"Digging" - Poetry Blog 1

When I began reading the poem “Digging”, by Seamus Heaney, I was a bit thrown by the first couple lines. “Between my finger and my thumb/ The squat pen rests; snug as a gun” (lines 1-2). I thought that this was an interesting way to start a poem discussing digging. However, as I read on I realized that Heaney was actually looking back on his childhood.

The poet’s grandfather and father were both potato farmers. Seamus Heaney is showing his gratitude towards them both through this poem. One example of this appreciation is show towards the middle of the poem. “My grandfather cut more turf in a day/ Than other man on Toner’s bog” (line 17). I also found it interesting how Heaney said, “But I’ve no spade to follow men like them” (line 28). The impression that I got from this line was that Heaney had neither an interest nor the desire to work as a potato farmer.

The poet goes on to state that, “Between my finger and my thumb/ The squat pen rests./ I’ll dig with it” (line 29-30). These last three lines are, for the most part, repeating the first two lines. This shows that he has already made the decision to become a poet. Another sign that he has already become a poet is in line seven where Heaney states, “Bends low, comes up twenty years away”. This tells the reader that he is looking twenty years into the past.

I thought that Heaney did a great job of gratifying his grandfather as well as his father. In lines fifteen and sixteen Heaney states, “By God, the old man could handle a spade./ Just like his old man.” Through the descriptive words of this poem, I got the sense that Seamus Heaney is very proud of both his grandfather and father, he could just not bring himself to follow in their footsteps.