Digging’ and ‘Early Purges’

... Diverse cultures and Traditions in 20th Century poetry Introduction For the Diverse Cultures assignment, I have studied pieces by Seamus Heaney. These include 'Digging' and 'Early Purges'. All the poems relate back to his young life in Limavady in the County of Derry, Northern Ireland. When Heaney was young, he wanted to follow in his fathers and grandfathers footsteps of being farmers. Not just that, but being the eldest child in his family, he was expected to. Instead however, he turned his back on his family's great tradition, and decided to become a writer instead. As said, Heaney did want to become a farmer, this was expressed in the poem 'Follower', where he describes the way his father used to plough fields. The title itself shows there was once an ambition to follow. Furthermore, the pride that Heaney expresses in his family's age-old tradition is articulated in the poem 'Digging': "By

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