English Lit - At a Potato Digging

At a Potato Digging

Topic

• In this poem Heaney looks at man's relationship with the land - the cultivation of the potato is a way into Ireland's social history.
• First Section (Stanzas 1-4) - Describes a potato digging in the 1960's
• Second Section (Stanzas 5-6) - Looks closely at the potato
• Third Section (Stanzas 7-10) - Examines the Irish potato famine
• Fourth Section (Stanzas 11-12) - Describes a potato digging in the 1960's

Language

• 'Spins up a dark shower of roots and mould' - Vivid image of the power of the machine over the land, Mans power over nature?
• 'Swarm' - presents the vast number of workers involved.
• 'Stand/Tall' - Enjambment at this and other points suggests the unending nature of work.
• 'attacking' -  the labour is again referred to in terms of a battle
• 'Tall for a moment' - proud for a moment and enjoying a short break
• 'soon stumble back' - the respite is brief and they 'stumble' back to work, emphasizing the exhausting…