In the poem "Digging" by Seamus Heaney, the author sits by his window with his pen poised like a gun. He hears his father digging outside among the flowerbeds. Heaney says that his father knew how to handle a spade, just as his (the author's) grandfather did. The author recalls his grandfather digging in a potato bog. Though these memories are vivid in the author's mind, the author says that he is not handy with...
In the poem "Digging" by Seamus Heaney, the author sits by his window with his pen poised like a gun. He hears his father digging outside among the flowerbeds. Heaney says that his father knew how to handle a spade, just as his (the author's) grandfather did. The author recalls his grandfather digging in a potato bog. Though these memories are vivid in the author's mind, the author says that he is not handy with a spade, unlike his father and grandfather. Instead, he chooses to dig with a pen.
The poet uses the repetition of the word "digging" to suggest the continuity of the action of digging through the generations. His words are simple but evocative, as they produce vivid and detailed images of his father digging in a garden and of his grandfather digging in a potato bog while downing some milk in a bottle that is corked with paper. The images evoke sensory details, such as the smell of the potato mould. In the end, the author ends with a short, declarative sentence about his intentions with his pen: "I'll dig with it." He moves from scenes of literal digging to a more abstract sense of digging in which he'll unearth the layers of truth with his pen.
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