http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25128787/READ0880/Spring%202012/Digging.htm - 15 views
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ryanhersha on 08 Feb 12squat: adjective: 8. (of a person, animal, the body, etc.) short and thickset. 9. low and thick or broad: The building had a squat shape. --Dictionary.com
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spade sinks into gravelly ground
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"Spade Sinks into GRavelly GRound"- the S sounds might resemble the sound of a spade sinking... and does the "gr" sound almost gravelly? In general I hear a lot of sounds repeating themselves from word to word and line to line. This poem uses sound playfully, overtly.
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There is a strong rhythm in this stanza as I read it aloud. It's not what I would call smooth, but it's powerful and pronounced.
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I look down
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So literally he's in an upper floor, writing, looking down on his father, who's outside digging in the ground. But as I read this poem again, I wonder if he's looking down on his father in another sense, feeling superior in some way???
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I find this hard to believe. Later in the poem he praises his father and grandfather for their skills and hard work.
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He could be just watching in wonder or just watching his father because boys always look up at their dad's wanting to be like them so they watch their dad's so they can copy him.
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straining rump among the flowerbeds
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Ha! This is a ridiculous image. And not very complementary, at first blush. His father's rump? Among the flowerbeds? What a sight!
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very true. it would no be a sight id want to see if i feel like looking at the flowers.
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snug as a gun
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squat pen rests
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Under my window
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I've no spade to follow men like them.
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I found this to be very interesting because he wishes he can follow in his fathers and grandfathers foot steps -
I think he is saying he doesn't want to be a digger like his father and grandfather. -
He has no true skill in digging, he is not a man of muscle strenth but a man of mind strenth
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coarse boot nestled on the lug
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turf
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rump
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Just like his old man.
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My grandfather could cut more turf in a dayThan any other man on Toner's bog.
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I found this as his grandfather was a very hard worker and has done this for many years
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I'll dig with it.
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Just because the family tradition is potato farming, his passion and true skill is writting, so he is going to make his own tradition and write
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Stooping
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fell to right away
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the grandfather was so deticated to his work he barley took a drink a glass a milk, then continued back to work
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i think the speaker means that he brought some milk to his grandfather so his can be able to quench his thirst and then his grandpacontinue to dig right after that to have a good turf. meaning that by drinking milk it gives him more strength to continue digging the soil
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living roots awaken in my head
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his father and gradfather grew up digging and feels even though they did he doesn't want that life
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living roots are what a family is ment to be. Like farmers, past on from generation to generations, its in their blood.
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yes, i agree... its like his next to the generationbut he don;t have the well, urge, the courage to follow them. his points of view different from what he have grown up with.
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I'll dig with it
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Through living roots awaken in my head.
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By God, the old man could handle a spade, Just like his old man.
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But I've no spade to follow men like them.
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it sounds like the son has no intention in following in his father's and grandfather's foot steps.....
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He straightened upTo drink it, then fell to right awayNicking and slicing neatly, heaving sodsOver his shoulder, digging down and downFor the good turf. Digging.
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levered
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old man could handle a spade,Just like his old man.
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He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deepTo scatter new potatoes that we pickedLoving their cool hardness in our hands.
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they loved picking potatoes that were freshly grown and seeing there hard work come to life
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spade,
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Bends low, comes up twenty years away
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He goes out and plants potatoes and he realizes in twenty years he will be doing what his grandfather has always done.
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snug as a gun
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You hold a gun so tight, because they are so powerful, so he relates his pen of being very powerful
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My grandfather could cut more turf in a day
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But I've no spade to follow men like them .
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hmm, it seems like the speaker don't have the courage and well to follow the footsteps of his grandpa and dad. but i don't think his against with what they been doing.
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He straightened up To drink it, then fell to right away
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The person is saying that his grandfather does not take long breaks he gets a drink and then goesa back to work.
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I'll dig with it
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comes up twenty years away
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My father, digging
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The cold smell of potato mold,
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But I've no spade to follow men like them.
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I've no spade to follow men like them
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Maybe this means that he is not phsically capible to do the same work that his father and grandfather did.
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Toner's bog
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I'll dig with it
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his digging in different way... i think the speaker means by writing his digging too...looking back his past
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