father is
- Listing the verbs in this way, with enjambment, emphasises the narrator’s clumsy persistence
- The caesura before “But today” makes the change to the present tense sudden and unexpected, heightening the impact of the final lines of the poem.
21
Q
“It is my father who keeps stumbling”
A
- Repeats word “stumbling” this time fixed to his father - highlights cyclical form of poem and the role reversal that has taken place, representative of the ‘circle of life’
