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Follower
SUMMARY THEMES
The speaker's father used a traditional walking plow, drawn by
two horses, to cultivate their family farm. He rounded his THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTS
shoulders as he guided the plow, in such a way that his body AND CHILDREN
looked like a sail fastened at one end to the beams that brace “Follower” tracks the way that the relationship
the plow's handles and at the other end to the trench that he between parents and their children changes over time. The
was cutting into the earth. The horses worked hard to keep up speaker begins the poem with deep admiration and respect for
with his voice commands. his father, contrasting his father’s exceptional farming skills
The speaker's father had mastered this practice. He would with his own stumbling ineptitude as he follows behind. But by
adjust the "winged" portion of the main share, or cutting edge, the poem’s end, there’s been a major role reversal: the final
so that it ran parallel to the ground, ensuring that the soil would lines reveal that the speaker’s father, having grown weak with
be level as the blade turned it, and position the plow's shiny age, eventually trails behind the speaker. In this way, “Follower”
steel point so that it cut precise furrows into the ground. The establishes a father-son dynamic of custodian and dependent
soil was upended in a smooth, circular motion, leaving behind (respectively) only to flip those roles on their heads. In doing so,
an unbroken segment of turned over land, rather than uneven, the poem suggests that there is an inevitable transfer of
broken up clumps of earth. leadership and responsibility from one generation to the next.
At the strip of unplowed land at either end of the field, the When describing his childhood, the speaker juxtaposes his
speaker's father was able to turn the horses, who were father’s agricultural mastery with his own incompetence. This
sweating from the strenuous work, around to begin a new sets up a family dynamic in which the speaker’s father is a
furrow by simply giving their reins one brief tug. He closed one dominant, guiding force for his son. The speaker foregrounds
eye and used the other to trace the land in front of him, his father’s physical strength throughout much of the poem,
charting its precise measurements so that he might adjust his using words like “strain” and “sweating” to convey that
plow accordingly. ploughing is strenuous, back-breaking work. The speaker’s
father is also technically skilled— “an expert” who “exactly”
The speaker moved clumsily in his father's trail, which was
surveys land and adjusts his rig to create precise furrows. The
studded with imprints from the heavy-duty nails that
speaker, on the other hand, is a clumsy and disruptive child. He
reinforced his father's work boots. From time to time the
falls, disturbing the pristine soil that his father has freshly
speaker would fall, disturbing the perfectly cultivated soil that
ploughed, and describes himself as “a nuisance, tripping, falling,
his father had just plowed. Sometimes the speaker's father
/ Yapping always."
would pick him up and place him on his back so that he could
feel the rising and falling cadence of his father's movements. By highlighting his inability to replicate his father's methods
and suggesting that his father works effortlessly, the speaker
When the speaker was a boy, he, too, wanted to be a farmer
creates an atmosphere of childlike awe. This, in turn, reinforces
when he grew up and envisioned himself closing one eye and
their father-son, leader-follower dynamic. Furthermore, the
holding his arm out firmly to guide the plow, as his father had
speaker closely follows his father’s motions, first through
done. However, the speaker only trailed behind his father as he
observation and then by walking in his “wake” or trail. The
farmed, never taking up the practice himself.
speaker’s father periodically lifts him up to place him “on his
The speaker was bothersome as a boy. He would talk back” so that the speaker can feel the cadence of his father’s
incessantly and was always losing his footing and falling onto steps, “dipping and rising to his plod.” In these ways, the
the soil. But now that both men have aged, it is the speaker's speaker’s father literally determines his son’s movements,
father who is constantly and clumsily trailing him, and will not reaffirming his authority over the speaker.
leave his shadow.
At the poem’s conclusion, however, the reader learns that the
speaker’s father has lost his dominance and now follows his
son, who assumes the leadership role. In the poem’s final
stanza, the speaker reveals that eventually “it is [his] father who
keeps stumbling / behind [him].” As the speaker’s father
weakens with age, he becomes reliant on his son, in a reversal
of caretaker roles. The speaker even says that he cannot “get

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rid” of his father, who “kkeeps stumbling”—indicating a finest shows of strength to establish that his mastery is
permanent shift in leadership, especially as this is the image enduring—practiced at many different points in time. The use
that lingers at the poem’s conclusion. The awe and respect that of words like “would” and “sometimes” also suggest that the
the speaker earlier possessed seem to have been replaced by actions described are repeated frequently. In this way, the
vague annoyance, or perhaps simply sadness at the fact that speaker signals that their familial farming traditions are deep-
the speaker's father is no longer the man he once was. rooted and long-held, further legitimizing and dignifying this
Furthermore, the recycles the word “stumble”—first used type of labor.
earlier in the poem by the speaker to describe himself as an By recounting the story of a son who fails to sustain patrilineal
inept child—to describe his father's movements. The speaker’s farming traditions, “Follower” suggests that such traditions are
path, down which his father follows him, diverges from the at risk of being lost. At the same time, the poem immortalizes
farming tradition, and his father clearly struggles to keep up. In them in verse, implicitly arguing that they shouldn't be
this way, as his father’s role diminishes, the speaker’s own forgotten. Over time, the speaker’s father grows weak and is no
disposition naturally begins to define their familial identity. As a longer able to plough—and therefore no longer able to sustain
whole, then, their story exemplifies the inevitable transfer of the tradition on his own. It becomes clear that the tradition’s
familial stewardship from one generation to the next. preservation hinges on the speaker taking it up. And when he
fails to do so, proclaiming that “all [he] ever did was follow,” the
Where this theme appears in the poem: endangerment of this agricultural way of life becomes even
more pronounced.
• Lines 1-24
The sense of endangerment, though, is part of what spurs the
speaker to reflect on and capture these agricultural traditions
THE VIRTUE AND NOBILITY OF FARMING in verse. The speaker uses a barrage of specialized terms
Like many young men born in mid-20th-century throughout the poem— “shafts,” “furrow,” “steel-pointed sock,”
Northern Ireland, Seamus Heaney grew up on a farm and “headrig,” to name a few. These terms are obscure to
and was expected to carry on the farming traditions of his anyone who isn’t well-educated in the plowing process.
father but failed to do so. He shares these traits with the Therefore, the poem requires readers to familiarize themselves
poem’s speaker, who celebrates such traditions and with the tradition, ensuring that a certain level of
immortalizes them in verse. Thus, although the speaker does understanding will survive over time in readers’ minds.
not practice traditional farming methods, he showcases their Finally, the act of plowing dominates the poem’s events and
beauty and deems them worthy of preservation. images. It serves as the sole lens through which the reader can
As the speaker details his father’s plowing method, he dignifies understand the characters or make inferences about their
and idealizes agricultural work. The speaker uses nautical mindsets and wider life experiences. Thus, the poem manifests
imagery to describe his father, beginning in line 2, where the a reality for many Irish families throughout history—farming
speaker describes his father’s shoulders as “globed like a full isn’t simply a practical procedure but also an identity and a way
sail.” The combination of “globed” and “shoulders” recalls Atlas, of life. “Follower” immortalizes this perspective in poetry,
the iconic, muscular Greek god tasked with carrying the world insisting that farming is a valid, useful framework for
on his back. This image puts the speaker’s father on the same understanding and exploring the world.
plane as a deity, ennobling him and his task. Other maritime
language such as “breaking” and “dipping and rising” call to Where this theme appears in the poem:
mind the waves of the ocean, likening the speaker’s father to a • Lines 1-24
formidable ship who effortlessly glides through the water,
leaving perfectly tilled soil in his “wake.”
The speaker’s perspective as a captivated young boy creates an LINE-BY
LINE-BY-LINE
-LINE ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS
atmosphere of blind admiration, further uplifting his father. The
speaker is clumsy and watches mesmerized as his father works LINES 1-3
with precision—his soil “polished” and his movements
“exact”—becoming a superhuman ideal that the speaker can
My father worked ...
aspire to. Indeed, the speaker dreams of being like his father,
... and the furrow.
expressing a desire to “grow up and plough.” The speaker does The speaker opens "Follower" with a plain and direct statement
not illustrate his veneration through one specific anecdote or that communicates his father's profession, which he will go on
moment in time from his childhood. Instead, he assembles a to detail in the coming lines. He specifies that his father uses a
patchwork of fragmented memories, cherry-picking his father’s "horse-plough," an old-school horse-drawn farming tool that
cuts long, narrow furrows, or trenches, into the earth, turning

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the soil over in preparation for planting and growing crops. comes across as direct and authoritative.
This poem, like the others that comprise Heaney's first major The asyndeton in the first two lines ("... worked with a horse-
collection, Death of a Naturalist, is understood to be plough, / His shoulders globed ...") also links two such clauses
predominantly autobiographical. Heaney grew up in mid-20th- with a comma to form one sentence, allowing momentum to
Century Northern Ireland, when motorized tractors were build without interruption from a conjunction or period. The
beginning to overtake traditional farming equipment, posing a end-stops that appear in two of the first three lines will be
threat to the farming traditions that so many families had reproduced throughout much of the poem as well, helping to
passed on from generation to generation over hundreds of build a sense of rhythmic regularity.
years. By naming the outmoded "horse-plough," the speaker Finally, the sibilance created by /s/ and /sh/ sounds and
draws attention to the traditional nature of his father's farming consonance created by /l/ sounds create a soft, calm tone at the
practice. poem's outset that facilitates a smooth flow from one line into
Next, the speaker provides an image of his father working. He the next, while harder /t/ sounds add some pops of rhythm and
stands, holding onto the plow and rounding his shoulders so structure. Here is a closer look at this mix of soft and hard
that he resembles a sail, fastened to the plow's handles on one sounds:
end and the ground he is tilling on the other. This is the poem's
only simile
simile; the speaker largely avoids figur
figurativ
ativee language
language, His sh
shoulderss gllobed like a fullll ssaill st
strung
opting for straightforward statements and descriptions. Bettween the sh
shaftts and the furrow.
However, this image gives the reader a clearer picture of his
father's stature by comparing it to a familiar image, while also Therefore, although the first lines are metrically irregular, they
dignifying his father by suggesting that he is strong and still feel carefully constructed and poetic—crafted with
capable, like a formidable ship. tenderness and respect.
The simile also recalls the Greek god Atlas, who carries the
LINES 4-7
heavens—often represented by a sphere—on his hunched
shoulders, implicitly likening the speaker's father to a god. The The horses strained ...
assonant repetition of the long /oh/ sound in "shou
oulders ... over without breaking.
glo
obed" playfully draws out this reference by reproducing the Throughout the next four lines, the speaker details his father's
image that this phrase describes on the page. Similarly, due to plowing process, both providing evidence of his expertise and
the enjambment at the end of line 2, the word "strung" actually stating the expertise outright as fact.
strings one line to the next: First, he describes his father using simple voice commands to
drive the horses, who have to work hard to comply. The
His shoulders globed like a full sail strung commands are represented by the "cclick cking" sound he makes
Between ... with his tongue, and they are brought to life in the text thanks
to onomatopoeia
onomatopoeia. The repetition of hard /k/ followed by short
While the poem will eventually settle into a loose iambic /i/ sounds mimics the "clicks" themselves, recreating their
tetr
tetrameter
ameter (eight syllables per line in an unstressed stressed effect. Assonance with "his" places additional emphasis on
pattern), the first lines are metrically irregular. Each line begins those short /i/ sounds ("hiis cliickiing"), subtly enhancing the
with two iambs and ends with two feet of varying stress onomatopoeia and helping to bring the poem's setting to vivid
patterns. In line 3, for example, the iambs are followed by a life for the reader.
pyrrhic (unstressed unstressed) and a trochee (stressed
stressed
The "strain" the horses feel as they comply with his instructions
unstressed):
demonstrates that plowing is difficult, backbreaking work
without stating it explicitly. The speaker is direct and
Between
tween | the shafts | and the | fur
furrow.
unwavering in the next line, though, when he refers to his
father as "an expert."
Although the tetrameter has not yet coalesced into a regular
pattern, several other factors are at work to establish This is a fragment, the poem's only incomplete sentence. The
regularity and rhythm. Perhaps most importantly, these lines unique brevity and simplicity of this phrase gives the
lay out a sentence structure that will repeat throughout the proclamation an air of sincerity, further bolstered by the
poem, providing structure and consistency. The par parallelism
allelism is poem's first caesur
caesuraa: there's a period in the middle of the line,
created by strings of sentences and clauses that each begin adding a sense of assuredness to the speaker's summation of
with a noun—usually the speaker or his father—followed by an his father's character. The speaker comes across as direct and
active past-tense verb. This simple, no-frills sentence structure forthcoming, legitimizing his claim about his father.
makes the speaker's statements easy to follow, and in turn, he While this caesura creates a rhythmic irregularity to focus

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attention on the fragment, the poem's overall flow remains starting position, creating a short but impactful noise, similar to
intact for several reasons. First, the meter in this line and the actually sounding out the word "pluck." This is thus another
two that follow is perfect iambic tetr
tetrameter
ameter (while the meter in moment of onomatopoeia
onomatopoeia, which feels all the more striking due
line 4 is almost perfect, save an additional unstressed syllable). to the assonance of short /i/ sounds in "headriig wiith a siingle"
Here is a look at line 5: that creates a short, choppy rhythm right before "pluck."
Furthermore, because line 8 is enjambed across an entire
An ex- | pert. He | would set | the wing stanza break ("single pluck //// Of reins"), "pluck" appears to
linger out in space, playing on the idea of it being a "single,"
The metrical regularity results in a bouncy feel that allows the isolated tug.
poem's overarching iambic rhythm to gain steam for the first Next, the speaker's father squints at the ground, scanning the
time (due to the somewhat erratic meter of the first three completed furrow and making precise calculations so that he
lines). Additionally, the /s/ and /t/ sounds that are prominent in can adjust the plow into the ideal position for cutting a new
the previous section carry over, creating continuity between furrow. The speaker uses terms associated with geometry
the two stanzas ("horssess," "st
strained," "exxpertt," "ssett," "brightt ("narrowed," "angled") and mapmaking ("mapping") to describe
st
steel-pointted sock," and "ssod"). These factors ensure that the this process, suggesting that his father is as precise as a
full stop caesura does not interrupt the poem's flow, mathematician or cartographer and putting his agricultural
maintaining the rhythm and allowing it to build. profession on the same plane as those more academic ones.
After declaring his father's expertise, the speaker provides These references evoke navigation and exploration, again
images of his father putting his skill into action. He makes sustaining the comparison between the speaker's father and a
precise adjustments to the plow, placing the steel blade that ship that appears in the previous two stanzas.
cuts into the earth ("sock") precisely where the next furrow These lines contain the highest concentration of enjambment
should be, and steadying that blade on its flat edge ("wing") to and caesur
caesuraa of any section of the poem. These devices work
keep the plow balanced so that the sections of cut soil are together to create a sort of stopping and turning effect,
turned over in a level manner. He is successful in doing so, as wherein the reader's gaze turns from the end of one line into
the earth holds together in one piece—evidence of evenly the beginning of the next, due to enjambment, and then stops in
turned soil. The speaker uses the phrase "without breaking" to the middle of lines due to caesura. This pattern occurs three
describe "the sod," calling to mind the waves of the ocean times in lines 8-11, imitating the plow that they describe
(which break against shorelines, vessels, etc.) and extending the stopping and turning around to create a new furrow:
implied comparison between the speaker's father and a ship.
Here, the father appears to move smoothly and effortlessly At the headrig,, with a single pluck
throughout the "waters" of the field, careful not to disturb Of reins,, the sweating team turned round
them. The repetition of long vowel sounds (i.e., assonance
assonance) in And back into the land.. His eye
"so
ock," "so
od" and "roolled over" cause one word to softly "roll" Narrowed ...
into the next—aided by the consonance of /s/ in the first pair
and that of /r/ in the second—sonically mirroring the process Lines 8-10 ("At the headrig ... His eye") are metrically perfect,
that these lines describe and the smooth, methodical manner in save for the addition of one unstressed syllable at the
which it is performed. beginning of line 8. The strong, bouncy rhythm helps to carry
the reader through these many stops and starts. While lines
LINES 8-12 11-12 ("Narrowed ... exactly.") are not written in perfect iambic
At the headrig, ... tetr
tetrameter
ameter, the end-stops and conspicuously absent caesura
... the furrow exactly. signal a return to more regular punctuation, steadying the
The next two sentences, which comprise lines 8-12, describe reader.
how the plow is turned around to create a new furrow. This
takes place at headrigs, or the patches of unplowed land at the
LINES 13-16
top and bottom of a plot (that is, above and below parallel I stumbled in ...
columns formed by furrows). Having cut a complete furrow, the ... to his plod.
speaker's father stops at the headrig and tugs on the horses' Throughout the first half of "Follower," the speaker zooms in on
reins to turn the "team"—the horses and the plow—around to his father's movements, growing progressively closer as his
start another. descriptions become more detailed. In the poem’s second half,
The speaker specifies that his father is able to maneuver the the speaker is finally pictured interacting with his father and the
team with one swift motion, "a single pluck / Of reins." To pluck fields his father plows. In this way, stanza 4 represents a
something is to grab hold of it and quickly pull it out of its significant shift in the poem's focus, in which the speaker's

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experiences are foregrounded and purely observational short /i/ sounds, which add emphasis to both stressed and
accounts of his father plowing subside. At the same time, the unstressed syllables, confuse the rhythm to an even greater
speaker's earlier descriptions of his father serve as a natural extent:
point of comparison for the speaker's own actions.
Stanza 3 contains a vast, unique mixture of many different Sometiimes he rode me on hiis back
consonant sounds; stanza 4 is noticeably softer, marking the re- Diippiing and riisiing to hiis plod.
emergence of sibilance
sibilance, accompanied by consonant /l/, /b/, and
/h/ sounds, as well as assonant /ah/ sounds: All of the above rhythmic irregularities give these lines a subtle
turbulence, mimicking the dips and rises the speaker feels as he
I stumbl bled in hiss hob
hobnailled wake, rides on his father's back.
Fellll ssometimess on the pol olish
shed sod;
LINES 17-22
The gentle combination of these sounds works with the return I wanted to ...
of frequent end-stops to distinguish these lines from the sonic ... Yapping always.
and rhythmic chaos of the previous stanza. The speaker begins stanza 4 by declaring that he had a
In lines 10-12, the speaker describes his father making precise childhood dream of becoming a farmer. He describes an
calculations based on sight alone so that he can adjust his plow idealized version of his adult self, squinting at the ground and
and better cultivate the land. Immediately afterward, he holding out his arm, as he had seen his father do so many times.
describes himself stumbling and falling onto perfect, freshly- Earlier in the poem, the speaker uses the terms "plough" and
tilled land. By placing these two contrasting images one right "eye" when detailing his father's masterful plowing process. He
after the other, the speaker juxtaposes them, underscoring the reuses those terms when describing his own aspirations,
differences between himself and his father. indicating that what he really wants is to be like his father.

The repetition of individual words also helps to distinguish the Immediately thereafter, the speaker describes his
two men. For example, the speaker "sometimes" falls, reality—endlessly stumbling behind his father around the farm,
disturbing the well-cultivated land, and his father "sometimes" eclipsed by his father's shadow and never plowing on his own.
carries the speaker as he works. The speaker comes across as By placing these two images side by side, the speaker
uncoordinated and even counterproductive for messing up the juxtaposes his dream and reality, stressing the differences
perfect "polish" of the soil, while his father plows so effortlessly between the too. Pararallelism
allelism aids this differentiation by
that he volunteers to carry the extra weight of his son drawing a natural comparison between what the speaker
(conveniently getting him out of the way). The juxtaposition of "wanted" and "all [he] ever did."
what each character "sometimes" does exaggerates the With the exception of line 19, this section of the poem
speaker's agricultural ineptitude and his father's agricultural maintains a very strong iambic rhythm. Although lines 21-22
prowess. Line 14 also recycles the term "sod," which first are not written in perfect iambic tetr
tetrameter
ameter, the additional
appears in line 7, where it is described "[rolling] over without unstressed syllable at the end of line 21 is followed by a
breaking." This draws additional contrast between his father's trochee
trochee, so it reads as if an iamb stretches over the line break,
skillful cultivation of the earth and the speaker's disruption of leaving the bouncy rhythm undisrupted:
it.
Lines 13-14 are written in perfect iambic tetr
tetrameter
ameter, whereas I was | a nui
nui- | sance, trip
trip- | ping, fal
falling,
lines 15-16, which describe the speaker riding on his father's Yap
apping | al
always ...
back, begin with a trochee in place of the usual iamb:
Furthermore, the par
parallel
allel -ing verb endings and consonant /p/
Some
Sometimes | he rode | me on | his back and /l/ sounds appear at both the end of line 21 and the
Dip
Dipping | and ris- | ing to | his plod
plod. beginning of line 22, supporting continuity between them. In
line 19, however, each foot is inverted, so that trochees replace
The irregular meter is further exaggerated by the repetition of each iamb, creating the effect of a metrically "backwards" line:
"sometimes." Furthermore, "on" in line 14 and "plod" in line 15
receive additional emphasis due to the assonant /aw/ sound All I | ever | did was | fol
follow
that pervades the stanza ("hoobnailed," "po
olished," etc.). The
enjambment from line 15 into line 16 ("... back / Dipping ...") also While the speaker plays up his youthful clumsiness in the
contributes to the irregular rhythm of these lines, as it gives the previous stanza, hinting that he doesn't have an inborn knack
effect of two stressed syllables ("back" and "dip") followed by for farming, this statement is his most direct indication that he
two unstressed syllables ("and" and "ris-"). Repeating long and never became a farmer. It is a particularly striking revelation,

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given that it directly follows and shatters his childhood dream. doesn't appear again until line 23. Here, he is shown hobbling
Because this line is metrically opposite from those that behind the speaker, who says he "will not go away," indicating
surround it, its deviation can be interpreted as a reflection of that he is slightly uneasy about his father's presence, if not
the speaker's inability to replicate his father's movements. annoyed by it. Therefore, whereas the word "father" was once
The word "follow" appears in line 19, and each of its associated with strength and virtue, it now refers to an
sounds—/f/, /aw/, /l/, and /oh/—occur elsewhere nearby. For unsteady old man.
example, he occupies his father's "broa oad shadowow," he was The use of "stumbling," also in line 23, has a similar effect.
"al
always" "fall
falling," and following is "all
all [he] ever did." The long /i/ Stanza 4 opens with "I stumbled in his hobnailed wake"—the
also comes up many times throughout this section of the poem. speaker's inaugural first-person sentence, which presents him
The word "I" itself appears at the beginning of three sentences as an uncoordinated young boy who teeters behind his strong,
in a row, and its presence is strengthened by nearby "myy" and graceful father. That same verb is later applied to his father,
"eeye." Thus, the sounds of "following" and of the speaker, who now "keeps stumbling / Behind" the speaker. Their
represented by "I," dominate these lines, linking the speaker to positions are swapped, representing a reversal of their roles in
the act of following and suggesting that he is the "Follower" of each other's lives, as the speaker's father has grown weaker
the poem's title. with age and becomes subordinate to his son, who naturally
Line 22 contains the poem's final example of onomatopoeia
onomatopoeia, assumes the leadership position.
"yapping." This term usually describes the sharp, piercing barks The poem's final sentence is a continuous, self-contained unit,
of a dog. When applied to someone's speech, it indicates that reflecting its separation from the rest of the poem in both time
they are talking in a shrill tone of voice and implies that they are and the family dynamic it describes. It is bound on one side by
bothersome, rambling on and on. The word "yap" is made the caesura in line 22, and on the other by line 24’s end-stop
end-stop.
sharper by the metrical stress that it receives and its Enjambment in both lines 23 and 24 cause the final lines to spill
appearance at the beginning of a line. Furthermore, the string into one another, creating a relatively uninterrupted flow. The
of "-ing" words, or present participles, that stretches from line consonance of /t/ sounds further blends line 22 into line 23
21 into line 22 evokes rambling speech. ("Butt ttoday / itt is ... sttumbling"), while the /m/ and /b/ sounds in
“stumb
mbling / Behind me” and the assonant long /e/ in “kee eeps …
LINES 22-24 Beehind mee” do the same for lines 23-24. This sense of
But today ... continuity helps to keep this sentence, and the period of time
... not go away. and conditions it describes, as a singular unit, set apart from the
The poem's final sentence marks a leap forward in time and, rest of the poem.
with it, a substantial change in the speaker's relationship with Finally, the meter in the last two lines is almost perfect iambic
his father. Now that both men have grown older, the speaker's tetr
tetrameter
ameter, but an additional unstressed syllable appears in
father constantly trails behind him. Whereas the first 21.5 lines both lines:
lay out a leader-follower dynamic between father and son in
great detail, that dynamic is suddenly upended in the poem's It is | my fa
fa- | ther who | keeps stum
stumbling
final lines. The contrast between the reader's earlier Behind
hind | me, and will | not go | awa
wayy.
perception of their relationship and the true state of their
relationship is a form of situational iron
ironyy. Plus, the speaker The additional syllables cause the last two lines to trail on
describes himself clumsily following his father directly before slightly longer than expected, like the speaker’s father, who
bringing this role reversal to light, creating a juxtaposition follows his son indefinitely.
between past and present.
The structure of this final sentence also marks a divergence
from what comes before it. The simple noun-verb structure SYMBOLS
used in the previous 5 sentences, a device known as par parallelism
allelism,
is abandoned. Furthermore, the caesur
caesuraa in line 22 ("Yapping SHIPS AND NAVIGATION
always.. But today") draws attention to the phrase "but today,"
While "Follower" is not a highly symbolic poem, the
which abruptly brings the reader into the present. With only 7
speaker does repeatedly compare his father to a ship.
syllables, this is also the poem's shortest line, placing additional
This, in turn, is meant to glorify his father's agricultural labor.
emphasis on the phrase.
This symbol first appears in line 2, where the speaker says that
The repetition of keywords helps to draw out changes in the when his father works, his shoulders round so that he
father-son dynamic. The speaker first uses "father" in line 1, resembles "a full sail," his hands tethered to the handles of his
describing him working in the fields with childlike awe. He plow and his feet tethered to the earth he tills. Fittingly, the
initially appears stately and resilient, "like a full sail." "Father"

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speaker goes on to use language that likens the field to the In lines 15-16, which contain a concentrated group of short /i/
ocean, emphasizing its vastness and drawing out the sounds, the speaker feels the ripples of his father's movements,
comparison between his father and a ship over many lines. riding on his back while he works:
First, the speaker says that the earth "rolled over without
breaking," recalling an image of soft waves that ripple through Sometimes he rode me on hiis back
the ocean, rather than thrashing against coastline. Then the Diippiing and risiing to hiis plod.
speaker refers to his trail of plowed land as "his hobnailed
wake" and describes his father's gait as "dipping and rising." This The short, snappy /i/ sounds come and go in quick succession
language aggrandizes the speaker's father by presenting him as and occur in both stressed and unstressed syllables. The meter
a stoic, magnificent ship that weathers the ocean's waves with here is already slightly irregular, as both lines begin with a
ease. He is even able to be ridden, as described in line 15. trochee (DDUM
UM-da) rather than an iamb (da-DUM DUM). The addition
of assonance creates an increasingly turbulent and
Furthermore, the speaker's father takes the place of a
unpredictable rhythm and mood, resembling the dips and rises
mapmaker in lines 10-12, when he appears "mapping the
that the speaker feels as the cadence of his father's tread
furrow exactly." The terms "narrow" and "angle" evoke the
ripples up to him.
triangulation method, or measuring angles from known, fixed
points to determine the location of a third, unknown point. Lastly, the poem’s final lines contain three long /e/ sounds:
Images of devices such as protractors and sextants might also
come to the reader's mind, all of which suggest that his father It is my father who kee
eeps stumbling
intuitively makes precise calculations as he plows, and Beehind mee ...
therefore has not only the strength and stoicism of a ship, but
also the intellect and skill to navigate one. Here, the assonance of long sounds slows the reader down,
increasing their awareness of the poem’s final events, which
Where this symbol appears in the poem: represent an abrupt break from the established setting and
dynamic—the speaker’s father, who is otherwise described as
• Lines 2-3: “His shoulders globed like a full sail strung / strong and skillful, has aged and now staggers behind his son.
Between the shafts and the furrow.” The additional emphasis on “keeps stumbling / Behind me”
• Line 7: “The sod rolled over without breaking.” drives that reality home suddenly and adamantly, before
• Lines 10-12: “His eye / Narrowed and angled at the leaving the reader with one final note—this is the indefinite
ground, / Mapping the furrow exactly.” state of their relationship—making for a memorable ending.
• Line 13: “his hobnailed wake”
• Lines 15-16: “Sometimes he rode me on his back /
Where Assonance appears in the poem:
Dipping and rising to his plod.”
• Line 2: “ou,” “o”
• Line 4: “i,” “i,” “i”
Line 6: “o”
POETIC DEVICES •
• Line 7: “o,” “o”
ASSONANCE • Line 8: “i,” “i,” “i”
• Line 14: “o,” “o,” “o”
"Follower" contains a great deal of assonance
assonance. In general, the • Line 15: “i”
vowel sounds that echo throughout the poem add texture and • Line 16: “i,” “i,” “i,” “i”
feeling to the atmosphere, while also drawing attention to • Line 18: “eye,” “y”
important words and the ideas they represent. • Line 19: “A,” “I,” “o”
For example, in line 2, the long /oh/ sound in "shou
oulders glo
obed" • Line 20: “oa”
visually mimics a circle, via the "o" that appears on the page and • Line 23: “ee”
the shape the reader's mouth takes when sounding it out. This • Line 24: “e,” “e”
literal roundness plays off of the image it describes—the
hunched shoulders of the speaker's father that resemble a ASYNDETON
globe—making the image stick in the reader's memory. The poem's use of asyndeton allows it to flow smoothly and
Throughout the poem, the speaker continues to use maritime naturally, uninterrupted by conjunctions. The poem's first line,
and navigational language to dignify his father. Thus, the for example, could have ended with a period rather than a
assonance in line 2 helps the speaker establish a positive comma, but that would have cut the line off from the rest of the
perception right off the bat and lay the groundwork for the sentence, indicating a longer pause and interrupting the
imagery to come. rhythm's momentum rather than letting it build. Furthermore, if

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line 2 began with a conjunction, it would not build the par
parallel
allel sentence begins with a prepositional phrase ("At the headrig").
sentence structure that characterizes the rest of the poem. The new rhythm doesn't have much opportunity to gain
Later in the poem, asyndeton also allows the speaker to omit momentum, though, because it is met with a caesura halfway
words that would have to be repeated if the clauses were through the line:
separate sentences. Take lines 13-14, which would have read, "I
stumbled in his hobnailed wake. / I fell sometimes on the At the headrig,,
polished sod." This interrupts the poem's rhythm, as would a
conjunction: "I stumbled in his hobnailed wake / And fell Then, it begins to pick up speed as enjambment causes the next
sometimes on the polished sod." So the speaker opts, instead, to phrase to leap over the line and stanza breaks, only to crash
connect the two phrases using asyndeton, which maintains the into line 9, where it is met with another caesura:
poem's flow. The device has essentially the same function in
lines 17-18 ("I wanted ... my arm.") and 21-22 ("I was a nuisance, At the headrig, with a single pluck
tripping, falling, / Yapping ..."). In each case, two commas replace Of reins,,
conjunctions, allowing momentum to accumulate and drive the
poem forward. The pattern of caesura followed by enjambment repeats as
Furthermore, the lack of conjunctions imitates natural speech. such until the end of line 11. The punctuation creates a turning
While it might seem unconventional for sentences to be written and stopping rhythmic effect that is unique to this section of
this way, people commonly string related phrases the poem, which in turn mimics the actions of the plow that it
together—without words like "but" and "and"—in everyday describes.
conversation. In lines 18 ("To close one eye,, stiffen my arm.") and 21 ("I was a
nuisance,, tripping,, falling,"), caesura reappears to enable
Where Asyndeton appears in the poem: asyndeton
asyndeton, with commas replacing conjunctions to maintain the
steady, natural flow that the poem again assumes. The final
• Lines 1-2: “My father worked with a horse-plough, / His example of caesura, however, creates an important barrier
shoulders globed” between the past and the present:
• Lines 13-14: “I stumbled in his hobnailed wake, / Fell
sometimes” Yapping always.. But today
• Lines 17-18: “I wanted to grow up and plough, / To close
one eye, stiffen my arm.”
Furthermore, the period draws attention to the phrase "but
• Lines 21-22: “tripping, falling, / Yapping”
today" and allows the poem's final image and the idea it
represents to stand alone from the rest of the poem. Most
CAESURA importantly, in doing all of the above, the caesura marks a
Caesur
Caesuraa is essential to steering the rhythm throughout turning point from a time when the speaker followed his father,
"Follower." The first caesura appears in line 5—which contains to a time in which the speaker's father follows him.
the only poem's fragment, or incomplete sentence, as it
includes a noun phrase ("an expert") but no verb: Where Caesur
Caesuraa appears in the poem:

An expert.. He would set the wing • Line 5: “expert. He”

• Line 8: “headrig, with”
• Line 9: “reins, the”
This stands in contrast to the surrounding sentences, which all
• Line 10: “land. His”
begin with a noun immediately followed by an active, past tense
• Line 18: “eye, stiffen”
verb form ("My father would .... His shoulders globed ... The
• Line 21: “nuisance, tripping, falling”
horses strained ..."). Therefore, the caesura draws considerable
• Line 22: “always. But”
attention to the fragment, whose brevity and self-containment
comes across as very authoritative; the speaker's father is an
expert, full stop—a plainly stated fact that requires no CONSONANCE
qualifying phrases that might provide evidence or discuss the Consonance permeates the poem and therefore serves a
magnitude of his expertise, etc., making it hard to argue with. multitude of functions. Taken as a whole, it creates a pleasant
Caesura also plays a crucial role in lines 8-12, which describe lyricism and allows one image to flow into the next by linking
the speaker's father manipulating his plow so that it turns them with similar sounds. It also produces sonic interest that
around and creates a precise new furrow. The parallelism that draws attention to important events and ideas, while
the first several lines establish is broken in line 8, where a sometimes deepening their meaning by reproducing some of

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their qualities with recurring sounds. enjambment to guide the reader from line 22 into line 23,
The poem opens with a long string of /s/ sounds, or sibilance
sibilance, where /m/ and /b/ sounds have a similar effect that carries into
beginning in line 1 and continuing through line 9. Similar line 24:
sounds are formed by various letter combinations, like in
"exxpert," coalescing to create a soft effect that almost sounds ... Butt ttoday
like whispering. Other gentle sounds, such as /w/, /f/, /l/, and Itt is my father who keeps sttumb
mbling
/sh/, help establish a calm lyricism that almost lulls the speaker Behind me,
into their rhythm. Here is a closer look at stanza 1:
This gives the three lines and the sentence that spans them a
My father worked with a horsse-pllough, sense of continuity, allowing it to stand as one unit, apart from
His sh
shoulderss gllobed like a fullll saill strung the rest of the poem. It also creates interesting sonic effects
Between the sh shafftss and the furrow. that draw further attention to this line, which describes a new
The horssess strained at hiss cllickiing tongue. time period (i.e. the present) and, with it, a dramatic reversal of
the well-established father-son family dynamic.
There are also many /t/ sounds at the poem's outset, which
provide balance and form to help establish a strong rhythm. Where Consonance appears in the poem:
There is a proliferation of new sounds around stanza 3, which • Line 1: “f,” “w,” “w,” “s,” “l”
has a unique rhythm that starts and stops often, mirroring the • Line 2: “sh,” “l,” “s,” “l,” “l,” “f,” “ll,” “s,” “l,” “s,” “t”
turning plow that these lines describe (we discuss this more in • Line 3: “t,” “sh,” “f,” “t,” “s,” “f”
the device entry for caesur
caesuraa). In short, a lack of end punctuation • Line 4: “s,” “s,” “s,” “t,” “t,” “t”
guides the reader from the end of one line immediately to the • Line 5: “x,” “t,” “w,” “s,” “t,” “w”
beginning of the next, where the reader is met with a comma or • Line 6: “t,” “t,” “s,” “t,” “t,” “s,” “ck”
period, causing a pause. Consonance creates chains of sounds • Line 7: “s,” “r,” “r,” “t,” “r,” “k”
that contribute to this effect as they spill from one line into the • Line 8: “r,” “g,” “s,” “l,” “l,” “ck”
next. • Line 9: “r,” “s,” “t,” “t,” “t,” “r,” “n,” “d,” “r,” “n,” “d”
• Line 10: “nd,” “n,” “t,” “n,” “d”
The effect begins in line 8, with /s/ and /r/ sounds...
• Line 11: “N,” “rr,” “d,” “n,” “d,” “g,” “d,” “g,” “r,” “n,” “d”
• Line 12: “rr”
At the headrrig, with a single pluck
• Line 13: “s,” “mb,” “l,” “d,” “h,” “s,” “h,” “b,” “l,” “d”
• Line 14: “ll,” “s,” “m,” “m,” “s,” “p,” “l,” “d,” “s,” “d”
...which run into line 9, where /t/, /n/, and /d/ sounds also
• Line 15: “S,” “m,” “m,” “s,” “d,” “m,” “s”
appear...
• Line 16: “D,” “pp,” “s,” “s,” “p,” “l,” “d”
• Line 17: “t,” “t,” “p,” “p”
Of reins, the sweating team turned round • Line 19: “ll,” “d,” “d,” “ll”
• Line 20: “r,” “d,” “d,” “r,” “d,” “r”
...and continue into lines 10 and 11: • Line 21: “pp,” “ll”
• Line 22: “pp,” “l,” “B,” “t,” “t”
And back int
nto the land
nd. His eye • Line 23: “t,” “m,” “t,” “m,” “b”
Narrowedd and
nd angledd at the ground
nd, • Line 24: “B,” “m,” “t”

Furthermore, /r/ sounds appear often in three of the stanza's END-STOPPED LINE
four lines. This creates strings of sound that trail off and give
way to one another. The prevalence of end punctuation, especially in combination
with the poem's consistent tetrameter, creates a series of neat,
When the rhythm becomes more regular in the next stanza, the self-contained lines that mirror the perfectly parallel,
earlier softness created by sibilance and /l/ sounds returns, impeccable furrows that the speaker's father plows. The
boosted by the /h/ sounds in its first line and humming /m/, /b/, poem's many end-stopped lines not only visually resemble the
and /d/ sounds throughout the stanza: trenches that are cut into the land over the course of the poem,
but they also provide a natural pause that comes to be
I stumbl
mbled
d in his hob
bnailled
d wake, anticipated at the end of each line, helping to establish a regular
Fellll som
metim
mes on the polished d sod
d; rhythm. The abundant parparallelism
allelism, present from the poem's
outset, also contributes to this sense of orderliness and
More straightforward examples of consonance appear in the regularity.
poem's powerful final sentence. The /t/ sounds work with

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Therefore, that rhythm is not significantly disturbed by any 3, stringing them together and mimicking the sail they describe:
single instance of enjambment that occurs about where the
speaker would naturally pause when reading or reciting a His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
sentence. Stanza 4 is a good example of this: Between the shafts and the furrow.

I stumbled in his hobnailed wake,, The break after "turned round" in line 9 is another good
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;; example of this; the reader's gaze "turns" around from the end
Sometimes he rode me on his back of one line and back to the beginning to read the next, guiding
Dipping and rising to his plod.. them through these lines like the speaker's father guides his
plow:
Line 15 ("Sometimes ...") breaks where a comma would typically
be inserted when writing prose, so the enjambment here Of reins, the sweating team turned round
doesn't feel particularly disruptive. And back into the land.
However, there are two main instances where the lack of end-
stops does cause the rhythm to break down. This happens in A similar effect occurs in lines 19 and 23, which break on
lines 8-11 ("At the headrig ... ground,") and 22-24 ("Yapping ... "follow / In" and "stumbling / Behind," respectively, the lack of
away."), where caesur
caesuraa is also present and the poem's punctuation ensuring that one line follows immediately after, or
parallelism is abandoned. We discuss this more in our device stumbles behind, that which comes before it.
entries on enjambment and caesura. It's worth noting here, In line 8, the line enjambment spans not only a line break, but
though, that the pervasiveness of end-stopped lines elsewhere also a stanza break, causing the word "pluck" to linger out in
in the poem draws attention to these deviations, creating space:
contrast and emphasizing these moments of irregularity.
At the headrig, with a single pluck
Where End-Stopped Line appears in the poem: Of reins,
• Line 1: “horse-plough,”
Here, the speaker is explaining how his father could steer his
• Line 3: “furrow.”
• Line 4: “tongue.” large, heavy horses and plow with one brief tug of reins,
• Line 6: “sock.” represented by the "single pluck" that hangs between one
• Line 7: “breaking.” stanza and another, strengthening the image. Although the
• Line 11: “ground,” poem's momentum carries the reader from line 8 into line 9, it
• Line 12: “exactly.” is almost immediately interrupted by a caesur
caesuraa (the comma
• Line 13: “wake,” after "reins"). This pattern (enjambment followed by a caesura)
• Line 14: “sod;” repeats from line 9 into line 10, and from line 10 into line 11.
• Line 16: “plod.” Caesura and enjambment thus work together throughout this
• Line 17: “plough,” section of the poem to create a rhythm that builds enough
• Line 18: “arm.” momentum to turn from one line into the next but also starts
• Line 20: “farm.” and stops often. In other words, lines 8, 9, and 10 are all
• Line 21: “falling,” enjambed, their phrases coming to rest with caesuras in the
• Line 24: “away.” middle of the following lines. Fittingly, these lines describe the
speaker's father and his plow stopping after completing one
ENJAMBMENT furrow so that they can turn around and begin another.
About one-third of the lines in "Follower" are enjambed
enjambed, In line 22, enjambment works with caesura to place additional
meaning that their meaning spills across the line breaks. emphasis on the phrase "But today." This phrase marks an
Enjambment is used primarily to control the poem's rhythm important turn from the past, in which the speaker stumbles
and build momentum. There are several instances in "Follower" behind his father, and the present, in which the opposite is true.
in which line breaks occur after words that indicate movement, Enjambment helps to draw the reader's attention to this
and because enjambment encourages the reader to quickly phrase, which sets up a major reversal of the family dynamic
transition from one line to the next, it causes the poem's form to that the rest of the poem describes.
match the images being described.
Where Enjambment appears in the poem:
This effect first appears in lines 2-3, in which the speaker
compares his father to a sail and the line breaks after "strung," • Lines 2-3: “strung / Between”
which is fixed to the last word of line 2 and the first word of line

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Mapping the furrow exactly.
• Lines 5-6: “wing / And” I stumbled in his hobnailed wake,
• Lines 8-9: “pluck / Of”
• Lines 9-10: “round / And” In line 12, the speaker's father is pictured squinting at the land
• Lines 10-11: “eye / Narrowed” in front of him, tracing it with his gaze so that he can map out
• Lines 15-16: “back / Dipping” exactly where to maneuver the plow next. The next line
• Lines 19-20: “follow / In” presents a very different image—the speaker, a little boy,
• Lines 22-23: “today / It” teetering across the field and disturbing his father's soil, so
• Lines 23-24: “stumbling / Behind” expertly-plowed that it appears "polished" before the speaker
stumbles over it. The side-by-side arrangement of these two
IRONY images—one of precisely preparing soil and the other of
The role reversal between the speaker and his father that clumsily disturbing it—help to mark a broader shift in focus
occurs in the poem's final lines upends the family dynamic that from father to son that occurs about these lines. The
the rest of the poem works diligently to make known. This is an juxtaposition also draws great contrast between the speaker
example of situational iron
ironyy, meaning that a sudden, and his father, setting up the expectation that the speaker's
unpredictable turn of events creates tension between how a father is a strong, dominant force that the speaker annoyingly
situation seems on its surface and the truth of the matter. trails behind.
The first half of "Follower" provides image after image of the However, another juxtaposition in the final stanza upsets this
speaker's father plowing their family field with effortless expectation. The speaker provides an image of himself
strength and skill. For example, he is able to cut into the earth stumbling across the farm over and over again, before stating
and turn it in such a way that it "[rolls] over without breaking" that in reality, today it is his father who "keepings stumbling /
and command his large, heavy team of horses and plow "with a Behind" him and shows no signs of stopping. By presenting a
single pluck / Of reins." strong description of one family dynamic alongside its opposite,
The second half of the poem then contrasts the expertise of the juxtaposition highlights just how extreme the differences are
speaker's father with the speaker's own ineptitude. He between the two, introducing iron ironyy and creating the
describes himself as "a nuisance," who stumbles over the impression of a role reversal.
"polished sod" that his father has freshly plowed, disturbing it. Lastly, juxtaposition occurs in stanza 5, where the speaker
The speaker also describes himself "stumbling" in his father's explains that as a young boy he "wanted to grow up and plow"
trail and "following" in his shadow, setting up a clear leader- like his father. He goes on to imagine himself squinting at the
follower dynamic between father and son, respectively. This field with one eye closed and his arm held out, assuming a
gives the impression that the speaker's father is strong and position that he has watched his father take so many times.
capable—a powerful, guiding force for his clumsy son. Immediately thereafter, the speaker specifies that "all [he] ever
However, this pretense is shattered in the poem's final did was follow" his father around the farm. The juxtaposition of
sentence, which reveals that, in reality, the opposite is true, as this reality with his childhood dream makes the reader
the speaker's aged father now "keeps stumbling / Behind" the immediately aware that it never came to fruition. In this way,
speaker. The irony created by this abrupt shift helps to the dream remains short-lived in the reader's mind, as it was
underscore the fact that this is a reversal of their roles—the for the speaker.
speaker has taken up the position that his father was earlier
described occupying in great detail, and vice versa. Where Juxtaposition appears in the poem:
• Lines 12-13: “Mapping the furrow exactly. / I stumbled in
Where Iron
Ironyy appears in the poem: his hobnailed wake,”
• Lines 17-19: “I wanted to grow up and plough, / To close
• Lines 22-24: “But today / It is my father who keeps
one eye, stiffen my arm. / All I ever did was follow”
stumbling / Behind me, and will not go away.”
• Lines 21-24: “I was a nuisance, tripping, falling, / Yapping
always. But today / It is my father who keeps stumbling /
JUXTAPOSITION Behind me, and will not go away.”
Throughout "Follower," highly contrasting images are
juxtaposed
juxtaposed, or placed side-by-side to exaggerate their ONOMATOPOEIA
differences. This first occurs from line 12 into line 13, where
The setting in "Follower" is not described in detail and instead
the poem's focus shifts to center the speaker rather than his
appears within fragmented images of the speaker and his father
father: interacting with the land. Because how the farm looks is not

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described in detail, onomatopoeia provides important texture noun or noun phrase—the sentence's subject—followed by an
and depth to the setting by providing other sensory active verb in some past tense form. This effect, known as
details—i.e., sounds, which allow the readers to better picture par
parallelism
allelism, is present from the poem's outset:
what it would be like to walk around the farm. Line 4 contains
the first example of onomatopoeia—the"clicking" sounds that My father work
worked
ed with a horse plow,
the speaker's father makes with his tongue to command the His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
horses. The repetition of a hard /k/ sound followed by a short
/i/ sound that this word contains (cclick
cking / cliickiing) creates two In lines 1 and 2, the noun phrases are "my father" and "his
short "clicks" that sound like the noises they are meant to shoulders," while the verbs are "worked" and "globed,"
describe. respectively. These first lines create a regular rhythm and set
Another arguable example comes with the word "pluck" at the up a very direct sentence structure that is uncomplicated and
end of line 8. Line 8 is enjambed
enjambed, meaning "pluck" appears to easy to follow. The poem goes on to present a series of tasks
hang at the end of the line and the stanza: and actions, described in the past tense. The repetition that
results from parallelism presents all of these actions as equal,
At the headrig, with a single pluck drawing natural comparisons, such as between father and son
Of reins, in the neighboring sentences "His eye / Narrowed and angled"
and "I stumbled ... Fell." In this way, parallelism heightens the
effect of the poem's juxtapositions
juxtapositions.
The sentence that contains "pluck" describes how the speaker's
father seems to manipulate the cumbersome horse-plow team Furthermore, the pervasiveness of parallelism draws attention
effortlessly, as he gives the reins one brief tug. The speaker's to the sections of the poem where it is absent, heightening the
decision to use the word "pluck" evokes the sound of a single effects of caesur
caesuraa and enjambment (which are discussed in
guitar string (or another similar instrument) being held back their own entries).
from all of the others, then suddenly released. The enjambment
that follows this word adds to the effect by isolating the word Where P
Par
arallelism
allelism appears in the poem:
at the end of the line and stanza while also encouraging the
• Line 1: “My father worked”
reader to move into the next line, as if the "pluck" has swiftly
• Line 2: “His shoulders globed”
released the guitar string to its starting position among the
• Line 4: “The horses strained”
others.
• Line 5: “He would set”
The term "yapping" in line 22 is the poem's final example of • Line 7: “The sod rolled”
onomatopoeia. The term "yap" is typically used to describe the • Lines 10-11: “His eye / Narrowed”
sharp barks of small dogs, which are harsh and unpleasant to • Line 13: “I stumbled”
the ear. When applied to humans, as it is here, the term • Line 17: “to grow up and plough”
indicates that a person's speech is grating—characterized by a • Line 18: “To close one eye”
shrill tone of voice and rambling on and on. The quick, harsh, • Line 21: “I was”
and somewhat nasal quality of the word "yap" itself, and
especially the short /ah/ sound, is heightened by its position at REPETITION
the beginning of the line and the metrical stress it receives
Many important words and phrases repeat in "Follower."
("Y
Yap
apping"). Furthermore, /p/ and /ing/ sounds appear directly
Usually, they are applied first to the speaker's father and then
before the term; "yapping" picks up on these sounds once
to the speaker himself or vice versa, helping to compare and
again, adding additional stress so that it reads as having a
contrast the poem's two characters. For example, line 1 reads
sharper, harsher feel.
"My father worked with a horse-plough
plough," while line 17 reads "I
wanted to grow up and plough
plough." The repetition of "plough" at
Where Onomatopoeia appears in the poem: the end of both lines links the two statements so that when the
• Line 4: “clicking” speaker says that he wishes to "plough," it's clear that he means
• Line 8: “pluck” that he wants to be like his father. A similar effect occurs with
• Line 22: “Yapping” "eye" in lines 10 and 18; the speaker first describes his father
squinting at the ground with one eye closed, and then later says
PARALLELISM that he, too, wants "to close one eye." Both examples of
repetition also reveal a crucial difference between the speaker
There is one very straightforward sentence structure that
and his father—the former wants to plow, while the latter
repeats throughout "Follower." All but two sentences begin
actually does.
with a variation on this pattern, which is characterized by a

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In line 7, the speaker's father is shown cultivating land with
precision, so that it turns over in one piece. Later, in line 14, the • Line 13: “I stumbled”
speaker stumbles onto tilled soil, disturbing it. The term "sod" is • Line 14: “sometimes,” “sod”
used in both lines, suggesting that the speaker trips over the • Line 15: “Sometimes”
same soil that his father had just perfectly cultivated. This • Line 17: “I wanted,” “plough”
further distinguishes the speaker from his father, as he seems • Line 18: “eye”
to hinder or partly undo his father's hard work. • Line 19: “All I ever did”
• Line 21: “I was”
While the above examples largely cast the speaker as a clumsy
• Line 23: “father,” “stumbling”
young boy and his father as a strong, graceful workhorse, the
repetition of "stumble" has a more complicated outcome. The
word first appears in line 13: "I stumbled in his hobnailed wake." SIMILE
Here, the speaker is pictured following his father, reinforcing Although this poem contains only one simile
simile, it plays an
the dynamic just described. However, lines 23-24 read "It is my important role. The simile occurs in lines 2-3 and compares the
father who keeps stumbling / behind me," in a reversal of that speaker's father to a ship's sail. At one end, his body is tethered
dynamic. The repetition again compares the two men, but this by the hands to the plow’s handles, and at the other, it is
time it points to a similarity: both men stumble—first, the tethered by the feet to the earth he plows. The speaker’s father
speaker and later, his father, indicating that they have switched stands upright with rounded shoulders so that his body
roles. appears to bow between the two fixed points, like a sail
Another type of repetition that arguably approaches the level fastened at either end to a mast. Through this comparison, the
of anaphor
anaphoraa occurs in the poem's final three stanzas, where the speaker declares that his father is tough, driving the plow
speaker lists the different ways he interacted with his father forward and weathering the strenuous work as if he is gliding
and their family farm as a child. The speaker's use of the first through the ocean's thrashing waves. In doing so, the speaker
person results in four sentences in a row that begin with "I" sets up a grandiose tone that encourages a positive, dignified
statements. The poem's first half is told from a second-person perception of his father from the poem's outset.
perspective and describes the speaker's father, so he is The simile conjures another image that also supports his
overwhelmingly the subject of its sentences and clauses. Thus, glorification—that of Atlas, the Greek god who held the
the subsequent repetition of "I" drives home the fact that the celestial heavens on his shoulders. Atlas is typically pictured
speaker is now the subject, signaling a major movement in the with hunched shoulders, carrying the heavens, which are
poem from father to speaker and drawing a comparison represented by a sphere. Therefore, the simile likens the
between the two. speaker's father to a god, one known for his strength and
The long /i/ sounds that echo throughout the poem's second endurance and who also has come to be a symbol of
half, such as in "riising," "eeye," "myy," and "sometiimes," ensure that mapmaking. The simile's navigational and seafaring language
the speaker's role and perspective remain at the front of reappears sporadically throughout the poem, continuing to
readers' minds. This shift in focus also foreshadows the celebrate the speaker's father (see lines 7, 11-13, and 16) and
reversal that occurs in the poem's last lines, where the speaker ultimately coming to symbolize his strength. The impact of this
overtakes his father as the leader of their family. In these ways, symbol is examined more closely in the Symbols section of this
repetition draws attention to the generational transfer of guide.
leadership as well as the differences between father and son,
ideas that strike at the core of the poem’s themes. Where Simile appears in the poem:
Par
arallelism
allelism is another specific type of repetition that has to do • Lines 2-3: “His shoulders globed like a full sail strung /
with sentence structure, and this is discussed in its own entry. Between the shafts and the furrow”
Assonance and consonance involve the repetition of vowel
sounds and consonant sounds respectively, and they are also
examined in greater detail in their own entries. VOCABULARY
Where Repetition appears in the poem: Horse-plough (Line 1) - A traditional horse-drawn machine
that farmers use to prepare their fields so that they can plant
• Line 1: “father,” “plough”
crops. Plowing (the American English form of "ploughing")
• Line 3: “furrow”
cultivates the land by cutting into the soil to lift it up and turn it
• Line 7: “sod”
over. This process exposes helpful nutrients, hides any
• Line 10: “eye”
vegetation that has grown since the field has been harvested,
• Line 12: “furrow”
and breaks up hardened soil to encourage draining and root

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growth. is as powerful as a ship or airplane.
Globed (Line 2) - Rounded, creating a form that resembles a Polished (Line 14) - Smooth and elegant. The soil was not
sphere's arc. literally rubbed until it shone, but this image indicates that his
Shafts (Line 3) - The long, narrow poles that connect and brace father turned the soil over in level pieces and worked with
the plow's two handles. finesse.

Furrow (Line 3, Line 12) - The narrow groove that the horse Plod (Line 16) - Drawn-out, deliberate, and heavy manner of
plow creates as it cuts into the earth. Furrows are the long, walking.
continuous trenches that run along the full length of a plot in Broad (Line 20) - Physically wide, but also great in magnitude,
neat, parallel lines. metaphorically.
Clicking (Line 4) - Creating concise, sharp sounds as a means to Yapping (Line 22) - Talking on and on in a way that is shrill and
guide the horses. Short, simple voice commands are commonly irritating, like the high-pitched barks of small dogs.
used to drive plowing horses.
Wing (Line 5) - The flat part of the plow, or cutting edge closest
to the soil, that "wings" out into a tip. The wing helps the plow
FORM, METER, & RHYME
stay balanced and level, so it must be adjusted to prevent the
FORM
plow from tilting too far towards the freshly plowed furrow or
the unplowed earth. The speaker's use of this slang term "Follower" consists of six quatrains, or stanzas of four lines
underscores his great knowledge of traditional plowing apiece. What is perhaps most striking about the form of
machinery. "Follower" is the regularity of its lines. On the most basic level,
they all look like they are roughly the same length. And with
Steel-pointed sock (Line 6) - The steel tip of the plow's main
only one exception, each line has four poetic feet
feet. The poem's
cutting edge. "Sock" is a slang term for "plowshare" that would
lines thus appear tight and tidy on the page, mirroring the
only be familiar to those who have spent considerable time
expertly plowed furrows that run parallel to one another up
around traditional plowing machinery.
and down the field described.
Sod (Line 7) - The very top layer of earth, including vegetation
The prevalence of end-stopped lines contributes to this effect.
such as grass and weeds in addition to soil.
Heaney does opt for enjambment in a few notable places
Breaking (Line 7) - Cracking into discrete, uneven clumps of throughout the poem, though these moments also reflect the
earth that are difficult to work with. The speaker's father was poem's content. Take line 2, where the word "strung" bleeds
able to turn the earth in smooth, level swaths. into the subsequent line, bridging them, much like the plow that
Headrig (Line 8) - The patch of unplowed land on each end of a the speaker describes linking his father's hands to his feet like
plot where the plowing apparatus turns around to create a new the mast that a sail hangs from. Lines 8, 9, and 10 are also
furrow. Also known as "headland" or "turnrow" in some areas. enjambed, so the reader's gaze mimics the plow, turning from
the end of one line into the beginning of the next as the speaker
Pluck (Line 8) - A quick tug and release. This word can also
describes "the team [turning] round" to create a new furrow.
refer to playing stringed instruments, highlighting the skill and
artistry of the speaker's father by subtly comparing him to a Arguably the poem plays with the ballad form, given that it is
musician. arranged into quatrains and its meter is primarily iambic
(meaning that follows an unstressed-stressed
stressed syllable pattern).
Team (Line 9) - Two or more horses tethered together to pull a
While the poem does not use strict iambic meter or alternate
piece of machinery.
between tetr
tetrameter
ameter and trimeter
trimeter, as ballads customarily do, its
Angled (Line 11) - Directed itself at its subject from an angle. rhythm still mimics the bounciness associated with the ballad
The speaker's father was able to make precise geometrical form due to its iambic bent. Furthermore, the poem uses an
calculations by sight to improve the plow's performance. ABAB rhrhyme
yme scheme rather than the ABCB pattern of
Mapping (Line 12) - Visually tracing and mentally charting. traditional ballads.
Hobnailed (Line 13) - Studded with impressions of hobnails, or This adaptation of a beloved, traditional poetic form mirrors
short nails with heavy heads that are driven into the soles of the speaker's own take on the farming traditions of his
work boots to increase their durability. forefathers. Both Heaney's treatment of form and his speaker's
Wake (Line 13) - Trail of turned soil. This term typically refers innovative preservation of family practices via poetry show
to a trail of water kicked up by a boat or a trail of air disrupted respect and reverence for the past, while carrying on traditions
by an aircraft. Here, the speaker applies "wake" to his father's in a new way that resonates with a new generation.
trail of freshly tilled earth, giving the impression that his father

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METER however, abruptly snap back into iambic tetrameter:
"Follower" is mostly written in iambic tetr
tetrameter
ameter, meaning that
the lines consist of four sets of iambs, or an unstressed syllable I stum
stum- | bled in | his hob
hob- | nailed wak
wakee,
followed by a stressed syllable. Take line 5: Fell some
some- | times on | the pol
pol- | ished sod
sod;

An ex- | pert. He | would set | the wing These lines appear rather blunt and lurching as the speaker's
childlike stumbling is pictured, providing a metrical contrast as
However, the meter is highly irregular, with many lines focus shifts to the speaker's movements and away from his
containing an extra syllable and/or substituting iambs for other father's.
poetic feet
feet. Still, due to the overarching prevalence of the iamb, RHYME SCHEME
a bouncy rhythm flows throughout the poem and mirrors the
Heaney uses the following rhyme scheme throughout the
tread of the speaker's father, who is "dipping and rising" with
poem:
his plow as he works.
ABAB
There are countless metrical variations throughout the poem,
but a few are particularly notable. For example, line 22 deviates In other words, the sounds that end the first and third lines of
from the established tetrameter, as its meter is trochaic each stanza rhyme, as do the sounds that end the second and
(meaning the feet are stressed
stressed-unstressed) and it is missing a fourth lines. Sometimes these rhymes are perfect, meaning that
final syllable: the sounds are identical, and other times they are slant rh rhymes
ymes,
meaning they have similar, but not identical, sounds. For
Yap
apping | al
always. | But toda
dayy example, lines 2 and 4 contain perfect rhymes with "strung" and
"tongue," while lines 1 and 3 are slant rhymes: "plough" and
Interestingly, each line in the three preceding stanzas (stanzas "furrow." In stanzas 1, 4, and 5, the slant rhymes occur in the
3, 4, and 5) has eight syllables. In the final stanza, however, lines first and third lines, so the rhyme scheme resembles that of a
21 ("I was a nuisance ..."), 23 ("It is my father ..."), and 24 traditional ballad
ballad: ABCB (that is, if readers count the slant
("Behind me ...") have nine syllables, while line 22 has just rhyme of line 3 as a new rhyme sound, the "C" in that pattern,
seven—making its shortness even more pronounced due to the rather than just a riff on the "A" sound). In the other stanzas,
increased length of the surrounding lines. Therefore, a great though, lines 1 and 3 are the perfect rhymes and lines 2 and 4
deal of emphasis is placed on this line, which contains the are slant rhymes. Take stanza 3, where "round" rhymes
poem's volta, or turn—it represents a shift from past to present perfectly with "ground," but "eye" is a slant rhyme with "exactly."
as well as a reversal of the established leader-follower dynamic The rhyme scheme is not entirely predictable then, which might
and a corresponding change in the speaker's attitude towards subtly suggest the father's skill in navigating the fields he plows.
his father. The formal irregularity of this line helps to draw The poem moves nimbly between these various rhyme
attention to it as a point of change. patterns, just as the speaker's father adeptly works his land.
In line 19, each foot is again a trochee rather than an iamb:

All I | ever | did was | fol

follow SPEAKER
The speaker in "Follower" is an adult man reflecting on his
This produces a line that is literally backwards metrically, shifting relationship with his father, a farmer. For most of the
reflecting the speaker's inability to replicate his father's poem, the speaker appears as a stumbling little boy who is in
motions, as the line describes. The nearly perfect iambic awe of his father. But his true age (and resulting removal from
tetrameter that comprises the rest of stanza 5 heightens this that period of his life) serves a few functions.
effect.
First, it allows the speaker to use sophisticated language, which
Finally, lines 11-12, which describe the speaker's father making helps to implicitly elevate the nobility of his father's work. It
methodical calculations, are filled with additional unstressed also reveals the changes that both men have undergone as the
syllables, so they read as soft and nimble: years have passed. As a child, the speaker badly wanted to be
like his father and dreamt of being a farmer when he grew up.
Nar
Narrowed | and ang
ang- | led at | the ground
ground, At the end of the poem, however, the reader learns that he has
Map
Mapping | the fur
fur- | row ex- | act
actly. not realized this dream. What's more, the speaker no longer
sees his father as a dexterous, strong man, and instead, he
Some readers might argue that "at" receives slight stress. Still, "keeping stumbling behind" the speaker. He seems to find this
this line contains two unstressed syllables in a row, so the role reversal troubling or unsettling, as it seems that he cannot
effect holds and carries into line 12. The lines that follow,

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shake his father, who he says "will not go away." interpret their settings and experiences. Heaney maintained a
The speaker in this poem and in the other works that appear in deep respect for the past, and his work often nods to poetic
Death of a Naturalist is generally understood to be a persona of tradition—reflected in the ballad
ballad-like form that "Follower" riffs
Heaney's. His father was a successful cattle dealer and on, for example.
operated their family's generations-old farm. Heaney's father It is essential to note that Heaney's work is very much engaged
expected him to take up these trades and maintain their familial with Irish literary traditions, and particularly their emphasis on
traditions, but, like the speaker, Heaney failed to do so. Like land and sense of place. He has said that poets such as Ted
Heaney, the speaker in "Follower" ultimately does not follow Hughes ("Ha Hawk
wk Roosting
Roosting"), Robert FFrost
rost ("After
After Apple-
the path established by his forebears and instead charts a new Picking
Picking"), and especially Patrick KaKavanagh
vanagh, all of whose work
one. drew heavily from their native locales, helped him see the
While it is possible to interpret the speaker as a non-male virtue of his traditional Irish upbringing, which he had written
figure, Heaney's biographical similarities to the speaker and the off as archaic earlier in life. Heaney also translated many works
fact that Irish farming traditions were patrilineal, or passed of Irish literature and found inspiration and camaraderie among
down from father to son over generations, suggest that the contemporary Irish poets such as John Hewitt
Hewitt, John Montague
Montague,
speaker is male, a conclusion also reached by many literary and Paul Muldoon
Muldoon. Accordingly, he was a most consistent and
critics. This guide uses male pronouns accordingly, but it is persistent member of the Belfast group, a poet's workshop that
certainly possible to interpret the poem differently. he attended from its inception in 1963. Today, countless poets
cite Heaney as an influence, as he is one of the most widely
read poets in the world, cherished by casual poetry readers and
SETTING literary critics alike.

This poem presumably takes place in the 1940s in rural HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Northern Ireland, where Heaney spent his childhood. However, Ireland has a rich farming history, handed down over thousands
the poem reveals very little about the setting—only that its of years through 200+ generations. Plowing technology has
events take place on a farm, where fields are plowed using been around about as long, and steel plows, like the one used in
horses and other traditional agricultural equipment. This is a "Follower," became prolific after their invention in the mid-19th
time before more modern farming technology, but that is about century. However, a shift to motorized tractors began to occur
all the reader knows of this particular setting. around the 1920s, and it really picked up in the '40s, right
Where indications of place do appear, they appear in around the time Heaney was born. As more and more farmers
fragments—single words and phrases that describe the earth, made the switch, traditional plowing methods were
such as "headrig," "land," "polished sod," and "the farm." This has increasingly abandoned, and livestock handling traditions
the effect of directly connecting the reader's sense of place diminished along with them. Irish farming methods are
with the land and its cultivation, which, in turn, reflects the traditionally passed on from father to son, making them central
poem's thematic emphasis on farming as a meaningful part of to familial identity. Therefore, during Heaney's childhood, the
(familial) identity. Furthermore, the one-dimensional setting survival of familial agricultural traditions hinged more than ever
allows the actions of the speaker and his father, including their on young Irish men practicing and sustaining them.
impact on the land, to remain foregrounded throughout the Heaney experienced a great deal of ambivalence about his role
poem, as these are the clearest images the poem provides. In as a farmer's son. Farming did not suit his nature and he
other words, the poem takes place, above all, within the resisted its traditions for much of his life before coming to
relationship between these two men. appreciate their beauty and virtue, which he detailed in his
poetry, uplifting and preserving such methods in his widely-
read verse. That ambivalence, sense of endangerment, and
CONTEXT reverence are all encompassed within "Follower," whose
speaker exalts his father's techniques while also suggesting
LITERARY CONTEXT that they are in jeopardy, and ultimately argues for their
Although Death of a Naturalist is among Heaney's earliest work, preservation. Like Heaney, the speaker forges his own
relative to his long career, it introduces ideas that Heaney path—one that diverges from familial traditions and
continued to grapple with for decades to come. Themes such as expectations—and eventually both men become leaders, albeit
family dynamics, childhood experiences, veneration of the past, leaders slightly unsettled by this reversal of familial roles.
Irish identity, and the nobility of rural laborers pervade his
poetry. He also continued to use both child and adult
perspectives in his writing as lenses through which his speakers

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• The Belfast Group — An overview of the Belfast Group
MORE RESOUR
RESOURCES
CES from Emory University, which houses the largest
collection of Heaney's literary archive, per his donation.
EXTERNAL RESOURCES (https:/
(https://belfastgroup.ecds.emory
/belfastgroup.ecds.emory.edu/o
.edu/ovverview/)
• A Biogr
Biograph
aphyy of Seamus Heane
Heaneyy — An overview of
Heaney's life and work that pays special attention to his LITCHARTS ON OTHER SEAMUS HEANEY POEMS
early years. (https:/
(https://www
/www.nobelprize.org/prizes/liter
.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/
ature/ • Blackberry-Picking
1995/heane
1995/heaneyy/biogr
/biographical/)
aphical/) • Death of a Natur
Naturalist
alist
• Digging
• Seamus Heane
Heaneyy Reads "F
"Follower"
ollower" — Listen to the author • Mid-T
Mid-Term
erm Break
read the poem aloud. (https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/ • Storm on the Island
watch?v=TSnrxHqEB3I)
• A Documentary on Irish Farming T Trraditions — The first
several minutes of this video (2:10-6:00) show a farmer HOW T
TO
O CITE
working with an antique horse plow. The documentary
goes on to describe the tools that replaced traditional MLA
plows. (https:/
(https://www
/www..youtube.com/
Soa, Jackson. "Follower." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 29 Oct 2019.
watch?v=7GelL6L0eTM)
Web. 22 Apr 2020.
• Heane
Heaney's
y's Annotations in Death of a Natur
Naturalist
alist — Images of
a copy of Heaney's first book, Death of Naturalist, which CHICAGO MANUAL
he annotated. This includes a short annotation of Soa, Jackson. "Follower." LitCharts LLC, October 29, 2019.
"Follower." (https:/
(https://www
/www.theguardian.com/books/
.theguardian.com/books/ Retrieved April 22, 2020. https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/
inter
interactiv
active/2013/ma
e/2013/mayy/18/seamus-heane
/18/seamus-heaney-death-
y-death- seamus-heaney/follower.
natur
naturalist-annotations)
alist-annotations)

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