Seamus Heaney uses characterization in "Digging" to create a speaker who first thinks he doesn't measure up, but then realizes he has a valuable skill. Immediately, Heaney shows that the speaker, a writer, values the hard work ethic and skill that his father and grandfather have. The speaker becomes unsure that his abilities as a writer will measure up to the legacy his father and grandfather have left behind. Heaney ultimately empowers the speaker with a spark of self-confidence, and he begins to believe in the power of his pen. Heaney uses the speaker as an example of how we should believe in our abilities as we reach for individuality.
I.
In the beginning of the poem, Heaney shows us that the speaker respects
hard work.
A.
“By God, the old man could handle a spade. / Just like his old man.”
B.
“My grandfather cut more turf in a
day / Than any other man on Toner’s bog”
II.
Throughout the poem, the speaker does not believe that his writing
measures up to the hard work of his father and grandfather.
A.
“Once I carried him milk in a bottle / corked sloppily with paper”
B.
“But
I’ve no spade to follow men like them.”
III.
At
the end of this poem, Heaney turns the speakers view and gives him some
self-confidence.
A.
“Between
my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests.”
B.
“I’ll
dig with it”
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