Poem to grandfather

... also within himself. The descriptions of the difficulties faced by both the great-grandfather and father seem to exemplify the "tragic view of the mulatto," in which they both experienced an innate feeling of not belonging to either white or black culture, thus facilitating a damaged psyche. This content of Espada's poem is further enhanced by the way he uses language. Upon completion of my ... stanza, while the second stanza serves as a sort of confirmation to the issues/focus within the poem. Interestingly, the third stanza goes backwards in a sense, all the way back to the authors gr...

• Word Count: 1024
• Approx Pages: 4

... also within himself. The descriptions of the difficulties faced by both the great-grandfather and father seem to exemplify the "tragic view of the mulatto," in which they both experienced an innate feeling of not belonging to either white or black culture, thus facilitating a damaged psyche. This content of Espada's poem is further enhanced by the way he uses language. Upon completion of my ... stanza, while the second stanza serves as a sort of confirmation to the issues/focus within the poem. Interestingly, the third stanza goes backwards in a sense, all the way back to the authors gr...

• Word Count: 969
• Approx Pages: 4

... her readers that the rent is paid, the insurance man is gone and that her uncle Brud hit one dollar straight. The poem uses simplistic terms to identify a complex dynamics of family and its" ups and downs. In Clifton's poem it progresses from Clifton's family living in not so good times then after certain things have been dealt with such as the rent ... in her youth. Moreover, it also hints that there were points in time where she and her family were not in good financial standing. The word good times in the poem also represents the negative aspects of her life such as "the insurance ma...

• Word Count: 766
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... in the same sense, there is still a connection. In "Digging," the narrator struggles with his identity in connection to his family. His father and grandfather were farmers and they valued manual labor. However, the narrator is a writer. Within the poem, it seems as though the narrator does not fit in to the family and finds himself as an outsider. He remembers his father and ... grandfather in the potato field and peat bog, memories that undoubtedly played a huge role in his identity while growing up. He admits that he is ... not like them. Not until the end of the poem do we finally g...

• Word Count: 1042
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... writes in the first person throughout the poem creating the belief that he is speaking about himself. He writes about his Father and his Grandfather and he seems to move from describing his Father to describing his Grandfather. He does this so smoothly that the reader hardly notices that the transition from Father to Grandfather took place. The second clue to revealing the author is slightly more hidden ... is about describing the way his Father and Grandfather worked. For example, "Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods Over his shoulder, going down and down For the good turf. Diggin...

• Word Count: 1143
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... of work. At first we are given details as the author seeing his writing as less significant than the hard laboring of his father and grandfather. But at some point through the poem, the author goes through a transition to where he realizes that writing is his farming, and that the pen is his spade. The only clues that the author gives us about ... fathers" tools, the spade. With the last sentence the author restates that he wants to be a writer with the statement "I"ll dig with it". My personal interpretation of Digging is that it is a poem of a man who is recollecting of the times we s...

• Word Count: 830
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... ." it is obvious that Heaney has nothing but utmost respect and admiration toward the hard work of his family. That being said, Heaney seems to struggle with his identity in relationship to his family. His father and grandfather both value farming and manual labor, while Heaney took a different path in his career by becoming a writer. Farming has played a huge role in Heaney ... 's life, and he is aware yet slightly uncomfortable at the fact that he is breaking such tradition. He admits that he is not like them, but by the end of the poem ... purposes of working may vary from job to job,...

• Word Count: 715
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... Naturalist". In this poem Heany is exploring his ancestry and the roots from where he was brought up. He expresses the ideas of his constant regret that he is no longer able to follow his ancestors occupation as potato farmers and reflects back on the glorious days when his father and grandfather was in their ... stooping in rhythm to potato drills." He is remembering the times, twenty years ago when his father used to do the monotonous work of digging the potato drills. The rest of the poem is based on two of Seamus's memories from the past, when both were of his father and his grandfath...

• Word Count: 1111
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... similarity is that they are both looking back at childhood memories, "Death of a Naturalist", the words "daddy...mammy",which refers to a child, usually children talk like this. In "Digging"the words,"my grandfather", refers that it was a childhood memory because, his grandfather would have died, when the poet is an adult.Both of the poems have metaphors, in "Death of a Naturalist", he used ... hand there are also differences between the two poems. The "Digging" poem had a theme, that washow the child looks at his parents and family.The "Death of a Naturalist" poem had a theme, that hob...

• Word Count: 630
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School