follower

• quote 1

  ' his shoulders globed'
• quote 2

  ' stumbled in his hob-nailed wake'
• quote 3

  'stumbling behind me and will not go away'
• 'his shoulders globed'

  • globed- verb, reflects fathers strength, carrying the weight of his family, provider
  • greek god atlas- titan, powerfull
• 'I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake'

  • stumbled- verb, clumsy, contrast with father
  • hob-nailed - rough ground
  • wake- son is following behind, nautical imagery- waves left behind
• 'Stumbling behind me and will not go away'

  • will not go away- roles reversed, father is a burden, annoyance, negative
  • or alternativley:
  • the memory of his father will never leave him, positive, strong connection
• structure:

  • 4 line stanzas- consistent, organized stanzas could reflect his organization and poised nature as an adult, contrasting his fathers more feeble and disorganized state showing disparity between the older and younger generations
  • ABAB rhyme scheme with half rhymes- not a perfect fit, makes it realistic ,perhaps mirror the speakers clumsy movements and also his desire to be like his father but the half rhymes reflect how he never quite achieves that dream
• context

  • heaney was brought up on a farm
  • in the first 3 stanzas he recalls his fathers skill at ploughing
  • when he was young he wanted to be a farmer and would follow his father around
  • now he is older he reflects that it is now his father who, in a way, follows him
  • poem is at least semi autobiographical as Heaney's father was a cattle farmer
• summary

  retrospective poem where Heaney reminisces on his childhood spent on a farm following his father around and bein a nuisance to him. However by the end of the poem the role of the follower is reversed and as Heaney ages it is his father who follows him.