Cultivating an Affirmation of the Past in the Poem “Digging”

The criticalness of the past is given a certification in the sonnet, â€Å"Digging,† composed by Nobel Prize awardee Seamus Heaney. The persona in the sonnet brings a nostalgic stumble into his past, thinking back about the days of yore when he watched and took an interest in potato cultivating with his dad and granddad. The two men handle drudge and difficult work with greatness; this is underscored when the persona expresses his profound respect for the effortlessness and skill showed by the men: â€Å"By God, the elderly person could deal with a spade/Just like his father. † (15-16) However, the division line between the persona and his prior age is obviously characterized early on.In the initial two lines of the sonnet, he builds up the possibility that he is an essayist; a man who inclines toward taking care of a pen, representing scholastic and imaginative calling, over a taking care of a spade, representing hard work, â€Å"Between my finger and my thumb/The squ at pen rests; cozy as a weapon. † (lines 1-2) Nevertheless, the worth and pride of each different work is similarly adulated by the persona. He passes on the possibility that there is no distinction in the event that one uses a pen, or a spade in work, no distinction when one furrows a field or scrawls on paper. The main significant thing is the affection and energy one devotes to one’s calling or work.