Poetry Comparison - 'Follower' and 'The Early Purges' by Seamus Heaney.
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- Mon Jun 28 2004

... Poetry Comparison The two peaces of poetry I have studied by Seamus Heaney include 'Follower' and 'The Early Purges'. Heaney's poems both relate back to his younger, adolescent life. In the poem 'Early purges', he describes young kittens being drowned on the farm. His maturity is shown when he says with perception, "And now, when shrill pups are prodded to drown, I just shrug, ' Bloody pups' ". But we are shown that he is still careless now, as well in a casual way by saying "I just shrug". He is also unsympathetic, and justifies his actions like Dan. He is now older, looking back and changed. The language used by Heaney also expresses the fact that little was thought of these so-called nuisances. He says they are 'slung' and Dan Taggart describes them as 'scraggy wee shits'. This shows how unsympathetic he was and how the kittens needn't be cared













