Seamus Heaney's poem "Digging", an eight-stanza poem written in free verse, is the first in his collection of poems entitled Death of a Naturalist, published in 1966. Written first- no one's story, this circularly structured poem uses formalist elements to reconcile the fact that the speaker will not follow in the footsteps of his ancestors as a simple worker. However, subtle clues that the speaker does not fit certain aspects of the male stereotype are evident throughout the poem. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The poem's vivid imagery helps reveal that the speaker is trying to rationalize and justify his career choice, but it also reveals his respect for digging, the trade of his ancestors. In the second line of the poem, the speaker describes the pen as resting between his thumb and forefinger “close as a pistol” (line 2). This simile suggests that the pen feels warm and comfortable in one's hands, but at the same time it alludes to the pen's ability to fire words with power, much like a gun fires bullets with power. The poet continues this same idea of ​​something appropriate when he refers to his father's boot as being "nestled on the lug" of the shovel (10). The speaker wonders whether or not he, an educated writer, follows in the lineage of his ancestors, manual workers whom he admires. His admiration comes through in the other key image of “Digging”: the father's “tight rump,” described as “curved rhythmically through potato exercises” (7-9). The precision and rhythm of his movements match the precision and rhythm of his shovel at work. At this early point in the poem, the speaker questions whether writing can match the precision, productivity, and strange beauty of manual labor. The poet uses language to emphasize his thoughts on this subject. For example, all the words in the second line – the line that describes his “crouching” pen – are short and chunky to emphasize the description of the pen (2). When the speaker hears the sound of his father's spade digging, he also hears it in the word "grate" (3), an onomatopoeia, and in the harsh alliterative sound of "gravelly soil" (4). . The speaker also uses alliteration to highlight the sharp, precise sound of his father's shovel entering the ground when he describes the "great peaks" and how his father "buried deep the shining edge" (12 ). The precision of his ancestors' blade is captured again when the poet speaks of "cutting and slicing," an onomatopoeia that brings the movement of the blade to life for the reader. As the speaker's father digs deeper, the words become more metallic, and the hollow phrase "down and down" produces an echo that emphasizes the depth of the hole (23). When the smell of potato mold surfaces, the descriptions change, conjuring up an image of dampness. The sounds transform into words such as “squelch and slap,” an alliterative and onomatopoeic device used to imitate the noise produced in wet clay (25). This richly detailed language clearly illustrates the poet's admiration for the work of his ancestors, but it also raises the question: why is the speaker so uncertain about his quality as a writer? A critic of the genre would respond that writing is not as masculine a profession as digging or digging. any other type of manual labor. The near excess of admiration towards men certainly justifies criticism based on gender. Indeed, Heaney's descriptions of the speaker's father and grandfather embody the masculine stereotype of the strong, rugged man. He..