Cultivating an Affirmation of the Past in the Poem “Digging”

The significance of the past is given an affirmation in the poem, Digging, written by Nobel Prize awardee Seamus Heaney. The component in the poem takes a nostalgic voyage into his past, reminiscing about the old days when he watched and participated in potato horticulture with his father and grandfather. Both men handle toil and hard make up with excellence this is emphasized when the persona states his admiration for the grace and competence exhibited by the men By God, the old serviceman could handle a nigra/Just like his old man. (15-16) However, the demarcation line between the persona and his earlier generation is clearly defined early on.In the first devil lines of the poem, he establishes the thought that he is a writer a man who prefers handling a pen, symbolizing academic and artistic profession, over a handling a spade, symbolizing hard labor, Between my finger and my throw/The squat pen rests snug as a gun. (lines 1-2) Nevertheless, the value and superbia of e ach separate work is equally praised by the persona. He conveys the idea that there is no difference if one uses a pen, or a spade in work, no difference when one plows a sphere of influence or scribbles on paper. The only important thing is the love and lovingness one dedicates to ones profession or work.