The Annotated Edition
Follower by Seamus Heaney
Read aloud in ~1 min
In "Follower," Seamus Heaney reflects on his memories of watching his father work the fields as a master ploughman, a man so skilled and strong that young Heaney could only trail behind him in admiration.
- Poet
- Seamus Heaney
- Composed
- 1966 · Postwar
- Core theme
- Family
In copyright · excerpt not reproduced
Read the full poem at Faber & Faber, 1966.
Our analysis below quotes only short phrases from the poem under fair-dealing criticism and commentary. The complete poem is available through the publisher above.
father-sonadmirationrole reversal
Study actions
§01Quick summary
What this poem is about
In "Follower," Seamus Heaney reflects on his memories of watching his father work the fields as a master ploughman, a man so skilled and strong that young Heaney could only trail behind him in admiration. As the poem progresses, the roles subtly shift: now it's the aging father who follows his grown son, struggling to let go. The poem offers a gentle, honest exploration of how children and parents swap roles throughout their lives.
§02Themes
Recurring themes
§03Tone & mood
How this poem feels
The tone is subtly reflective — filled with love and admiration that avoids sentimentality. Heaney's language remains earthy and tangible, preventing the emotion from becoming overly sentimental. By the final stanza, a sense of guilt and unease emerges: the son isn't celebrating his independence; he's grappling with it.
§04Symbols & metaphors
Symbols & metaphors
- The plough
- The plough symbolizes the father's authority, his identity, and the rich farming tradition that Heaney grew up in but eventually moved away from when he became a poet. It's something the son could never fully inherit.
- The furrow
- The straight furrow the father creates shows his skill and control. For the stumbling boy, it represents a path he is attempting to follow but struggling with — both literally and metaphorically. Furrows also indicate the passage of time, like lines etched into the earth, similar to years etched into a face.
- Stumbling
- The verb moves through the poem from child to father, and this movement is its main focus. It captures the changes in power, ability, and dependency between the two generations without Heaney needing to explicitly state any of it.
- The horse
- The working horse symbolizes an entire agricultural way of life that was fading even during Heaney's lifetime. It ties the father to a tradition that predates machines, imbuing him with a nearly legendary status in the boy's recollection.
- The father's shoulders
- Described as rounded like a full sail, the shoulders symbolize the poem's image of physical power and competence at their peak. They are the first thing the child notices and serve as a benchmark for him throughout his life.
§05Historical context
Historical context
Seamus Heaney was born in 1939 on a farm in County Derry, Northern Ireland, as the eldest of nine siblings. His father, Patrick Heaney, was a cattle dealer and farmer—truly a man of the land. "Follower" appeared in Heaney's first collection, *Death of a Naturalist*, published in 1966. This book is deeply influenced by his rural upbringing and his mixed feelings about leaving that life behind for university and a career in literature. The poem aligns with a long tradition of Irish writing focused on land and inheritance, but Heaney adds a personal touch: the son who aspired to follow his father ended up taking an entirely different route. The context of the 1960s is important as well—it was a time when rural Ireland was quickly modernizing, and the horse-plough that Heaney describes was becoming outdated. This sense of a world fading away adds a deeper layer of loss to the poem.
§06FAQ
Questions readers ask
The poem explores the shifting dynamics between parent and child as they age. The once helpless child, who used to follow his strong father, ultimately becomes the one in charge, while the father finds himself in a position of dependence. Heaney presents this transition not as a triumph but as a bittersweet and somewhat uneasy experience.
Words like 'sock,' 'wing,' 'headrig,' and 'hob-nailed' serve a dual purpose. They depict the father's world with both accuracy and admiration—Heaney isn't glamorizing farming; he's capturing it as it is. At the same time, these words reveal that the boy was a keen, devoted observer of his father, even if he could never quite measure up.
Earlier in the poem, 'stumbling' captures the awkwardness of the child struggling to keep pace with his skilled father. By the final stanza, the same word describes the elderly father trailing behind his adult son. Heaney uses this repetition intentionally — it indicates that the power dynamic has shifted entirely, and he does this without any unnecessary fuss or explanation.
Yes, definitely. Heaney was raised on a farm in County Derry, where his father worked as a farmer. The poem is rooted in his childhood memories. However, Heaney transforms those memories into art—the poem isn’t just a diary entry; it’s a thoughtfully crafted work that uses personal experiences to convey something universal about the relationship between fathers and sons.
The poem consists of six four-line stanzas with a consistent rhyme scheme, creating a sense of order that reflects the father's disciplined ploughing. Heaney focuses on vivid, physical imagery instead of abstract concepts. The extended simile of the sail stands out as the poem's most striking figure of speech, while the repeated use of 'stumbling' serves as a key structural element throughout.
The poem concludes with the father 'stumbling' behind the son, depicted as someone who 'will not go away.' This phrase hints at a touch of irritation, which Heaney openly acknowledges. The guilt arises from the realization that the man he once idolized has become a burden — and from the understanding that while this feeling is human, it’s not easy to admit.
It sits alongside several poems in *Death of a Naturalist* — such as 'Digging' — that explore Heaney's connection to his farming roots and his decision to pursue poetry instead. 'Digging' serves as the most direct companion piece: it begins with Heaney observing his father digging and concludes with his realization that the pen is his spade. In contrast, 'Follower' addresses the same tension from a different perspective, emphasizing themes of admiration and loss rather than vocation.
Growing up in this poem reflects the process of outgrowing the person you aspired to be. The boy dreamed of ploughing like his father—hoping to inherit his skills and his role in life. However, he ended up becoming someone else, and the father, who once felt larger than life, now requires care. The poem conveys that reaching adulthood brings a sense of loss for the parent you once viewed as invincible.
Citation
Cite this poem
MLA
Heaney, Seamus. "Follower." 1966. Storgy, https://storgy.com/poems/follower-seamus-heaney/.
APA
Heaney, S. (1966). Follower. Storgy. https://storgy.com/poems/follower-seamus-heaney/
TeacherAQA scaffold — preview
AO1 — Interpretation + textual reference
In 'Follower', Heaney presents his father as a figure of almost mythic competence, someone the young speaker cannot hope to equal. The opening stanzas construct the father through precise, technical agricultural language — his shoulders are …
- AO2 — Language, form, structure (with effect)
- AO3 — Context woven into close reading
- Comparison hooks
- Common student errors
Unlock the full scaffold
Available on any Storgy plan — model paragraphs, band callouts, and common student errors for every poem.