Heaneys Poem Follower Essay -- Heaney Follower Essays

Heaneys Poem FollowerFollower is a poem about the poets love and wonderment for his render.It is also about the changes that occur between father and children aschildren move out from their parents shadow.In the first half of the poem the poet draws a vivid portrait of hisfather as he ploughs a field. The poet, as a young boy, follows hisfather as he goes about his work and, kindred most boys, he idolises hisfather and admires his great skill, An expert. He would set the wingand fit the bright steel pointed sock.In the poem, Heaney looks up to his father in a physical sense,because he is so much smaller than his father, but he also looks up tohim in a metaphorical sense. This is made resolve by the poets carefulchoice of words. An example of this is in the lines, His eye narrowedand angled at the ground, mapping the chamfers exactly. These wordseffectively suggests his fathers skill and precision. We are alsotold that young Heaney stumbled in his hob nailed wake, whichbrings t o our mind a picture of the ploughmans heavy boots, thecarefully ploughed furrow and the childs clumsy enthusiasm.The poet uses onomatopoeic words to capture the details of his fatheras he works the plough. At the end of the first stanza he describeshim leading the team of plough-horses, instructing them with hisclicking tongue. In the second stanza his father guides the horseswith a single pluck Of Rains. It is interesting that theonomatopoeia here emphasises the great skill with which the poetsfather controls and guides his horses. It shows again his expertiseand ease with the animals as he ploughs the field into furrowed lines.In the second half of the poem, the focus shifts... ... burst shows growth and reproduction. Heaneys schoolteacher, Ms Walls, is hiding the reality of reproduction from theyoung children as they are not yet ready to accept the reality of thesituation. He is disgusted at the public opinion of reproduction because he call fors things through the surrealisti c eyes of a child because of thestage he is at. He isnt ready to accept sex. He cant rationalise.Puberty makes him odor guilty. In the end he runs away, I sickened,turned and ran, which shows that he has not fully grown up.In this poem, Heaney uses terms we do not expect to see in poetry, andpresents nature as the very opposite of beautiful. Heaney shows howchildren are very ingenuous and nave and see the world as being very smooth and wholesome just as it is in their imagination. He also showsthat there is a transformation from childhood to adult hood.