10.1.1

Summary, Structure & Form

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Summary of Follower

Seamus Heaney's poem explores familial love from the perspective of a child.

Background

Background

  • Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, who grew up in Bellaghy in Northern Ireland.
  • He was one of eight children.
  • He went on to become an English teacher.
  • This poem was published in 1966 in a collection that focused on childhood and this rural, Irish identity.
Summary - beginning

Summary - beginning

  • Heaney’s poem follows his childhood memories of his father ploughing. He admires his father’s skill.
  • The poem continues on as the boy in the poem follows in his father’s shadow. Sometimes, his father is carrying him.
Summary - shift

Summary - shift

  • The perspective of the poem shifts and we hear from the narrator in the present.
  • He wished to be like his father, but all he ever really did was follow him around.
  • The poem ends ambiguously, with Heaney’s father following behind him, tripping and stumbling.
  • But it is unclear whether it is his father or the memory of him that follows him around.
Parent-child relationship

Parent-child relationship

  • Heaney explores the often painful realisation that our parents aren’t the superheroes we imagine them to be as a child.
  • Heaney remembers his childhood idolisation of his father and his inability to match up to his father’s strength.
  • He then suddenly and abruptly undermines this image with the final stanza – in which is father is now stumbling and frail.

Structure and Form in Follower

Here are some key examples of structure and form in Seamus Heaney's poem Follower:

Rhythm and rhyme

Rhythm and rhyme

  • The poem follows a neat ABAB rhyme scheme, and is written in iambic tetrameter.
  • There are half rhymes as well, which gives the poem a songlike and childish character.
Title

Title

  • The title of the poem ‘Follower’ refers to both father and son at different points in the poem.
  • The opening stanzas of the poem focus on the narrator's admiration for his father’s skill.
  • The central stanzas follow the narrator attempting to find his own identity, and the poem concludes with the father following behind.
Jump to other topics
1

When We Two Parted - Lord Byron (1788-1824)

1.1

When We Two Parted Analysis

1.1.1Summary & Structure1.1.2Themes: Death & Loss1.1.3Themes: Time & Anger1.1.4Key Quotes & Comparisons1.1.5End of Topic Test - When We Two Parted
2

Love’s Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley

2.1

Love's Philosophy Analysis

2.1.1Summary & Structure2.1.2Themes2.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons2.1.4End of Topic Test - Love's Philosophy2.1.5Exam-Style Questions - Love's Philosophy
3

Porphyria’s Lover - Robert Browning (1812-1889)

3.1

Porphyria’s Lover Analysis

3.1.1Summary & Structure3.1.2Themes: Porphyria & Violence3.1.3Themes: Sin & Pathetic Fallacy3.1.4Key Quotes & Comparisons3.1.5End of Topic Test - Porphyria's Lover
4

Sonnet 29 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

4.1

Sonnet 29 – ‘I think of thee!’ Analysis

4.1.1Summary & Structure4.1.2Themes4.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons
5

Neutral Tones - Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

5.1

Neutral Tones Analysis

5.1.1Summary & Structure5.1.2Themes5.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons5.1.4End of Topic Test - Sonnet 29 & Neutral Tones
6

Letters from Yorkshire - Maura Dooley (Born 1957)

6.1

Letters from Yorkshire Analysis

6.1.1Summary & Structure6.1.2Themes6.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons
7

The Farmer’s Bride - Charlotte Mew (1869-1928)

7.1

The Farmer's Bride Analaysis

7.1.1Summary, Structure & Form7.1.2Themes7.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons7.1.4End of Topic Test - Dooley & Mew7.1.5Exam-Style Questions - The Farmer's Bride
8

Walking Away - Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972)

8.1

Walking Away Analysis

8.1.1Summary, Structure & Form8.1.2Themes8.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons
9

Eden Rock - Charles Causley (1917-2003)

9.1

Eden Rock Analysis

9.1.1Summary, Structure & Form9.1.2Themes9.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons9.1.4End of Topic Test - Walking Away & Eden Rock
10

Follower - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)

10.1

Follower Analysis

10.1.1Summary, Structure & Form10.1.2Themes10.1.3Quotes and Comparisons
11

‘Mother, Any Distance’ - Simon Armitage (Born 1963

11.1

'Mother, Any Distance' Analysis

11.1.1Summary, Structure & Form11.1.2Themes11.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons11.1.4End of Topic Test - Follower& Mother, Any Distance
12

Before You Were Mine - Carol Ann Duffy (Born 1955)

12.1

Before You Were Mine Analysis

12.1.1Summary, Structure & Form12.1.2Themes12.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons
13

Winter Swans - Owen Sheers (Born 1974)

13.1

Winter Swans Analysis

13.1.1Summary, Structure & Form13.1.2Themes13.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons13.1.4End of Topic Test - Duffy & Sheers
14

Singh Song! - Daljit Nagra (Born 1966)

14.1

Singh Song! Analysis

14.1.1Summary, Structure & Form14.1.2Themes14.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons
15

Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse

15.1

Climbing My Grandfather Analysis

15.1.1Summary, Structure & Form15.1.2Themes15.1.3Key Quotes & Comparisons15.1.4End of Topic Test - Nagra & Waterhouse
16

Grade 9 - Comparisons

16.1

Grade 9 - Comparisons

16.1.1Grade 9 - Comparisons
17

Recap: Main Quotes

17.1

Recap: Main Quotes

17.1.1When We Two Parted - Lord Byron (1788-1824)17.1.2Love’s Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley17.1.3Porphyria’s Lover - Robert Browning (1812-1889)17.1.4Sonnet 29 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (17.1.5Neutral Tones - Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)17.1.6Letters from Yorkshire - Maura Dooley (Born 1957)17.1.7The Farmer’s Bride - Charlotte Mew (1869-1928)17.1.8Walking Away - Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972)17.1.9Eden Rock - Charles Causley (1917-2003)17.1.10Follower - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)17.1.11‘Mother, Any Distance’ - Simon Armitage (Born1963)17.1.12Before You Were Mine - Carol Ann Duffy (Born 1955)17.1.13Winter Swans - Owen Sheers (Born 1974)17.1.14Singh Song! - Daljit Nagra (Born 1966)17.1.15Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse

Practice questions on Summary, Structure & Form

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  1. 1
    Summary of _Follower_Put in order
  2. 2
    Facts about Seamus Heaney: Fill in the list
  3. 3
    Whose perspective is the poem _Follower_ written from?Multiple choice
  4. 4
    Seamus Heaney's background:True / false
  5. 5
    Features of structure and form of _Follower_: True / false
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End of Topic Test - Walking Away & Eden Rock

Themes