10.1.1
Summary, Structure & Form
Summary of Follower
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
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.
1When We Two Parted - Lord Byron (1788-1824)
2Love’s Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley
3Porphyria’s Lover - Robert Browning (1812-1889)
4Sonnet 29 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
4.1Sonnet 29 – ‘I think of thee!’ Analysis
5Neutral Tones - Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
6Letters from Yorkshire - Maura Dooley (Born 1957)
6.1Letters from Yorkshire Analysis
7The Farmer’s Bride - Charlotte Mew (1869-1928)
8Walking Away - Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972)
8.1Walking Away Analysis
9Eden Rock - Charles Causley (1917-2003)
10Follower - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)
10.1Follower Analysis
11‘Mother, Any Distance’ - Simon Armitage (Born1963
11.1'Mother, Any Distance' Analysis
12Before You Were Mine - Carol Ann Duffy (Born 1955)
12.1Before You Were Mine Analysis
13Winter Swans - Owen Sheers (Born 1974)
14Singh Song! - Daljit Nagra (Born 1966)
14.1Singh Song! Analysis
15Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse
15.1Climbing My Grandfather Analysis
16Grade 9 - Comparisons
16.1Grade 9 - Comparisons
Jump to other topics
1When We Two Parted - Lord Byron (1788-1824)
2Love’s Philosophy - Percy Bysshe Shelley
3Porphyria’s Lover - Robert Browning (1812-1889)
4Sonnet 29 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
4.1Sonnet 29 – ‘I think of thee!’ Analysis
5Neutral Tones - Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
6Letters from Yorkshire - Maura Dooley (Born 1957)
6.1Letters from Yorkshire Analysis
7The Farmer’s Bride - Charlotte Mew (1869-1928)
8Walking Away - Cecil Day Lewis (1904-1972)
8.1Walking Away Analysis
9Eden Rock - Charles Causley (1917-2003)
10Follower - Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)
10.1Follower Analysis
11‘Mother, Any Distance’ - Simon Armitage (Born1963
11.1'Mother, Any Distance' Analysis
12Before You Were Mine - Carol Ann Duffy (Born 1955)
12.1Before You Were Mine Analysis
13Winter Swans - Owen Sheers (Born 1974)
14Singh Song! - Daljit Nagra (Born 1966)
14.1Singh Song! Analysis
15Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse
15.1Climbing My Grandfather Analysis
16Grade 9 - Comparisons
16.1Grade 9 - Comparisons
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