Heaney's Poems and King Lear - Family Ties Are Nothing but Lies - Follower, Digging and King Lear
Essay by carlossharr • December 2, 2015 • Essay • 1,013 Words (5 Pages) • 1,903 Views
Essay Preview: Heaney's Poems and King Lear - Family Ties Are Nothing but Lies - Follower, Digging and King Lear
In all three of these texts we see the crucial theme of family ties that lies at the
very core of each of the plots. Even though all three of the texts have ‘family ties’
at the very heart of their plots we see that this theme is different in all three. In
the case of Heaney’s poems, ‘Digging’ and ‘Follower’ both tell the story of how a
son cannot relate to his father at first but then by the end of the poem he sees
that he is not so different to his ancestors after all. In Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’
however it is seen from the opening acts that the family bonds that should be
respected and nurtured with love are dismissed by the simple fact that their sons
and daughters are either born with shame for being bastards or disowned for
not ‘respecting’ their father.
Family ties can be perceived in many different ways. Firstly family ties could be
‘legal’ ties formed by laws that oblige family members, especially parents, to look
after and care for their children. Secondly there is the case of ‘cultural’ ties that
are formed by societies. These are unwritten rules made by societies that are
expected to be followed by everyone.
In Heaney’s two poems ‘Digging’ and ‘Follower’ we see that they both follow the
main plot. Both start off telling the story of Heaney as a child when he would look
up to his father and feel proud that he came from such a hard-working family.
In ‘Digging’ it is seen that Heaney respects his ancestors in the quote: “By God,
the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man.” It is also seen in the very
next stanza when Heaney boasts about how his grandfather could “cut more turf
in a day than any other man on Toner’s bog”. It is clearly visible that he is proud
of his ancestors; he finds comfort in the fact that his family is hard working. The
‘problem’ however is that he has “no spade to follow men like them”. Even
though he cannot follow his ancestors in the way he thought he should he
discovers that he can still be as hard working as them whilst holding a pen
instead.
In ‘Follower’ we still see the same praise coming from Heaney towards his father.
In the beginning of second stanza we see Heaney refer to his father as an ‘expert’
in what he does. Heaney then goes on to explain that he was a “nuisance” he was
towards his father when he was working but then both get older and the roles
reverse, making his father the one that’s always behind him and won’t go away.
In these two poems we see that family ties are not lies to Heaney’s family.
Throughout both poems we see mutual respect coming from Heaney and his
father. Heaney is proud of his family ties as he sees that they are hardworking
people. We see that Heaney’s father respects his son and is proud of his because
in the end of ‘Follower’ he
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