Your parents don't define your future

    Although the relationship between the author’s pen and his ancestors’ job in  “Digging” seems to not make sense at first, I was able to understand it after a close analysis of the literary terms in the poem. Seamus Heaney starts the poem with a smile, which makes little sense until we read the last stanza, describing the positioning of the pen in his hand as “snug as a gun” (Heaney 2). He immediately transitions to discussing his father's job which consists of working hard every day digging up potatoes. The way he describes his father leads me to believe that he admired him as he took note of his hard work and how it led to back pain after years of digging. He explains that his father followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, who was the best potato farmer around, also emphasizing how resilient he is by describing his dedication to his work. The father and the grandfather in this story are successful because they work hard every day to provide for their families. The words “dig” and “digging” which are done using a spade, are not only referring to the farmland. In the last stanza, Seamus says “The squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it” (Heaney 30-31). The metaphor used is the pen related to a shovel and how he uses it to dig into a page making sense of the very very first stanza. I learned that the way the author views success is related to the ways we view success in class in class because it emphasizes doing what you love. By not farming like his father and grandfather, he is still achieving success and furthering his family's legacy while feeling proud of himself at the same time.