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Study guide · Short story

Follower

by Seamus Heaney

Follower is a short story by Seamus Heaney, first published 1966. Its central themes are father and son, growing-up, identity, mortality. This chapter-by-chapter study guide covers chapter summaries, characters, themes, symbols, and the key quotes worth pulling for an essay.

  • 1chapters
  • 3characters
  • 6themes
  • 4symbols
  • 6quotes
  • 7study tools

01·Chapter-by-chapter

What happens in Follower?

1 chapters · click any chapter to expand its summary and analysis.

  1. Ch. 1Follower (Complete Poem)

    Summary

    Seamus Heaney's "Follower" begins with a child's awe for his father, a talented ploughman tending the family farm in County Derry. The speaker vividly details how his father skillfully handles the horse-drawn plough: shoulders "globed like a full sail strung," eyes focused on the furrow, reins looped around his neck. The father’s skill is complete — he could "set the wing / and fit the bright steel-pointed sock." Young Heaney trips and falls behind, feeling like a nuisance at the edge of the field, yearning to grow up and follow in his father's footsteps. The poem takes a sharp turn in its final quatrain: now the father is the one who follows, aging and unsteady, while it is the speaker who cannot leave him behind. This subtle reversal is profound, and the poem concludes without resolution or comfort — simply the stark, uncomfortable reality of how time has shifted.

    Analysis

    Heaney builds "Follower" around a single, impactful structural twist, with the skill lying in how long he holds off on revealing it. For five of the poem's six quatrains, the verse conveys the father's authority through its own confident form: the ABAB rhyme scheme is tight, and the iambic tetrameter flows steadily like a plough-line. The language is technical and precise — "sock," "wing," "headrig" — rooting admiration in the language of labor instead of sentimentality. The father takes on an almost mythic quality: the simile "globed like a full sail strung" gives him a grand, oceanic presence, while the enjambment across stanzas reflects the unbroken continuity of his furrows.

    In contrast, the child speaker embodies awkwardness and repetition — "I wanted to grow up and plough, / To close one eye, stiffen my arm" — with the conditional tense indicating desire without ability. The tonal shift hits in the second-to-last stanza with "But today," a change as sudden as a plough turning at the headrig. The father "keeps stumbling / Behind me," and the choice of the verb is significant: "stumbling" was the child's word earlier, now reassigned. The final line — "will not go away" — denies any sense of elegy. Heaney doesn't mourn; instead, he notes an annoyance, and that rejection of easy emotion is the poem's most unsettling aspect. The motif of following evolves into a reflection on inheritance, guilt, and the quiet violence inherent in generational succession.

    Key quotes

    • “His shoulders globed like a full sail strung / Between the shafts and the furrow.”

      The speaker's opening description of his father at the plough, establishing the father's near-mythic physical authority through a maritime simile.

    • “I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake, / Fell sometimes on the polished sod.”

      The child speaker accounts for his own clumsiness against his father's precision, the word 'wake' carrying both nautical and funereal resonance.

    • “It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away.”

      The poem's closing lines deliver the structural reversal — the father now trails the speaker — in a tone that is discomfiting rather than tender.

02·Characters

Who are the characters in Follower?

  • The Father

    The Father is the commanding, almost mythic central figure of Seamus Heaney's short lyric poem "Follower." He is a master ploughman whose physical and technical authority over the land dominates the poem's first four stanzas. Heaney depicts him in heroic, almost nautical terms: his shoulders are "globed like a full sail strung," and he expertly steers the horses and plough, "mapping the furrow exactly." Every detail — the "sweating team," the "bright steel-pointed sock," the "sod rolled over without breaking" — shows a man completely at ease in his craft and body. He represents a rural, pre-modern Ireland where skilled manual labour provided dignity and identity.

    The Father's journey is one of quiet, ironic reversal. In the poem's early part, he is the giant that the young speaker struggles to follow, eager to imitate. However, the final couplet flips this hierarchy: it is now the Father who "will not go away" and who "keeps stumbling / Behind me." This shift changes him from a symbol of mastery into a figure of dependence — perhaps aged, or simply a memory that lingers in the adult poet's mind. He never speaks in the poem; his presence is entirely physical and symbolic, making him less a fully developed character and more an archetype of paternal authority and the pastoral tradition that the speaker must both respect and move beyond.

    Full analysis →
    Connected to The Speaker (Young Seamus) · The Horses
  • The Horses

    In Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," The Horses play a quietly central role, showcasing the father's mastery and the son's deep admiration. These are working farm horses—strong, broad-shouldered animals whose physical presence highlights the father's skill. In the opening stanzas, the horses are depicted straining and sweating as they pull the plough, moving steadily and purposefully under the father's expert guidance. They serve as a living measure of competence: the father controls them with effortless authority, clicking his tongue and directing them with reins looped around his waist, while the young speaker stumbles behind, unable to match their rhythm or the father's command.

    The horses also carry symbolic weight alongside their literal function. Their disciplined, forward movement sharply contrasts with the child's awkward steps, reinforcing the poem's themes of admiration and inadequacy. They embody the rural, agrarian world that the father navigates so naturally—a world the speaker longs to join but has yet to master. As the poem shifts in its final stanzas, reversing the roles of leader and follower, the horses fade from the imagery; their absence highlights the transition from the physical, working landscape of childhood memories to the more complex emotional terrain of adult life. Even though they never speak or act on their own, The Horses are essential to the poem's atmosphere of hard, skilled labor and the awe it evokes.

    Full analysis →
    Connected to The Father · The Speaker (Young Seamus)
  • The Speaker (Young Seamus)

    The Speaker (Young Seamus) serves as the narrator and main consciousness in Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower." As a child, he is the devoted, wide-eyed admirer trailing behind his father through the ploughed fields of their farm. In the early stanzas, his defining characteristic is a reverent sense of inadequacy: he stumbles, falls, and struggles to keep up but is driven by a singular ambition to "grow up and plough." This desire is expressed with refreshing honesty — the boy doesn't just want to help; he wants to become his father, mastering the same skilled craft of guiding a horse-drawn plough in perfectly straight lines.

    The Speaker's journey is one of quiet, ironic reversal. In the first four stanzas, he is both literally and figuratively the follower — a "nuisance, tripping, falling, / Yapping always" at his father's heels. The final couplet brings an emotional shift: now that the Speaker has grown, it is the aging father who stumbles behind him, unable to keep up. This reversal reframes the poem as a reflection on time, dependency, and feelings of guilt towards one’s parents. The Speaker's tone transitions from childhood wonder to a more melancholic and burdened state, suggesting he feels the weight of his father's decline as an unwanted role reversal rather than a victory. His key traits — sensitivity, self-deprecation, and keen observational skills — identify him as a budding poet even in his youth, capturing his father's movements with the precision that will characterize Heaney's own poetry.

    Full analysis →
    Connected to The Father · The Horses

03·Themes

What are the themes in Follower?

Father and SonGrowing-upIdentityMortalityThe Past and MemoryWork

Father and Son

Seamus Heaney's "Follower" explores the father-and-son relationship through a clear reversal of roles and dependency, capturing the transition from childhood admiration to adult obligation. The poem begins with the father depicted as a near-mythical figure of skill: his shoulders are described as "globed" like a full sail, and every detail of his ploughing — from how he sets the wing to the perfectly turned sod — is portrayed with the precise admiration of a child admiring a hero’s tools. The father does more than farm; he embodies mastery.

In contrast, the young speaker is portrayed as awkward and small. He stumbles in his father's shadow, falls, and sometimes needs to be carried. He admits that his only wish was to grow up and plough, to replicate his father's work — a desire that is both heartfelt and somewhat ironic, as the poem itself shows that he became a poet instead of a farmer. The "following" in the title thus functions on two levels: the literal act of trailing behind in the furrow and the deeper impulse to imitate and inherit from his father.

The poem's turning point occurs in its final lines, where the roles subtly, yet harshly, reverse. Now it is the father who stumbles and cannot move on — following the speaker, becoming the one who trails behind. This change is presented without sentimentality, adding to its unsettling nature. What was once the son’s affectionate clumsiness has transformed into the father’s unwelcome dependency. Heaney leaves unresolved whether this haunting feeling stems from guilt, grief, or simply the unavoidable burden of inheritance.

Growing-up

Seamus Heaney's "Follower" explores the bittersweet reversal that comes with growing up — the shift from a child relying on a parent to a parent relying on the child. The poem begins with the speaker's father exerting complete authority over the land: his shoulders are described as rounded like a full sail straining, and he expertly navigates the furrows as if the plough is a part of him. Every technical detail — from how he sets the wing to fitting the bright steel-pointed sock — shows a mastery that the young speaker can only admire from afar.

The child's own attempts to join in are expressed in awkward terms. He stumbles in his father's heavy footsteps, sometimes riding on his father's back, more of a passenger than a worker. He dreams of growing up to plough, wanting to shut one eye and stiffen his arm just like his father does — the conditional wording highlights that this ambition is still a goal, not yet achieved.

The poem's turning point comes in its last two lines, where the father who once moved confidently now stumbles behind the speaker and does not fade away. The word "stumbles" shifts from the child to the father, and the phrase "will not go away" carries a surprising weight — not quite affectionate, not quite resentful, but filled with the complex emotions of someone who has stepped into a role they never intended to take on. Growing up, Heaney suggests, is less about freedom and more about this role reversal: the follower becomes the one followed, and this change often comes too soon.

Identity

In Seamus Heaney's "Follower," identity isn't a fixed trait but something passed down, challenged, and ultimately upended through generations. The poem begins with the speaker's childhood self completely immersed in his father's world — the father's shoulders are depicted as "globed" and broad enough to carry the full horizon, presenting a figure so skilled in his trade that he almost seems mythical. The young speaker's identity is completely derivative: he stumbles, falls, and trails behind, defined solely in comparison to the man in front of him. His only ambition is to grow up and plough, to become like his father — a wish that revolves around self-erasure into an idealized figure.

Heaney captures identity using the specific language of farmwork. The father's expertise — his skill in setting the wing and fitting the sock, and his ease in navigating the headrig — reflects a coherent, inherited self rooted in land and labor. In contrast, the son is a hindrance, his identity literally tripping over itself.

The poem's subtle devastation comes in its final twist, where the roles reverse: the aging father now stumbles behind the speaker, who won’t back down. This shift changes the entire poem's perspective. Heaney suggests that identity is relational and temporal — we define ourselves in relation to those we follow, only to find out we have become the ones being followed. The father's once-mighty identity has diminished just as the son's has grown, indicating that identity is less about what we construct and more about what we inherit and, inevitably, push aside.

Mortality

Seamus Heaney's "Follower" presents mortality not as a shocking break but as a slow, quiet transition — the gradual fading of a father's authority and the son's growing realization that roles, and lives, aren't permanent.

The poem begins with the father depicted as a nearly mythical figure of strength: his shoulders are described as globed like a full sail straining, and his eye narrows with expert precision along the furrow. Every technical detail — the angled sock, the sod rolled over without breaking — builds into a picture of a man at the peak of his abilities. In contrast, the young speaker stumbles in the father's shadow, falls, and is sometimes carried. The generational divide feels both permanent and natural.

The shift occurs in the final couplet, where Heaney alters the poem's entire dynamic: it is now the father who stumbles behind the speaker, who refuses to disappear. This change is presented almost casually, making it even more unsettling. What initially seems like a tender childhood memory is later reframed as an elegy — the father's mastery now belongs to the past, and the son's movement forward signifies the father's decline.

Here, mortality is intertwined with the way time redistributes strength. The father doesn't die in the poem; he simply recedes, becoming the one who follows, unable to keep pace. Heaney finds death's approach not in sickness or sorrow but in the quiet, inevitable moment when the child's stumbling evolves into a steady stride — and the parent's stride gives way to stumbling.

The Past and Memory

Seamus Heaney's "Follower" presents memory as a reversal — the speaker's childhood admiration for his father gradually shifts to the unsettling realization that the father now follows behind the son. This inversion lends the poem its emotional depth.

The poem begins by depicting the father in almost mythic physical terms: his shoulders are described as "globed," resembling a full, commanding world, and the horses he directs respond to him with precision. Young Heaney stumbles in the furrows behind him, tripping and falling, eager just to keep up. The father's skill is expressed through technical terms — the "headrig," the "sod," the angled plough — language that the child absorbs even without fully understanding, similar to how memory captures sensation before meaning.

The speaker's childhood self is portrayed as a "nuisance, tripping, falling" shadow, yearning to embody his father's competence. This desire to follow closely is the emotional core of the remembered past.

The shift occurs subtly in the final couplet, where Heaney observes that it is now his father who follows him — stumbling and unable to walk away. The word "stumbling" recalls the child's earlier awkwardness, blurring the gap between generations. Here, memory is not a source of nostalgic comfort but a haunting presence: the past does not linger behind the speaker; it walks at his heels. The poem implies that remembering a parent at their most capable also means bearing the weight of their decline — the two images intertwined, each one casting a shadow over the other.

Work

Seamus Heaney's "Follower" builds the entire poem around the physical and generational toil of farming, using work not just as a backdrop but as the poem's core moral and emotional foundation. The father's skill is depicted in vivid, technical detail: his shoulders rounded like a full sail, the horse straining, the sock and coulter carving clean furrows — Heaney meticulously names the tools and actions of ploughing with a kind of reverence. This detail emphasizes that skilled manual labor holds dignity and even a form of artistry that the young speaker has yet to grasp.

The child's attempts are portrayed as awkward imitation — stumbling in his father's heavy footsteps, falling, struggling to keep pace. His yearning to grow up and plough illustrates how work acts as a rite of passage, a bridge between childhood and belonging. The son desires more than just farming; he wants to earn the identity that comes with labor.

In the poem's subtle twist at the end, everything shifts. Now it is the aging father who lags behind the speaker, who refuses to leave — and the term "nuisance" carries an uncomfortable weight. The roles of follower and leader, apprentice and master, have quietly flipped. Heaney suggests that the cycle of work is also a cycle of dependence: the child who once trailed helplessly transforms into the capable adult, while the father's competence gradually fades. Thus, work is not a permanent achievement but a fleeting hold on stability, passed between generations, regardless of their readiness.

04·Symbols & motifs

What are the symbols in Follower?

  • The Furrow

    In Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," the furrow—an even trench made by the plough—symbolizes mastery, precision, and the weight of tradition passed down through generations. The father’s skill in creating a perfectly straight furrow shows his almost divine control over both the land and his craft. For the young Heaney, this furrow represents a standard he aspires to reach but hasn’t yet achieved; it highlights the generational gap and his desire to live up to his father's legacy. By the end of the poem, the meaning of the furrow shifts: it becomes the path the speaker has already traveled, now followed by his aging father, illustrating the inevitable change in the parent-child relationship as roles begin to reverse.

    Evidence

    Heaney ties the symbolism of the furrow to vivid physical details. Early in the poem, he depicts his father's "single pluck / Of reins" that keeps the horse "in line," and notes how the plough left "the sod rolled over without breaking" — a furrow so precise it shows complete mastery. The child struggles in the "turned-up acres," trying to keep up, but ends up falling and tripping, unable to create that straight line. The difference between the father's "mapping the furrow exactly" and the boy who "was a nuisance, tripping, falling" highlights the furrow as a sign of skill that the speaker clearly lacks. In the closing twist — "But today / It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away" — the furrow that the speaker now creates becomes the one the father must follow, turning the symbol into a reflection of role-reversal, mortality, and the inevitable continuity of generations.

  • The Horses

    In Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," the horses symbolize skill, strength, and the respected authority that comes with hard work. They reflect the father's expertise as a ploughman — powerful animals that are skillfully guided by his experienced hand. The horses also signify a rich tradition and rural craftsmanship that the young speaker looks up to but hasn't yet experienced himself. More generally, they represent the heavy legacy of the past: a lifestyle, a benchmark for quality, and a heritage that the speaker finds both appealing and daunting.

    Evidence

    Heaney begins "Follower" by depicting the father's team of horses taking charge of the field. Their "shoulders globed like a full sail strung / Between the shafts and the furrow" captures both their majestic presence and the father's skillful control over that strength. This simile transforms the horses into figures that are almost nautical and heroic, highlighting the speaker's childlike awe. When the father "rode me on his back / Dipping and rising to his plod," the rhythmic movement mirrors the horses' gait, suggesting that the boy perceives the farm world through the lens of these powerful animals. The father's precise and skilled way of "setting the wing / And fitting the bright steel-pointed sock" to steer the plow through the earth illustrates a harmonious collaboration between man and horse. This effortless partnership renders the horses a living testament to the father's prowess, making the stumbling child-speaker feel distinctly inadequate by comparison.

  • The Land

    In Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," the land symbolizes the weight of tradition passed down, paternal authority, and the legacy each generation inherits. The farm soil is entwined with the father's identity—his control over it shapes him into a figure of strength and wholeness. For the young Heaney, the land represents both admiration and a sense of inadequacy, a place he yearns to master but hasn't yet achieved. As the poem progresses, the dynamic shifts; the once-clumsy child now takes the lead while the aging father follows, turning the land into a reflection of time, mortality, and the inevitable cycle of generational change.

    Evidence

    Heaney anchors the land's symbolic significance in vivid agricultural imagery. The father's skilled ploughing — "his shoulders globed like a full sail strung / Between the shafts and the furrow" — presents the soil as a stage for showcasing mastery. The "polished sod" turned by the plough highlights the land as something refined and almost sacred through the toil of skilled labor. Young Heaney "stumbled in his hob-nailed wake," physically tripping over the same ground his father navigates with ease, illustrating the tangible gap between them. His childhood desire "to grow up and plough" reinforces the land as the gateway to adult belonging. In the final twist — "It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away" — the same fields that once diminished the child now bear witness to the father's waning strength, solidifying the land as a lasting stage for generational change.

  • The Plough

    In Seamus Heaney's poem Follower, the plough represents control, authority, and the burden of tradition passed down through generations. It’s the tool that allows the father to work the land with skill, reflecting a lifestyle deeply connected to farming and physical certainty. For the young speaker, the plough and the act of ploughing represent a level of competence he yearns to achieve but hasn't yet attained. On a larger scale, the plough signifies the transfer of skills and identity from one generation to the next — the son’s desire to follow in his father's footsteps is also a desire to inherit his father’s sense of wholeness and purpose.

    Evidence

    Heaney captures the plough's symbolic significance with careful, admiring detail. The father "set the wing / and fit the bright steel-pointed sock" — this technical language reveals his mastery over both the tool and the land. The father "rode me on his back / Dipping and rising to his plod," making the plough's rhythmic action the heartbeat of the boy's existence. The "single pluck / Of reins" that keeps the "headrig" perfectly straight illustrates a level of control that the speaker can only admire. In contrast, the child "stumbled in his hob-nailed wake," unable to follow the plough's disciplined course. The poem's final twist — where the father now stumbles behind the grown speaker — reinterprets the plough's furrow as a line of time: while the roles of leader and follower may change, the enduring image of the father at the plough remains the poem's moral and emotional foundation.

05·Key quotes

What are the most famous quotes in Follower?

“His shoulders globed like a full sail strung / Between the shafts and the furrow.”

This striking simile is taken from Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," which appears in his 1966 debut collection Death of a Naturalist. In the poem, a young Heaney reflects on watching his father plough the fields of their County Derry farm. The lines illustrate the father's strong, rounded back as he engages in the work, likening his shoulders to a sail filled with wind — an image that captures not just physical strength but also skill and purposeful movement. The nautical imagery feels unexpected in an agricultural setting; it raises the farmer's effort to something nearly heroic and fundamental, connecting land and sea as forces that shape our identities. Thematically, the quote portrays the father as a near-mythical figure of skill and authority, contrasting with the child-speaker's feelings of clumsiness and inadequacy ("I was a nuisance, tripping, falling"). This contrast creates the poem's central tension between admiration and the anxiety of influence, which Heaney powerfully reverses in the final stanza, where the aging father now "stumbles" behind his grown son — reflecting on generational shifts, mortality, and the burdens of inheritance.

Seamus Heaney (lyric speaker/narrator) · Follower · The speaker observes his father ploughing the farm fields

“An expert. He would set the wing / And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.”

These lines are from Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower" (1966, included in Death of a Naturalist). The speaker, a young Heaney, paints a picture of his father working the family farm in County Derry. The lines celebrate the father’s skill: he knows exactly how to "set the wing" — the curved iron plate that turns the furrow — and to "fit the bright steel-pointed sock," which cuts into the earth. Starting a stanza with the word "expert" emphasizes the child's deep admiration. Thematically, this passage highlights the poem's central contrast: the father's effortless, almost artistic ability versus the boy's awkward attempts to follow him. Heaney employs specific agricultural terms to honor a type of physical intelligence that demands as much as intellectual or poetic talent. By the end of the poem, the roles are reversed — it's the elderly father who "will not go away" and stumbles behind the now-adult poet, adding a layer of poignancy and nostalgia to this early depiction of paternal skill.

Poetic speaker (Seamus Heaney) · Follower · Description of the father ploughing the field

“I wanted to grow up and plough, / To close one eye, stiffen my arm.”

These lines are from Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," found in his 1966 debut collection Death of a Naturalist. The speaker — a young Heaney — reminisces about watching his father skillfully work the plough across their family farm in County Derry, Northern Ireland. He depicts his father as a figure of remarkable physical mastery, who "rode" the horse-drawn plough with effortless precision, his "eye / Narrowed and angled at the ground" to maintain a perfectly straight furrow.

The quoted lines express the child's deep admiration and wish to emulate his father. "To close one eye" mirrors the squinting technique his father uses to align the furrow, while "stiffen my arm" reflects the controlled strength needed to steer the plough. The desire "to grow up and plough" isn't just about a job; it signifies a yearning to embrace his father's identity, skill, and connection to the land.

Thematically, these lines highlight the poem's core tension between ambition and inadequacy: the child who "stumbled in his hob-nailed wake" dreams of a mastery that feels out of reach. The poem then famously flips this dynamic in its closing stanza, where the now-elderly father "will not go away" and follows the adult speaker — a poignant reflection on feelings of guilt, role reversal, and the passage of time.

The speaker / young Heaney (first-person narrator) · "Follower," Death of a Naturalist (1966)

“I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake, / Fell sometimes on the polished sod.”

These lines are from Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," which appeared in his first collection, Death of a Naturalist (1966). The speaker — a young Heaney — remembers walking behind his father as the older man skillfully ploughed the family's farmland in County Derry. The father is depicted as a masterful, almost heroic figure: broad-shouldered, precise, and effortlessly commanding the horse and plough. In contrast, the child "stumbled in his hob-nailed wake" and "fell sometimes on the polished sod," which highlights the boy's clumsiness and feelings of inadequacy next to such assured physical prowess. The term "wake" serves a dual purpose — referring to both the furrow made by the plough and the trail left by a ship — which elevates the father to a near-mythic level. The poem thematically examines the shift in dependency across generations: the final stanza shows that it is now the ageing father who follows the speaker, "will not go away." These stumbling lines highlight the poem's central irony — the child who once struggled to keep up becomes the one being followed — prompting thoughts on inheritance, mortality, and the burden of parental legacy.

Seamus Heaney (lyric speaker / the son) · Death of a Naturalist (1966), poem: 'Follower' · The speaker as a child following his father ploughing the fields

“But today / It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away.”

These closing lines are from Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," which appeared in his first collection, Death of a Naturalist, published in 1966. In the poem, the speaker reflects on his childhood admiration for his father, a talented ploughman who worked the land with effortless skill while the young boy awkwardly tried to keep up. The final stanza marks a poignant shift: as the speaker has grown and the father has aged, their roles have flipped — now it’s the father who stumbles and follows. The word "stumbling" echoes the child's earlier awkwardness, creating a painful symmetry. The phrase "will not go away" conveys deep ambivalence: the aging father is both a physical presence and a haunting memory, embodying guilt and love that the speaker can't escape. Thematically, "Follower" delves into the cyclical nature of dependence between generations, the passage of time, the weight of legacy, and the complex emotions — admiration, tenderness, and perhaps quiet sorrow — that connect parents and children.

The speaker / Seamus Heaney (autobiographical voice) · to The reader; implicitly, the speaker's father · Final stanza — the adult speaker reflects on his now-aging father following behind him, reversing the roles of the poem's opening

“All I ever did was follow / In his broad shadow round the farm.”

These lines are from Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," featured in Death of a Naturalist (1966). The speaker, a young Heaney, reminisces about following his father as he skillfully ploughed their fields in County Derry. The imagery of moving "round the farm" in his father's "broad shadow" highlights the son's admiration and his feeling of being small next to a man with such impressive physical skill and quiet authority. The term "shadow" serves a dual purpose: it refers both to the literal shade created by a larger figure and to the profound influence a parent has on a child's identity. The poem thematically examines the shift in dependence between generations — the child who once stumbled in his father's footsteps now sees the elderly father struggling to keep up with him. This key couplet captures that transformation, marking the speaker's initial position as a mere follower before the poem takes its ironic turn. It also reflects Heaney's ongoing interest in inheritance, rural work, and the burdens of tradition that are transmitted (or sometimes not transmitted) from one generation to another.

Seamus Heaney (lyric speaker / son) · to The reader; implicitly the speaker's father · Childhood memory of following his father ploughing the farm fields

06·Study tools

Discussion questions, essay prompts, and quizzes for Follower

Discussion questions2 items ·

  • Discussion Questions: "Follower" by Seamus Heaney

    Consider these questions as you reflect on and discuss the poem "Follower" by Seamus Heaney:

    1. Admiration and Aspiration — At the beginning of the poem, the speaker expresses deep admiration for his father. What specific details does Heaney provide to illustrate the father's skill and expertise? How do these details influence the speaker's sense of identity as a child?
    1. Role Reversal — By the final stanza, it seems that the roles of father and son have flipped. How does Heaney indicate this change, and what emotional impact does it create? Did the ending catch you off guard? Why or why not?
    1. The Word "Follower" — The title has several interpretations throughout the poem. In what various ways can the term "follower" be understood, and how do those meanings change from the start to the conclusion of the poem?
    1. Imagery and Craft — Heaney employs rich agricultural imagery (the plough, the furrow, the horses) to anchor the poem in a particular time and setting. How does this imagery serve a symbolic or emotional purpose as well?
    1. Generational Relationships — What insights does the poem offer about the dynamics of parent–child relationships over the years? In the final lines, do you think the speaker experiences guilt, love, resentment, or perhaps a mix of these emotions?
    1. Growing Up and Letting Go — How does "Follower" examine the tension between the desire to imitate a parent and the unavoidable need to carve out one’s own path? Can you connect this theme to your own experiences or to other texts you have studied?

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  • Discussion Questions: "Follower" by Seamus Heaney

    Consider the following questions as you reflect on and discuss the poem "Follower" by Seamus Heaney:

    1. Role Reversal: The poem opens with the speaker as a child trailing his father but concludes with the father trailing the speaker. How does Heaney utilize this reversal to examine the evolving dynamics between parent and child over time? What feelings does this change stir in you?
    1. Admiration and Idealization: In the initial stanzas, the speaker portrays his father with deep admiration, employing precise, technical farming terminology. What does this choice of language indicate about the young speaker's perception of his father? How does it shape the poem's overall tone?
    1. The Burden of the Past: The last line — "will not go away" — carries an echoing sense. In what ways can a parent become a "burden" as both they and their child grow older? Is Heaney expressing criticism, affection, or something more nuanced?
    1. Clumsiness and Competence: The speaker depicts himself as a stumbling, awkward child who "fell sometimes." How does Heaney use the contrast between the father's expertise and the child's clumsiness to further the poem's main themes?
    1. Ambition and Identity: The speaker mentions he "wanted to grow up and plough." To what degree is this poem about the longing to adopt a parent's identity, and what insights does it provide about how we develop our own sense of self?
    1. Universal Experience: Although it is grounded in a specific rural Irish context, "Follower" resonates with universal themes of childhood, aging, and generational relationships. How does Heaney navigate the balance between the specific and the universal in this poem?

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Essay prompts2 items ·

  • Essay Prompt: "Follower" by Seamus Heaney

    Prompt:

    In Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," the relationship between father and son experiences a significant reversal by the poem's end. Write a well-organized essay in which you argue how Heaney employs structure, imagery, and tone to depict the speaker's emotional journey from childhood admiration to adult guilt, ultimately suggesting that the roles of leader and follower are fluid and inevitably shift across generations.

    Pre-Writing Guidance:

    • Reflect on how the poem's volta (turn) in the final stanza alters the dynamic between father and son.
    • Analyze specific agricultural imagery (e.g., the father's skill with the plow) and what it reveals about the speaker's feelings of inadequacy as a child.
    • Examine how the tone transitions from reverence and wonder to something more complex or weighed down.
    • Consider the final two lines and what Heaney suggests about aging, dependency, and the reversal of roles.

    Suggested Thesis Frame:

    > Through [literary device], [literary device], and [literary device], Heaney conveys that [your central claim about generational role reversal, guilt, or the passage of time].

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  • Essay Prompt: "Follower" by Seamus Heaney

    Prompt:

    In Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," the conclusion intentionally flips the roles of leader and follower, transforming a childhood memory into a reflection on dependency, aging, and guilt. In a well-organized essay, explore how Heaney employs structure, imagery, and shifts in tone to illustrate the complex emotional dynamics between father and son — and what the final reversal reveals about the weight of those we can never completely leave behind.

    Pre-Writing Guidance:

    Consider these points as you develop your argument:

    • How does Heaney's admiring, technical language in the early stanzas present the father as a figure of expertise and strength?
    • What does the speaker's self-deprecating image as a clumsy child add to the poem's central tension?
    • How does the sudden shift in tone and structure in the final stanza change the perspective on everything that came before it?
    • What is the significance of the father now "will not go away"? Does this reflect guilt, love, grief, or something more ambiguous?

    Thesis Tip: Rather than merely summarizing the reversal, argue why Heaney chose this structure — what insight about human relationships or the passage of time does this reversal reveal?

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Quiz questions2 items ·

  • Quiz Question: "Follower" by Seamus Heaney

    In Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," what role reversal occurs by the final stanza?

    A) The speaker becomes a farmer like his father B) The father begins to follow and stumble behind the speaker C) The speaker leaves home and abandons his father D) The father teaches the speaker how to plough a field

    Correct Answer: B

    Explanation: For most of the poem, the speaker, as a child, stumbles along behind his skilled father while he ploughs. By the final stanza, the roles have flipped—the father is now the one who "will not go away" and is stumbling behind the adult speaker. This shift highlights themes of aging, dependency, and the weight of the past.

    gcse_english_lit · aqa · edexcel · ib_lang_lit

  • Quiz Question: "Follower" by Seamus Heaney

    Question: In Seamus Heaney's poem "Follower," what role does the speaker's father have that the speaker admires so deeply in the opening stanzas?

    A) Blacksmith B) Fisherman C) Ploughman (farmer) D) Carpenter

    Correct Answer: C) Ploughman (farmer)

    Explanation: In "Follower," the speaker portrays his father as a talented ploughman who skillfully guides horses through the fields. The father's expertise is illustrated with vivid, respectful detail — his "shoulders globed like a full sail strung," his knack for setting "the wing / and fitting the bright steel-pointed sock," and his ability to create a perfect, single-furrow ploughing. This depiction of agricultural talent sharply contrasts with the poem's ending, where we see the aging father who "will not go away" and now struggles to keep up with the speaker.

    gcse_english_lit · aqa · edexcel · ap_lit · ib_english

Teacher handout1 item ·

  • Teacher Handout: "Follower" by Seamus Heaney

    Mini-Lecture: Context & Overview

    "Follower" is a poem by Seamus Heaney, featured in his first collection Death of a Naturalist (1966). It's one of Heaney's most acclaimed early works, rooted in his rural upbringing in Northern Ireland and delving into themes of admiration, inheritance, identity, and role reversal.

    The poem depicts a young Heaney observing his father as he skillfully ploughs the fields, filled with awe at his father's expertise, while the child clumsily trails behind. In a poignant twist at the end, the roles reverse — the now older father follows his grown son, struggling to let go.

    Key Vocabulary

    | Term | Definition | |------|------------| | Stanza | A group of lines in a poem (here, six quatrains — four-line stanzas) | | Quatrain | A stanza consisting of four lines | | Enjambment | When a sentence or phrase flows from one line to the next without a pause | | Volta | A turning point or shift in the argument, tone, or perspective of a poem | | Metaphor | A direct comparison between two unlike things | | Admiration | A feeling of wonder and respect | | Role reversal | When the positions or relationships of two individuals swap | | Alliteration | The repetition of the same consonant sound at the start of nearby words |

    Poem Structure at a Glance

    • Form: Six quatrains (ABAB rhyme scheme, loosely adhered to)
    • Tone: Transitions from wonder and admiration → nostalgia → guilt or burden
    • Perspective: First-person narrator (young Heaney / speaker as a child, then adult)
    • Key Volta: Final stanza — "But today / It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away."

    Close Reading: Key Passages

    Stanza 1 — The Father's Mastery

    > "His shoulders globed like a full sail strung / Between the shafts and the furrow."

    • Discuss: What does the simile of a "full sail" imply about the father's strength and control?
    • Note: Heaney elevates his father to an almost heroic, elemental status.

    Stanza 3 — Precision and Skill

    > "The sod rolled over without breaking."

    • Discuss: How does Heaney use straightforward, concrete language to convey expertise?
    • Note: The smoothness of the action reflects the father's effortless mastery.

    Stanza 5 — The Child's Clumsiness

    > "I was a nuisance, tripping, falling, / Yapping always."

    • Discuss: Why does Heaney choose self-deprecating language here? What does it reveal about the speaker's relationship with his father?

    Stanza 6 — The Volta / Role Reversal

    > "But today / It is my father who keeps stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away."

    • Discuss: Is the final image tender, guilty, or more complex? How does the word "stumbling" connect to earlier moments in the poem?

    Scaffolded Discussion Prompts (Differentiated)

    Foundation:

    1. What work is the father doing in this poem?
    2. Identify two words or phrases that show the speaker's admiration for his father.

    Developing:

    1. How does Heaney portray the father as powerful and skilled in the earlier stanzas?
    2. What shifts occur in the final stanza, and why is this surprising?

    Extension:

    1. How does Heaney utilize structure and form to reflect the poem's themes of following and leading?
    2. To what extent is "Follower" more about guilt than admiration?

    Suggested Essay Focus

    > How does Heaney depict the relationship between father and son in "Follower"?

    Encourage students to think about: imagery, tone, structure, word choice, and the significance of the poem's conclusion.

    Cross-Text Connections

    • "Digging" (Heaney) — also examines the relationship between the poet and his father, addressing themes of inheritance and identity.
    • "Those Winter Sundays" (Robert Hayden) — a similar reflection on a child's failure to recognize a parent's hard work.
    • "Catrin" (Gillian Clarke) — explores the complex, lasting bond between parent and child.

    Curriculum Links: AQA GCSE English Literature | Edexcel GCSE | OCR GCSE | A-Level English Literature

    aqa · edexcel · ocr · a_level_english_lit

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