10.1.2
Themes
Senses
Senses
Heaney uses a variety of techniques to make this an incredibly sensory (appeals to the senses) poem. These help to create an incredibly vivid picture of his memory.
Natural Imagery
Natural Imagery
- The narrator gives a sense of his deep connection to the natural, rural world.
- He uses words such as ‘sod’, ‘plod’, ‘headrig’ (a strip of land), ‘team’ and ‘hob-nailed’ to evoke a vivid picture of the farming life of his childhood.
Sensory language
Sensory language
- This is also a deeply sensory (appeals to the senses) poem as Heaney builds up a landscape of sound, sights and movements.
- We hear his father's ‘clicking tongue’, sod moving but not ‘breaking’, and we smell the ‘sweating team’ of horses.
- Heaney builds up a sense of memory as far more than just images and evokes it vividly through using all the senses.
Parent-Child Relationship
Parent-Child Relationship
Follower explores how the parent-child relationship develops as the child grows up. Unlike Walking Away, it does so from the perspective of the child.
Narrator's inadequacy
Narrator's inadequacy
- The narrator tinges this memory with his own feelings of inadequacy in the face of his father.
- He feels that he is a ‘nuisance’ and worries: ‘all I ever did was follow'.
- He also impresses on the reader the physical strength of his father – he is a ‘broad shadow’, his shoulders are like a ‘full sail strung’. This shows his admiration and awe of his parent.
Ending
Ending
- In contrast to the earlier description, the father is now an old man who is ‘stumbling’ behind him.
- This shows how time has changed how he views his father - especially since the narrator had previously 'stumbled in his hob-nailed wake'.
- The ending of the poem is ambiguous (unclear) – the final line states that his father ‘will not go away’. This gives a sense that he is almost haunted by his father.
- This could suggest that it is not his father following him, but the memory of him.
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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