"Digging" by Seamus Heaney

PART A: Which statement BEST summarizes the speaker's view of his father and grandfather throughout the poem?

• The type of labor they engaged in was physically demanding and therefore more valuable than mental labor.

• The work they performed, though important, caused damage to the environment.

• They were engaged in valuable and challenging labor, and the speaker would have a hard time following their example.

• They worked harder than they should have, and they regretted it later in life.

PART B: Which quotation from the poem contributes MOST directly to an understanding of the speaker's view of his father and grandfather?

• "The squat pen rests; snug as a gun." (line 2)

• "The coarse boot nestled on the lug..." (line 10)

• "Once I carried him a milk bottle / Corked sloppily with paper." (lines 19-20)

• "But I've no spade to follow men like them." (line 28)

PART A: The poem begins in the present, shifts back to the speaker's past, and concludes in the present. How does this shifiting of time contribute to the overall meaning of the poem?

• It helps emphasize the speaker's sense that the work of his father and grandfather was more important than his own writing.

• It helps emphasize the strength of the connection between the speaker and his father and grandfather.

• It helps provide context for understanding why the father would be disappointed with the type of work his son does.

• It helps provide context for understanding why the speaker's father and grandfather had a closer connection to each other than the speaker had to his father.

PART B: In which quotation from the poem is this shifting in time MOST evident?

• "Under my window, a clean rasping sound / When the spade sinks into gravelly ground." (lines 3-4)

• "Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds / Bends low, comes up twenty years away." (lines 6-7)

• "He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep / To scatter new potatoes that we picked." (lines 12-13)

• "My grandfather cut more turf in a day / Than any other man on Toner's bog." (lines 17-18)

PART A: What does the speaker convey by using concrete physical details in describing the actions of his father and grandfather?

• He emphasizes the idea that performing physical labor is no longer a way of life.

• He suggests that the father was more proficient at farming than the grandfather.

• He enhances the sense that their work is an essential part of their identities.

• He reinforces his view that intellectual labor is superior to manual.

PART B1: Select the TWO physical descriptions from the poem that contribute to the speaker's characterization of his father.

• "...snug as a gun." (line 2)

• "Under my window..." (line 3)

• "Stooping in rhythm..." (line 8)

• "...buried the bright edge deep" (line 12)

• "Loving their cool hardness..." (line 14)

PART B2: Select the TWO physical descriptions from the poem that contribute to the speaker's characterization of his grandfather.

• "...snug as a gun." (line 2)

• "Under my window..." (line 3)

• "Stooping in rhythm..." (line 8)

• "...Then fell to right away" (line 21)

• "...heaving sods" (line 22)

PART A: The speaker begins and ends the poem by calling attention to the act of writing. Which statement BEST explains how the poem's structure contributes to its overall meaning?

• The structure suggests the importance of the speaker's work because it emphasizes that the story of his father and grandfather survives in his writing.

• The structure highlights the speaker's view that his work is more important than that of his father and grandfather because their work would be unknown without his writing.

• The structure reinforces the speaker's view that his writing is less important than the work of his father and grandfather because the poem's ending does little more than repeat the beginning.

• The structure minimizes the importance the speaker places on his father and grandfather because it calls attention to the speaker's rejection of their work habits.

PART B: Which evidence from the poem achieves the same effect as the poem's structure described in Part A?

• the speaker's description of the pen's fit in his hand as "snug"

• the speaker's description of carrying a milk bottle "corked sloppily with paper" to his grandfather

• the speaker's admission that he has "no spade to follow men like them"

• the speaker's statement that he will "dig" with his pen

PART A: What does the phrase "nestled on" mean as it is used in line 10?

• prepared unthinkingly for

• unearthed continuously for

• wielded ably against

• fit closely against