Thurs., 1/15

1.Simile- From "Digging," by Seamus Heaney: "Between my finger and my thumb / The squat pen rests; snug as a gun."
Heaney uses "like" or "as" (in this case, "as") to compare his the grip he has on his pen to that of a gun. I believe he does this to hint at the potency of the pen being weapon-like, similar to a gun.

2. Figure of Speech- From "Digging": "Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds / Bends low, comes up twenty years away."
Of course, his father does not literally become twenty years older; Heaney uses non-literal language to stress the toll farming takes on one's body.

3. Conventional symbols- From "Digging": "Bends low, comes up twenty years away / Stooping in rhythm through potato drills,"
The book has a footnote for "drills:" small furrows in which seeds are shown. Perhaps unknown to the audience, Heaney is Irish, where the potato is a symbol that represents the country's prosperity and well-being. Without the potato, Ireland went into a deep depression in 1845.

4.Metaphor- From "Digging": "Between my finger and my thumb/ The squat pen rests / I'll dig with it."
Heaney describes his pen by making it act as his father's shovel, showing that the pen is his tool.