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Digging By Seamus Heaney - College Paper

Digging By Seamus Heaney

"Digging" is about a person looking out of a window at their Father digging, describing what he/she sees and then the poem goes on to describe what he/she feels.
I believe that the narrative voice in the poem is in fact that of Seamus Heaney. There are a number of clues that lead me to this conclusion. The first and most obvious one is in the first line,
‘Between my finger and my thumb.’
The poet writes in the first person throughout the poem. He writes about his Father and his Grandfather and he seems to move from describing his Father to describing his Grandfather. He does this so smoothly that the reader harldy notices the transition that took place. The second clue is ...

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in his day. So when Heaney writes, ‘But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.’

This could be because of a number of reasons; one could be that he just doesn’t want to be a turf digger. He might not find it mentally stimulating enough. But he shows a lot of pride in what his Father and Grandfather do and did for a living. It may be because turf cutters are no longer needed. In other words the world is changing and ‘men like them’ are no longer needed.

Turf cutters are no longer needed because firstly turf is a lot harder to obtain than coal or central heating and secondly people in Ireland are not as poor as they used to be so they no longer need turf now that they have enough money to buy coal and to have central heating. So Heaney dedicates his life to writing.Digging is written primarily about what Heaney sees through the window, ‘Under my window…’

So the poem is based on sight. However, the poet uses the other three senses to emphasize what he sees. For example, ...

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Digging By Seamus Heaney. (2006, October 20). Retrieved January 11, 2026, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Digging-By-Seamus-Heaney/54246

"Digging By Seamus Heaney." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 20 Oct. 2006. Web. 11 Jan. 2026. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Digging-By-Seamus-Heaney/54246>

"Digging By Seamus Heaney." Essayworld.com. October 20, 2006. Accessed January 11, 2026. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Digging-By-Seamus-Heaney/54246.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 10/20/2006 09:47:46 AM
Category: English
Type: Free Paper
Words: 1163
Pages: 5

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