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
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
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