Seamus Heaney`S Digging Essays - Literature, Poetry,

Seamus Heaney`S Digging The Modernist theme of mechanization, brought on by the beginning of World War I and the technological revolution of the era, manifests itself powerfully and completely in the language of Seamus Heaneys first poem, Digging. From various literary devices, as well as graphic imagery the mechanization of the human spirit comes to life in the form of his father, and grandfather. The past and present become one, with the common bond the honest work of the Irish poor. In his own way, and with his own pen, Heaney develops the idea of mechanized men who, through the drudgery and repetition of their lives, create a life for them and their families, taking pride in their work, and acceptance of their fate. He develops seamlessly the idea of a man-machine, a hybrid of automation and human, married by toil and tool. Likewise, Heaney writes this as a way to tie himself to his ancestors in the British Isles, illustrating the power that they wielded with shovel and sweat, making their contribution no less enlightened than his own. In his first poem, Heaney develops the image of mechanization and automation that follows the poor of his country, through graphic imagery, sound, and literary mastery. Heaneys imagery throughout the poem echoes the automation of the workers, illustrating the type of work that they do as something that could be done by machinery. Titling the piece Digging immediately highlights for the reader the verbal connotation of the work, and puts the theme of work, and of manual labor into the limelight. As well, Heaneys use of the word gun to describe his squat pen in line 2 places the emphasis on machinery allowing a comparison of the human condition to present technology. This theme continues throughout the poem, as Heaney likens his fathers act of digging to that of a machine, as his father nestled on the lug, the shaft/Against the inside knee was levered firmly. (ll.10-11) These words take the labor out of the realm of man, by using mechanical terms to describe the marriage of shovel and man, creating an altogether different image of a type of robot tearing up sod. While he describes this straining rump, Heaney takes this man out of the realm of men, and into a realm of manufactured workers, a realm of repetition, a realm of stooping workers, their humanity set aside to finish the job at hand. However, while Heaney describes the toil of his father, he also ties it to the alike labor of a past generation, namely his grandfathers, used to nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods/Over his shoulder.(22-23) This juxtaposition of past and present illustrates the monotony of the work involved, and how things take time to change. Heaney creates the transition between his father and grandfather in a two-line stanza that highlights the pride of these men, and how their automation gave cause for praise from their descendant, Heaney. Their legacy of hard work, however mechanized, illustrates the value placed on labor in their society. While Heaney creates the idea of men-machines through visual images and parts, he also creates a very auditory world, one that echoes the act of a factory, or a piece of farm machinery. From the first stanza, with its clean rasping sound, the readers ear can almost hear the whir of a lawn mower, or something of that nature, cutting and slicing. (3) The rhythm of Heaneys fathers digging highlights the monotony of the act, the incessant meter of his practiced spade. This coincides with the sounds in the prior stanza, as the authors first recollection is an auditory one. Later in the poem, the squelch and slap/Of soggy peat, continues the idea of a machine chugging away at the turf, creating again the essence of a machine oblivious to the conditions of the work men. (25-26) Heaneys workers are extremely vivid, both physically and mentally, even after so many years, and the trials and hardships that they endure, day in and day out, add to the essence of their existence, one that lends ac ceptance to the fact that they are somewhat more than men, that their labor, however menial, is somewhat mechanized, somewhat heroic, and altogether driven