Follower-Seamus Heaney

• "My father worked with a horse-plough"

  This line introduces the father’s occupation and sets the rural setting of the poem. It also establishes the father as a figure of admiration for the speaker.
• "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung"


  This simile compares the father’s shoulders to a full sail, suggesting his strength and the speaker’s admiration for him. The nautical imagery also hints at the father’s skill and precision.
• "An expert. He would set the wing / And fit the bright steel-pointed sock."


  These lines highlight the father’s expertise and precision. The harsh sounds in these lines mimic the physical labor involved in ploughing
• "I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake"


  This line uses nautical imagery to convey the speaker’s attempts to follow in his father’s footsteps, both literally and metaphorically. However, the word “stumbled” suggests the speaker’s clumsiness and inability to match his father’s skill.
• "But today / It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away."


  These lines depict a role reversal. Now, it is the father who follows the speaker, suggesting the passage of time and the speaker’s growth. However, the father’s presence continues to loom large in the speaker’s life.
• These lines reflect the themes of admiration, growth, and the passage of time that are central to the poem. The poem is a poignant exploration of a son’s memories of his father and his struggle to step out of his father’s shadow.