Follower

1. Follower By: Alexis Lewis English IV 1st period

2. Author: Seamus J. Heaney Born in County Derry, Northern Ireland on April 13, 1939, Seamus Henry published his first book in 1966, Death of a Naturalist, which created stirring portraits of his rural upbringing. Later titles like Field Work and The Haw Lantern looked at his homeland’s tumultuous political affairs. A lover of mythology, Henry has taught at Berkley, Harvard and Oxford, and won the Nobel Prize in 1995.

3. Historical Background The poem relates back to Heaney's past memories which he had experienced when he was at a younger age. The text is spoken through the first person narrative of a child's perspective and the use of diction and metaphors further conveys the poet's relationship with his family. The poem, although sounding very simplistic, manages to convey Heaney's relationship through memories that he had with his father. In the first half of the poem the poet draws a vivid portrait of his father as he ploughs a field. The poet, as a young boy, follows his father as he goes about his work and, like most boys, he idolizes his father and admires his great skill, 'An expert. He would set the wing and fit the bright-steel point-sock'.For a substantial amount of the poem, Heaney devotes his time to praising his father. Through this entire appraisal, the young Heaney becomes more attached to his father, making their relationship stronger. The father is, more than anything else, a skilled and energetic farmer. He is the source of admiration for Heaney for which he praises.

4. Brief Summary of the Plot • 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 that you looked up to your parents and admired them for they 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 but in this poem, the son 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 typically example of how a person can influence our lives. We can have uncompromising admiration for our parents as the son had for his father. The uncompromising admiration in this poem was positive, but in real life situations, we need to be careful that this admiration does not become dangerous. The son declaration, all I ever did was follow! can also show that the son 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 son when he was a little boy also. The son never thought about what it was like to be leader but accepted his role as a follower. The young boy as he grew older knew how to survive in leadership position. He paid close attention to his father who was there when he needed him. Once the tables were turned as adult the son knew exactly what his father needed.

5. Thesis Statement In this poem, Seamus Justin Heaney uses the literary devices of Literary devices of simile,Irony, Irony of situation, rhyme, and mood to create a picture of the farm and how the father and son acted towards each other, leaving that image in the minds of the readers.

6. Theme &Tone • The theme is all of us look up to our parents while growing up but when we get older most of us surpass or stop looking up to them. • The poem uses casual language in a way but incorporates farm termirol0gy to tell the setting and tone. • Examples from poem- An expert, My father worked with a horse plough. • Furrow, plough, plod, nuisance, and hob-nailed.

7. Figurative Language & Poetic Devices • The use of figurative language throughout the poem enhances it's meaning by explaining the father and son relationship. • Examples- Simile, Metaphor and Irony. • Onomatopoeia, Paradox, and Rhythm • Examples- The horses strained at his clicking tongue, all I ever do was follow, and Yapping, Tripping, and Falling always.

8. Poem Interpretation • #1 The poem is saying the poet draws a vivid portrait of his father as he ploughs a field and when he was a young boy, and he follows his father as he goes about his work and, like most boys, he idolizes his father and admires his great skill. #2 The meaning of the poem is the author Seamus Heaney had a experience as a child growing up like the little boy in the poem and he express his feelings into writing the poem base off the type of relationship he had with his father and how he became the man he is today . B. That the boy looks up to his father as being a farmer, and it inspired him to grow up and be an author to write poems based off his childhood memories. Also, his father adores him now to the point were he is the one that’s following . C. Today it is my father who keeps stumbling behind me , and will not go away.

9. Conclusion • This poem is about young boy childhood memories of his father working on the farm ploughing the land and talks very highly of his father and creates the impression of a very strong man who was an expert at what he done to be his son’s hero. It also talks about how the young boy used to follow his dad around as he worked and had dreamed of growing up strong like his dad. • Heaney uses diction, visual images, and figurative language to describe the physical relationship between a father and son. The visual images constantly allow us to picture the father hard at work, which is comparable to a sailor sailing a ship. The son wants to be like his father, but he lacks the physical aspects to meet that deed, perhaps because he is only a child. But, the son admires his father and he wont feel less about his self than what he used to be as a child.

10. Work Cited • www.eliteskills.com • www.markedbyteachers.com • www.nobelpirize.com • www.wikipedia.com • www.biography.com • www.blogspot.com