A Teacher's Story

Seamus Justin Heaney was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is Death of a Naturalist, his first major published volume. 

Born: 13 April 1939, Castledawson, Died: 30 August 2013.

The famous poet from Magherafelt Co Derry covers a few major themes in “Digging”including; Identity, admiration and hard work.

The poem is somewhat autobiographical in nature as it presents Heaney's identity in contrast with his ancestors. Heaney is happy that he has received the talent of digging from his family even though his means of digging is somewhat different he proves just as skilled as his ancestors.

The poem begins when the speaker sitting at his desk with a pen in his hand. He is distracted by the sound of digging coming from his garden where his father is preparing the field for potatoes. While he glances his father working in the garden, he recalls how his grandfather used to work in the same way in his garden. He proudly declares that digging is his family tradition. Although his ancestors have not done anything great, he finds greatness in their untiring work. He shows great respect for them and acknowledges that he has inherited the skill of digging from them. While his ancestors used garden tools, he uses his intellectual power.

It is a description also of how we all evolve through the ages and how different forms of work and skill are recognized as time passes.

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I'll bet you never realised how much a teacher does in the course of a day. Well in this fun poem David Orme has a humorous look at all the help required when teacher decides to have a day in bed!

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Literally starting off small with this one about writing a poem and the fear of losing it before you actually commit to paper.

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