Consider how Seanus Heany provides us with a view of his childhood in :: English Literature

Consider how Seanus Heany provides us with a view of his childhood in the following poems: Digging, Death of a Naturalist, follower, blackberry picking, The barn and mid term break Sheanus Heany was born in 1939 on a farm in County Derry, Northern Ireland. His poetry is based on the landscape in his farm from his childhood. In his life there is one key feature that changed him from the rest of his family. This was the level of education that he obtained. He went to a decent school unlike his family that enabled him to write and not farm. He is currently a professor of poetry at Oxford. There are two large symbolic features in his poetry. Firstly, the danger in the countryside could be said to represent the danger in Northern Island at the time. Secondly, there is a strong sense of division in his family, which could be linked with Heany growing up in a divided country. His first poem in the Death of a Naturalist is very important. The purpose of it is to symbolise and introduce his circumstances. 'Between my finger and thumb the squat pen rests'. Look at this first sentence. It is telling you he is a writer. He is telling you that the pen rests. This means that he is comfortable with it. In a way he is saying that the pen belongs in his hand. Then he goes on to write 'snug as a gun'. A gun is a weapon. Something used for destruction which poetry is not. But, If you look closer you can see that maybe the pen has destroyed something. Heany was brought up in a Irish rural family. He is expected to become a farmer. In this way the pen has taken something away from him. It has changed the relationship with his family and lengthened the gap between them. Throughout nearly each poem there seems to be a barrier. Here it is the window, 'under my window'. Heany is doing mental work while his father is doing physical. Here is an example of how Heany and his father are different. 'My father digging I look down'. Even Heany's vision of his father from 20 years is one of digging. His father is natural with the farm work. When he is digging he is smooth and it is a harmonious movement. 'Bends low twenty years away stooping in rhythm through potato drills where he was digging'. His father's comfort with digging is displayed again. The boot is 'nestled' on the lug which is a word of belonging. His foot fits