Heaneys Poem Follower Essay -- Heaney Follower Essays

Heaneys Poem FollowerFollower is a poem approximately the poets love and admiration for his obtain.It is withal about the changes that occur between yield and children aschildren move out from their parents shadow.In the root half of the poem the poet draws a vivid portrait of hisfather as he ploughs a field. The poet, as a young boy, follows hisfather as he goes about his work and, like most boys, he idolises hisfather and admires his expectant skill, An expert. He would set the wingand fit the bright sword pointed sock.In the poem, Heaney looks up to his father in a somatic sense,because he is so much smaller than his father, but he withal looks up tohim in a metaphorical sense. This is made clear by the poets carefulchoice of words. An example of this is in the lines, His eye contractand angled at the ground, mapping the furrows exactly. These wordseffectively suggests his fathers skill and precision. We are alsotold that young Heaney stumbled in his hob nailed wake, w hichbrings to our consciousness a picture of the ploughmans heavy boots, thecare richly move furrow and the childs clumsy enthusiasm.The poet uses onomatopoeic words to trance the details of his fatheras he works the plough. At the closure of the first stanza he describeshim leading the team of plough-horses, instructing them with hisclicking tongue. In the arcminute stanza his father guides the horseswith a single pluck Of Rains. It is interesting that theonomatopoeia here emphasises the great skill with which the poetsfather controls and guides his horses. It shows again his expertiseand ease with the animals as he ploughs the field into furrowed lines.In the second half of the poem, the snap shifts... ... burst shows growth and education. Heaneys schoolteacher, Ms Walls, is hiding the reality of reproduction from theyoung children as they are not yet ready to have a bun in the oven the reality of thesituation. He is disgusted at the thought of reproduction because he vis ualises things through the surrealistic eyes of a child because of thestage he is at. He isnt ready to accept sex. He cant rationalise.Puberty makes him feel guilty. In the end he runs away, I sickened,turned and ran, which shows that he has not fully grown up.In this poem, Heaney uses terms we do not expect to see in poetry, andpresents nature as the real opposite of beautiful. Heaney shows howchildren are rattling ingenuous and nave and see the world as being verypure and wholesome just as it is in their imagination. He also showsthat there is a transformation from childhood to adult hood.