Follower

Follower

1. The title is ambiguous and gives a sense both of Heaney following his father and metaphorically following him as any child "follows" a parent

   • The poem concludes with a metaphorical relationship reversed

2. Form and structure

   • 6 stanzas of quatrains - tight and controlled orderly - reflective of the skilled work of his father
   • autobiographical
   • Past Tense
   • Rhyme Scheme
     • 5th Stanza - half rhymes "plough", "Follow"
     • 6th Stanza - the rhyme is stronger in the last stanza to perhaps emphasize the closing message
       • The perfect rhymes are representing Heaney's young desire to be his father
         • But the off-rhyme reflects that there is something not quite right
     • Loose - creating a narrative/conversational tone
   • ABAB

3. Language

   • 1st Stanza
     • "Worked" - implies both the labour itself and the control that his father had
     • Simile - "Shoulders globed like a full sail strung" suggests great strength and size with the word "globed" and the impression that his father was the whole world to young Heaney
       • The description also shows Heaneys father as abnormal and a "superman" figure
     • Enjambment "strung/ Between the shafts" allows the line to run longer to fully emphasis the size of the man
     • "the horses strained at his clicking tongue" - his father had power over them, had the ability to control them.
       • Onomatopoeia "clicking tongue" - shows the horse to be well trained and it emphasizes the skill of the father
   • 2nd Stanza
     • "An expert" - Shows Heaneys admiration for his father presented as a simple statement of fact"
       • Also the use of the punctuation of the full stop emphasizes the admiration that Heaney has
     • Technical language when describing the different parts of the plow in precise detail
     • Alliteration of the "t" sound - "set", "fit", "steel-pointed" - allows the reader to vividly hear the clank of metal
     • Choice of the adjective "Single" reminds us once again of the skill of his father
   • 3rd Stanza
     • "sweating team" - Assonance - connects the father and the animals, the cooperation between man and beast is presented here and it is intimately connected with the land
     • Enjambment - the turn is imitated by the verse being enjambed
     • Mathematical language and terms to emphasize the precision of the work
       • The words "angled", "mapped" and "exactly" tell us that the business of ploughing is very skilled
   • 4th Stanza
     • Contrast - between his father and himself through the pronoun "I stumbled" - used to show the difference in Heaney and his father - how Heaney is clumsy and his father is skilled
     • Subject of Sailing - choice of the word "wake" is in keeping of the 1st stanza - impression of small Heaney is a small boat and he is the wake of his father "the ship"
     • The verb "fell" gives further emphasizes of young Heaney's clumsiness
     • Rhythmical device "dipping and rising' - describes riding on his father's back - emphasizes the strength of his father
       • Captures the up-down movement of his progress through the use of vowels - short 'i' in "dipping" and the long 'i' in "rising"
   • 5th Stanza
     • Echo of the title - reminds us that he doesn't follow his father
     • Adjective "Broad" - emphasizes the father's strength and size
   • 6th Stanza
     • Use of the verb "tripping", "falling", "Yapping" - emphasize how clumsy and unskilled Heaney was to his father
     • Conjunction "But" - signals a volte - change in tone, focus and attitude
       • Change in tense - past to present tense - sums up the change in mood in the stanza
     • Tone of impatience - doesn't want to run after his father
       • Descriptions of his father are in contrast with the earlier descriptions
       • Also a tone of sadness - father went from an "expert" to a weak man who is in the shadow of his son of whom once looked up to him
       • Heaney is haunted with regret and guilt at his decision not to follow his father and is reminded by the weakness of his father

4. The first three stanzas concentrate on the poet's father

   • The last three focus upon his own position as a child
     • Each of the 3 last stanzas open with the personal pronoun "I", focuses to him and not his father