10.1.2

Themes

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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

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.
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 Themes

Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.

  1. 1
    Complete these examples of sensory images in _Follower_:Fill in the list
  2. 2
    What setting do words such as ‘sod’, ‘plod’, ‘headrig’, ‘team’ and ‘hob-nailed’ evoke?Multiple choice
  3. 3
    What imagery does Heaney use to evoke a vivid picture of the farming life of his childhood?Fill in the list
  4. 4
    Quotes showing the physical strength of the father in _Follower_:True / false
  5. 5
    Quotes showing the physical strength of the narrator's father in _Follower_:Fill in the list
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Summary, Structure & Form

Quotes and Comparisons