Follower by Seamus Heaney:

Poem: "Follower" by Seamus Heaney

My father worked with a horse-plough,
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
Between the shafts and the furrow.
The horses strained at his clicking tongue.

An expert. He would set the wing
And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.
The sod rolled over without breaking.
At the headrig, with a single pluck

Of reins, the sweating team turned round
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.

I stumbled in his hobnailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.

I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow round the farm.

I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
Yapping always. But today
It is my father who keeps stumbling
Behind me, and will not go away.

Poem Overview

• Theme of inheritance and admiration: The poem reflects the narrator's admiration for his father's strength and skill in farming, particularly in ploughing. It also touches on the reversal of roles over time, as the narrator matures and takes on responsibilities.

• Relationship between father and son: The speaker conveys a strong sense of filial devotion, describing both admiration for his father and the complex feelings of inadequacy he felt as a child, trying to emulate him but failing.

• Time and change: The shift from the son following his father to the father now following the son signals the passage of time and the inevitable aging of the father.

Key Quotes

• "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung / Between the shafts and the furrow."

• "All I ever did was follow / In his broad shadow round the farm."

• "It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away."

Underlying Meanings and Themes

• Admiration and respect: The son is in awe of his father's strength and skill, as seen in the description of his physicality ("shoulders globed like a full sail") and expertise with the plough.

• Role reversal: The son’s role changes as he matures. In childhood, he follows his father, but now, as an adult, his father "stumbles behind" him, suggesting that time has passed and the narrator has assumed the role of the caretaker or the person leading.

• Struggle with inadequacy: The narrator, as a child, feels he was a "nuisance" to his father, unable to match his father's strength or expertise. This feeling of inadequacy evolves as the son grows older, reflecting on his dependence on the father.

• Time and memory: The narrator’s recollections suggest both the passing of time and the emotional weight that these memories carry. The father's legacy of strength and skill has been passed down, even though roles are reversed.

Key Quotes

• "I stumbled in his hobnailed wake, / Fell sometimes on the polished sod."

• "I wanted to grow up and plough, / To close one eye, stiffen my arm."

• "But today / It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me."

Poetic Techniques

• Simile: "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung" compares the father’s strong physicality to a sail, emphasizing his power and control while ploughing.

• Imagery: Heaney uses rich, detailed imagery to evoke the rural setting, such as "the sod rolled over without breaking," which paints a vivid picture of the father’s expert work with the plough.

• Personification: The horses are described as "straining," giving them a human-like effort to emphasize the difficulty and toil of the task at hand.

• Alliteration: The repeated "s" sound in "sweating team turned round" and "single pluck" creates a sense of rhythm that mirrors the steady pace of the ploughing process.

Key Quotes

• "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung."

• "Mapping the furrow exactly."

• "The horses strained at his clicking tongue."

Literary Devices

• Symbolism: The plough represents hard work, skill, and the father’s legacy. The father’s work with the plough symbolizes the strength and responsibility passed on to the son.

• Metaphor: The "broad shadow" the father casts over the son symbolizes both protection and the weight of expectation, suggesting that the son is both guided and overshadowed by his father’s presence.

• Juxtaposition: The juxtaposition of the young, clumsy son with the skilled, confident father emphasizes the growing gap between them in terms of physicality and expertise.

• Repetition: The phrase "I followed" is repeated throughout the poem, reinforcing the sense of dependence and the passage of time.

Key Quotes

• "I stumbled in his hobnailed wake."

• "In his broad shadow round the farm."

Structure

• Form: The poem is written in free verse, without a fixed rhyme scheme or meter, which reflects the natural, unstructured progression of time and the evolving relationship between father and son.

• Pacing: The pacing is steady, with a gradual shift in tone from admiration of the father’s skill to the recognition of the son’s growing role in life. The shift in the final stanza mirrors the father’s aging and the son’s own maturation.

• Tone: The tone is reflective and nostalgic. There is a deep admiration for the father, mixed with feelings of inadequacy and later recognition of the father’s vulnerability as he ages.