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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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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Under my window
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I've no spade to follow men like them.
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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'll dig with it.
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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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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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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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spade,
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Bends low, comes up twenty years away
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snug as a gun
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But I've no spade to follow men like them .
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He straightened up To drink it, then fell to right away
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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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Toner's bog
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I'll dig with it