Follower
by Seamus Heaney
Subject & Themes
•Heaney as a child following his father literally
and metaphorically.
•Son’s tribute to his father based on admiration.
•Awareness that he gets in the way but eager to be in the
fields as his father goes about his work.
•Themes of father/son relationships, frustration,
role reversal, old age and change.
Tone & Mood
•Reflective, remembering childhood and observing
•the changes that have taken place.
•Final stanza – clear aggravation at father –
•hypocritical?
The title has dual meanings
– the young Heaney follows
his father as he ploughs the
fields. By the end of the
poem his father follows
Seamus.
Follower
simile – the poem opens with
an adoring simile – makes us
imagine Heaney’s father as a
strong, impressively large
man
My father worked with a horse plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horses strained at his clicking tongue.
agricultural terms – the
shafts are the sticks
that link the plough to
the horse. The furrow
is the deep line cut in
the earth by the plough.
presumably used to
encourage the horse –
shows he is an expert at
what he does
short, powerful statement
about his father’s skill –
reinforces how good he
was
An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck
technical terms related to the
plough
sibilance –
emphasises
skillful
‘headrig’ - the mechanism which ploughs the earth
enjambment – continuation of
meaning from last stanza – the
poem has a momentum and flow
emphasises this was really hard work
Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.
another example of his expertise – he is skillful and precise in his work
contrast to his father’s skill – the
young Heaney is awkward and
clumsy; the tone changes here
with ‘I’
I stumbled in his hobnailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.
unusual adjective to
describe mud – shows the
care and attention of his
father’s work
vivid imagery shows his
father was caring and
affectionate despite his
son’s clumsiness
longing, melancholy tone – Heaney wanted to
follow in his father’s footsteps but was not able to,
as revealed in ‘Digging’
I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow around the farm.
half-rhyme – adds to
the regretful tone of
this line
list of three verbs – emphasises the
trouble he caused
I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.
‘but’ – drive-word which
changes tone
The poem ends on a bleak tone, at contrast with what has gone before it.
‘Not go away’ – sounds harsh and unforgiving, unlike his father who picked him up.
Quotes to Underline & Explain
•‘his shoulders globed like a full sail strung’
•‘mapping the furrow exactly’
•‘I stumbled in his hobnailed wake’
•‘sometimes he rode me on his back’
•‘I was a nuisance, tripping, falling’
•‘It is my father who keeps stumbling’
Viewpoint
•1st person narration – autobiographical
based on lived experience of poet.
•Heaney reflecting on how their
relationship has changed over time.
Language & Imagery
‘an expert’ – admiration.
Animals obey his effortless instructions (‘single
pluck’, ‘clicking tongue’)
Eager to follow in father’s footsteps – ‘I wanted to
grow up and plough’
Stanzas laid out like furrows in a field.
Language & Imagery
• Nautical imagery.
• Lexis specific to farming.
• ‘Will not go away’ – frustrated tone, angry at
father.