There's also a sense of guilt, that in adulthood he has not carried on the families trade and become what his father was, and his fathers father etc. "Between my finger and thumb the squat pen rests" As though to say, the biro pen is his tool, his means of earning a living, and hopefully his son will watch in awe oh his writing, He's relaxed for his final line, as he says "I"ll dig with it" to accept his chosen career path. Re-establishing the link between the physical act of digging, and the mental digging of memory roots promoted by the pen.
He expresses his feelings of being an outsider within his family context. He obviously has an immence amount of respect for the work his family does, and feels in a way shame for not following in the family footsteps. He focuses in on particular memories and experiences with his family, and recalls the way he was influenced as a child. He uses onomatopoeic adjectives to bring alive the sounds of his fathers work, the " clean rasping" of the spade as it swoops in to the ground. He makes references to his father tool, and compares the art of digging to his writing and the contrast of his artistic tool- the pen. He gives great poetic significance to his childhood experience of being with his father, and watching him at work, connection the force of his spade to Heany's force of mind with the pen.
In Death of a Naturalist, the focus shifts off the influences of his family, and he recalls an incident prominent in his mind that he had by himself. This poem reflects the loss of his childhood innocence brought about by a particular event.
He begins by describing in an affectionate way the revolting picture of nature of which he was surrounded. Images of rot, fungus and the "Daily sweltered in the .
punishing sun" smell connotations. With pride he reminisces the joyful springtime where he's collect " jampotfuls of the jellied specks to range on window-sills at home" and watch anxiously to see them hatch and evolve into tadpoles.
