Compare how poets present attitudes towards a parent in ‘Follower’ and in one other poem from ‘Love and relationships’.
Both Heaney in ‘Follower’ and Duffy in ‘Before You Were Mine’ possess deep admiration and awe for younger versions of their parents. As a child growing up on his father’s farm in Northern Ireland, Heaney describes in the poem how he would literally and metaphorically follow his father whilst working, longing to possess the strength and expertise that his father displays through his work. In ‘Before You Were Mine’, Duffy reconstructs her mother’s carefree and rebellious life before the poet was born, cataloguing details of her mother’s childhood. There are paradoxical feelings as Duffy expresses a desire to have this younger version as her mother – but then, of course, this is impossible and Duffy would not exist. In both poems, as the relationship dynamic changes, Heaney and Duffy both explore feelings of self-criticism and guilt.
Both Heaney and Duffy have created deeply personal first person narratives. By using the narrative form, their voices instantly capture intimate and authentic feelings of admiration and awe that they possess for the younger versions of their parents. ‘Follower’ is split into 6 stanzas of quatrains, whereas ‘Before You Were Mine’ is separated into 4 stanzas of cinquains in free verse – the regularity of both perhaps suggesting the steadiness both parents brought to each child’s formative years?
Heaney mostly uses iambic tetrameter to capture the steady and regular movement of his father working through the field. This regimented rhythm emphasises the control his father had over his work on the farm – and Heaney as a child is clearly in awe of this father’s expertise. Indeed, in line 5, the simple, short sentence of “An expert.” encompasses everything that the poet believes his father to be. Likewise, in ‘Before You Were Mine’, Duffy adopts a similar structural feature to capture her mother’s aura: “Marilyn.” The single word sentence conjures up the glamorous, Hollywood image of Marilyn Monroe standing above a vent on the street. Considering the likeness to Duffy’s mother’s name (Mary), perhaps this is exactly how Duffy imagines her mother before she was born: a glamorous, non-conforming icon.
Both poems are tinged with sadness: in the antepenultimate line of ‘Follower’, Heaney delivers a volta (“But”), introducing the notion that it is his father who is now “stumbling” behind him and “will not go away”. This reversal of power and guardianship contrasts with the feelings of resentment that Duffy feels: she feels guilty for depriving her mother of her previous life, but still longs to meet her as this former unrestricted self.
Having grown up on a farm in Northern Ireland, the admiration that Heaney has for his father is evident: he describes how his father’s “shoulders globed like a full sail strung”. Heaney’s use of the nautical simile “like a full sail strung” initiates the extended metaphor of sea captaincy that permeates throughout the poem: his father is a captain who is fully in control of his ship (the plough) on the sea (the land) and displays immaculate levels of expertise. The long assonant ‘o’ sound in “shoulders globed” crystallises the physical strength of his father, alluding to the Titan, Atlas, who could hold the world up – high praise, indeed. Furthermore, this admiration and appreciation continues with the description of how he “rode” on his father’s back as he was “Dipping and rising to his plod.” The manner in which the child clings to his father’s back creates a beloved and intimate paternal image, suggesting to me how desperate the speaker is to witness and feel a greater sense of closeness to his father’s work. Carrying his son not only emphasises the father’s strength, but the short vowel sound in “Dipping” contrasts with the longer vowel sound in “rising”, mirroring the oscillating movement of his father’s arduous physical work.