An Analysis Of Poem's Follower, By Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney’s poem, Follower, focuses particularly on his love and admiration for his father as he sees him as this god like figure at a young age. It illustrates the key themes that can be identified throughout the anthology such as childhood, memories, identity, personal experiences, growth and change throughout time. His poems often have a reminiscent tone, and there is a clear established link that his surroundings and upbringing within a rural area have impacted majorly on his work.
In Follower, we are given a clear insight into a memory of Heaney’s childhood and own personal identity. We see the naturally skilled nature of his father (which is also identified in Digging), shown in the opening stanza where his power and authority over the farm is characterised. The simile ‘his shoulders globed like a full sail strung between the shafts and the furrow’ emphasises how powerful he appeared to Heaney as he was a child through the use of imagery. As a sail manages to move a ship, Heaney’s father is what manages to move him. It could also be said that Heaney’s father is what keeps the farm functioning. He could control horses purely with his ‘clicking tongue’; this shows his …show more content…
In Blackberry-Picking we see Heaney wanting to preserve blackberries, each year he ‘hoped they’d keep’ but he soon saw that nothing lasts forever. He becomes less naïve. There is a use of blood imagery as the berries stain hands. This is almost as if the stain becomes a distinct memory and reminder, but also a temporary one. As we see in Follower at the end of the poem, the memory of Heaney’s father is more than alive. It has a rather ambiguous context as we’re not sure if the memory of his father is haunting him, but we know the roles have now changed with a 180 degree turn. His father is now seen as the follower whereas Heaney was before. The majority of things in life are temporary, nothing is ever