Question- Give critical analysis of the poem 'Digging' by Seamus Heaney.

Answer -

Critical Analysis of Poem 'Digging'

Seamus Heaney's poem 'Digging' is one of its earliest and crudest poem. It falls in the category of nostalgic works. In this poem, Heaney remembers his childhood days spent with his family, his strong will power and determination enable him to take crucial deceision so as to chose pen over spade which means choosing writing over farming as a source of living. The poem 'digging' also depicts writer's conflicting state of mind. What toil writer went though while decieding to became a writer in times where it was common to chose farming as a source of living? The writer though, admire the skill and labour of his forefathers with regard to farming prevents him from stepping into the shoes of his forefather.

This poem is a free verse poem with eight stanzas containing two couplets. The poem being written in free verse allows Heaney to respect his Irish tradition and pay homage and love to his ancestors and their choices. The poem - Digging follows no rhythmic format though it has some rhythm: 'thumb' and 'gun' in the first two lines. The very first line of the poem talk about its narrator. The narrator of the poem is either poet or writer and is reflected in the line, "Between my finger and my thumb”. He comes from a long line of diggers as he was the son of potato farmer and grandson of harvester. Heaney introduces pen to his reader in the lines, "snug as a gun". In the second stanza,

"Under my window, a clean rasping sound when the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down"
he is looking down from his window and saw his father digging and the rhythemic clanking of sound made by the spade reflects how his father enjoys digging.

The stanza following this,

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds Bends low, comes up twenty years away Stooping in rhythm through potato drills where he was digging.

This stanza reflects Heaney's position at the same place where his father was digging twenty years before. The pause between the second and third stanza depicts the time gap. Till fourth stanza, Heaney describes how his father worked and loved his work as well. Heaney introduces his grandfather in fifth stanza. In later stanzas, he talks about transfer of values from one generation to next. The lines in the stanza,

The narrator talks about getting back to his roots again. The nanator reminscences about his and his forefather's Irish upbringing and Irish culture He talks about re-acknowledging his identity. The cold smell of potato mould, soggy peat all acts as a catalyst for the narrator thereby making him reminscences his past and his Irish roots. Now in his past days he chose pen over spade and took courage to speak about his mind with his father and grandfather? The reasons he gave to satisfy himself and them in support of his decions to become a writer reminds the narrator of his past which is reflected in the above stanza. He remembers how his forefather's living was dependent of spade. But his decision to become a writer kept him awake from the stupour of old customs. Heaney's family roots are cut metamorphically and he no longer need spade for his living. He is meant to be a writer and nothing else. The last line of the poem depicts that now Heaney has become a fully committed writer and he is ready to enter into hearts and mind of reader through his poetries and other works.

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