A Comparison of Seamus Heaneys Poem Digging and The song of the old mo

I have looked at the poem 'Digging' by Seamus Heaney. The poem is about the poet digging into his past and appears to be a modest poem. The "nicking and slicing neatly" that Heaney says in his poem can also apply to the crafting of a poem. Heaney seems unhappy and distanced from his farming family roots however he shows a good amount of admiration for farming men. Heaney shows the skill and dignity of labour. The expertise is rather admired than the strength and the technique is very precisely explained. He constantly has memories of common places, which very few people would notice, but Heaney thinks that these memories should be recognised. He is frustrated at how different he is to his family. Maybe in those days writing poems may not have been seen as manly. I am going to compare this poem 'Digging' to another poem which is called 'The song of the old mother' written by William Butler Yeats. First of all in Heaney's poem he is talking about himself as a child to his grandfather, while Yeats is talking about the older people to the younger generation. "My grandfather cut more turf in a day, Than any other man in toners bog." This quote shows that Heaney was talking as a child to his grandfather. "And the young lie long and dream in their bed." This quote shows that Yeats is talking about the younger generation and by calling them young she is implying that she is significantly older than the people she is referring to. In both poems they describe heavy manual work, but in 'Digging' they love doing the work that they do and in 'The song of the old mother' she is unhappy and bitter that she has to scrub... ...s family had a close relationship because when he was young he did not really describe any conflict between them but in Blake's poem he does show the love of the weeping mother. When the farther kisses the child he is showing his ever nigh love of god for the child. In Blake's poem he is implying the worship of god (the farther) because he has involved god when simply a child has been lost from his parents. In Heany's poem he shows his personal love and respect for his farther and grandfather. "Once I carried him milk in a bottle Corked sloppily with paper." This quote can show in a way that he loved his farther because he cared enough to go get his farther some milk in a bottle. In conclusion I think that these poems have explored the relationships between different families from different generations.