Follower

• Structure (follower)

  Iambic tetrameter gives regular rhythm but four instead of five iambs suggests imbalance

  ABAB rhyme scheme but isn't consistent

  Enjambment and caesura - speaker is trying to work through their feelings

  Cyclical structure - strong paternal bond and changing roles of parent and child when growing up
• Meaning (follower)

  Man metaphorically and literally following his father

  admires his fathers strength but in final stanza there is role reversal and deals with the subject of ageing.
• Imagery (follower)

  Descriptions to make father seem strong 'shoulders globed like a full sail strung' gives impression of power and dominance

  Appeals to readers emotions as he says that his father let him ride upon his back 'dipping and rising' emphasising their closeness
• Language (follower)

  Active verbs - 'dipping and rising' showing how physically demanding working the land was

  Strength of the father in the first 5 stanzas contrasts final stanza as his father is stumbling and 'will not go away'
• Who wrote follower?

  Seamus Heaney