Follower Seamus Heaney Analysis

The poem Is based on a strong father-son relationship which Is contrasted by the film Billy Elliot. In the poem, the Boy seeks ambition through his father whom he sees as God-like and great encouragement. Analysis of follower by Seamus Heaney An analysis of “Follower” by Seamus Heaney “Follower” is a poem that relates back to Seamus Heaney’s past memories which he had experienced when he was at a younger age, they are memories of him and his father and their relationship.

From the poem, we can interpret that he was brought up on a potato farm and in many of his other poems he relates to this, this suggests that perhaps he enjoyed farming or perhaps he Isexpresslng the family’s traditions, “Follower” Is a poem which strongly relates to Heaney’s past life. The poem also suggests the theme of growth, at the beginning of the poem he is a young boy, who looks up to his father.

However, by the end of the poem, It is his father who needs help from his son.

The first three stanzas of the poem are written in the third person with all words relating to his father as ‘he’ or ‘his’. But there is a change in the fourth stanza and from then on until the end of the poem. It is written In the first person with only one reference In the whole of the last two verses to his father as him’. The tone of the poem is quite reminiscent and it is obvious that the poet when he was young was in awe of his father.

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‘Follower’ Is a poem that relates to his past life which can be regarded as a big space of time. This gap in time can be noticed by the regularity of the poem.

The Follower Poem Analysis

The structure of the poem has an even number of four-line stanzas and a combination of six stanzas In total. There are about five sets of Imagery In the poem, often the imagery in’FoIlower’ is based on the appearance of his father. For example in the first stanza on the second line he has written: ‘His shoulders globed as a full sail strung Between the shafts and the furrow’ This means that his father looks like a full sail strung from far because perhaps his shirt is being blown by the wind making him have the appearance of a full sail strung Between the shafts and the furrow.

This Is also quite a magnificent piece of Imagery as the sail of a ship Is very Important to the rest of the ship and is very magnificent, which is what Seamus Heaney is trying to tell the Follower, tells about his relationship with his father as a young child. He appeared to look up to his father. Sardonically, by the end of the poem, his father needed his help and looked up to him. There may have been times in your life when you looked up to your parents and admired them for the way they treated each other.

They also may have seemed to always be by your side no matter what and you believed they were very smart, right? Well in this poem, the young boy felt the same way about his father. You might remember the old proverb? follow close on those who go before you?. This poem Is a typical example of how a person can influence our lives. We can have uncompromising admiration for our parents as this young boy had for his father. The uncompromising admiration in this poem was positive but in dangerous.

The boy’s declaration? ll I ever did was follow? can also show that this boy had low self-esteem issues. As he grew older his father began to follow him around. This shows that his father had admiration for the boy also. This boy never thought about what it was like to be a leader but accepted his role as a follower. The young boy as he grew older knew how to survive in a leadership position. He paid close attention to his father who was there when he needed him.