Meaning, Language & Structure – Similarities and Differences
of Digging & On My First Sonne
By Mahjuz, Ash & Alex
Meaning
Language
Structure
Similarities
Differences
- They’re both about a
- Digging is from the son’s
father and son relationship. point of view, whereas On My
First Sonne is from the father’s
- Both of these were
point of view.
written out of guilt
- They feel guilty for different
- Both are being punished
reasons: Heaney feels guilty
for what they have done.
because he didn’t follow in his
On My First Sonne Jonson father’s footstep, but Jonson is
is being punished for
guilty because he feels
loving his son too much,
responsible for his son’s death.
and in Digging, Heaney is
being punished by having
- They show admiration for
to remember his past, and
different things, Digging
not live up to his father’s
shows admiration towards his
expectations.
father whereas On My First
Sonne shows admiration
- They both show
towards his son.
admiration
- They both use language
- Digging has technical
techniques to show
language in it like “shaft” to
admiration, Digging uses
show that the son has learnt
adverbs, and On My First
from his father
Sonne uses metaphors.
- On My First Sonne uses old
language like “thy” and “tho”
- They both use both
present tense and past
tense
- On My First Sonne has a
semantic field to do with
religion.
- On My First Sonne has only
one stanza whereas Digging
has lots of stanzas
- The structure of both
- On My First Sonne has
poems show their “thought rhyming couplets, but Digging
process”, On My First
has no rhyming scene
Sonne uses it to show his
different emotions, and
Digging uses it to show his
memories.
Personal Opinion