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This analysis of “Digging” by Seamus Heaney covers the following:

• About the poem
• Structure of the poem
• Content Analysis
• Title of the poem
• Language and Diction
• Mood and tone
• Literary Devices in Digging
• Themes in Digging

Click the to read the literary devices and themes in “Digging” by Seamus Heaney.

About the Poem

“Digging” by Seamus Heaney, an Irishman, was written in the summer of 1964 and first published in “New Statesman”, a British political and cultural news magazine. In the poem, he reminisces about his ancestors and a skill they were really known for – digging. The poem is a part of Seamus Heaney’s first major published work – Death of a Naturalist – published in 1966.

Also, the poem gives a glimpse into the life of Irish men through history. The older generation had to “dig” for food (farm) and for fuel (often coal or peat). As time changed, other means of livelihood began to emerge. It is safe to say that this poem is rooted in Irish life.

Structure of the poem

“Digging” is written in free verse. It consists of eight stanzas and thirty-one lines written in varied meter.

Stanza 1 has 2 lines.

Stanza 2 has 3 lines.

Stanza 3 has 4 lines.

Stanza 4 has 5 lines.

Stanza 5 has 2 lines.

Stanza 6 has 8 lines.

Stanza 7 has 4 lines.

Stanza 8 has 3 lines.

The writer begins by telling what he was doing – holding a pen between his finger and thumb. Then he hears his father digging the flower bed and launches into his reverie, talking as if his father was right there in the garden digging as when he was a child, and the speaker could still see him through his window.

He goes on to describe his father working, how he rooted out and planted, how they gathered the harvest and loved it. He swells with admiration for his father’s skills (Stanza 5, Lines 15-16). Afterward, he recounts his grandfather’s skills in the same business – digging. He says no one in their area – Toner’s bog – did better than his grandfather. He was not just good at cutting turf; he was also hardworking and only took breaks to drink the milk that the writer, as a boy, brought him.

Finally, he turns back to himself. Time has changed, and he could not farm potatoes or dig for peat just like his ancestors, but he affirms that he would be the best he possibly could be with the tools he had. Therefore, he declares that with the pen pressed between his fingers and thumb, he will dig.

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Content Summary and Analysis

Digging is a poem about identity and the influence of things we saw our parents do on us. The speaker in the poem was sitting at his desk, writing or preparing to write, when he heard his father working in the garden outside. He could see his father through the window (Stanzas 1 and 2). This is the speaker’s current environment as he watches and listens to his father digging in the flower garden. The speaker admires how well his father digs, and this triggers an older memory of his father digging in a potato garden and his grandfather cutting turf in peat moss. He remarks that none dug better than his grandfather, and the man only stood to drink his milk, then went right back to his labour (Stanzas 5 and 6). He also airs his admiration for his father’s exceptional skill at handling a spade. Lastly, the speaker talks about the smell of the potatoes in his father’s garden and the soggy peat where his grandfather dug as if he was smelling them afresh, still alive in his head. He expresses his desire to follow the footsteps of his fathers, working diligently and with dignity. Then he confesses that he does not have a spade like his father and grandfather, but he does have a pen, with which he will dig.

Heaney’s use of the tools – pen, gun, and spade – can be interpreted as a representation of different aspects and eras of Irish life. The pen represents the rich poetic tradition, the gun represents the history of rebellion, and the spade represents rural Irish farming culture. This symbolism not only captures the message of the poem but also deepens its meaning.

Stanza by  Stanza Analysis

Stanza 1

Between my finger and my thumb  
The squat pen rests; snug as a gun.

This stanza has only 2 lines. Here, the speaker talks about the pen in his hand. He describes how he held the pen, and to emphasize the importance and role of the pen in his hand, he uses the simile “snug as a gun”. This makes the reader immediately think the pen is ready for action.

Stanza 2

Under my window, a clean rasping sound  
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:  
My father, digging. I look down

Stanza 2 consists of 3 lines. It opens with the description of what was going on outside the speaker’s window. He hears his father’s spade as it “sinks into gravelly ground”. The stanza focus is on the speaker’s father’s tool and work – his instrument is a spade, and his work is ‘digging’. The rasping sound made as the father worked the flower beds caused the speaker to look down through his window.

It is significant to note that this stanza also introduces an instrument, a working tool. This time, it is a spade. Comparing this to stanza 1, the tools of labour for father and son are identified. These tools not only pertain to their work, but also points to their heritage and generation – a heritage rich in poetry and skilled in farming and a generation drifting away from traditional farming and embracing other means of livelihood.

The thought expressed in stanza 2 is carried over to stanza 3, as there is no punctuation at the end of the last line of this stanza.

Stanza 3

Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds  
Bends low, comes up twenty years away  
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills  
Where he was digging.

In stanza 3, the speaker reveals that the scene of his father digging in the flower garden transports him back to twenty years ago, watching his father stoop in rhythm as he worked the potato garden. His work is just as dedicated as usual, digging. The use of flashback links the past to the present.

Stanza 4

The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked,
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.  

The speaker continues to describe his father’s work more deeply, mentioning that he and his siblings picked the potatoes while his father dug the potato beds.

Stanza 5

By God, the old man could handle a spade.  
Just like his old man.

This stanza shows the admiration and awe of the speaker at the skill of his father when it comes to using a spade. These 2 lines that make up stanza 5 clearly depict the speaker’s marvel and assure the reader that he speaks the truth, as he began with “by God”. It also triggers the image of his grandfather working with a spade as he compares him to his father in the next stanza.

Stanza 6

My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, going down and down
For the good turf. Digging.

Within the eight lines in this stanza, the speaker describes his grandfather’s hard work cutting turf in a peat bog. Peat bog is an alternative to coal, and cutting turf is a tough task that requires a lot of physical strength. The speaker claims no one does this better than his grandfather. He admires his grandfather’s strength, dedication, and work. He shares his experience of watching his grandfather work and says he barely stops work to drink the milk the speaker brought him, and then goes back to digging.

Stanza 7

The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.

Now the speaker describes the effect of the experience with his father digging potatoes and his grandfather cutting turf in a peat bog. The smell of the potato garden and the squelch slap sound of the peat … awaken his head – this points to how alive the memories he shares in the poem are to him, as he could still smell the potatoes fresh and hear the sounds in the soggy peat. As he is brought back to the present, eager to follow the steps of his fathers, the speaker realizes that his tool is not the same – his father and grandfather each had a spade, whereas he had none.

Stanza 8

Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.

As the speaker realizes he did not have a spade to follow his father’s legacy of digging, he returns to what he had at hand – a squat pen. He declares his resolve to follow the path of his ancestors – although they dug with a spade, he will dig with a pen. This stanza captures his willingness to work with dignity, despite being in a different generation with a different tool in a different scenario, shows him holding up the legacy, “digging” for the same purpose – create sustenance.

Title of the poem

The title – Digging – suggests manual labour. It refers to the physical labour of his father and grandfather, farming and cutting turf. It also points to Seamus Heaney writing as his pen is depicted as a tool for labour, just like the spade his father and grandfather used.

Language and Diction

“Digging” by Seamus Heaney uses straightforward language that is accessible and evocative. This makes it easy for the audience to understand the concept presented in the poem.

The use of imagery makes the poem come alive in the mind of the reader.

Also, Heaney extends the role of his “pen” to that of a “spade”. This use of metaphor connects his labour as a writer with his pen to the labours of his father as a farmer (using a spade) and his grandfather cutting turf (with a spade).

Some words like “potato mould”, “soggy peat”, and “turf” are common in Middle and Anglo-Saxon diction; they are commonly used in farming and rural life when speaking of power generation. Therefore, the diction in “Digging” grounds the poem, buttressing the background of the writer as Irish and pinpointing his location to the Irish countryside where rural farming was common in the 1900s.

Mood and tone

The poem evokes gratitude and pride. The writer is grateful for his ancestors, who they were, and the legacy they left behind. The poem also shows pride in one’s heritage and how it inspires the speaker to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps.

Further to these, the tone is that of admiration, respect, and resolution. The speaker clearly admires the work of his father and grandfather and describes vivid memories of watching them work with uncanny precision and reverence. This is clearly seen in the choice of words as he spoke about his father’s skills at using a spade and his grandfather not being riviled by any other in Toner’s bog.

“By God, the old man could handle a spade.  
Just like his old man.”
(Stanza 5, Lines 15-16)

“My grandfather cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.”
(Stanza 16, Lines 17-18)

There is also a hint of regret in the tone of the speaker. This is seen in line 78, where he states he had no spade like his father and grandfather did. But this sense of regret suddenly changes as he resolves to also do his best with the tool at his disposal – his pen. Then he declares,

“Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.”
(Stanza 8, Lines 79-81)

Literary Devices in “Digging” by Seamus Heaney
Themes in “Digging” by Seamus Heaney