Seamus Heaney paints a picture of Ireland through his poems, sometimes describing its culture and other times its politics. In poems such as "Digging" and "The Follower" he attaches a sense of dignity to the act of farming, comparing it to the art of writing poetry. Northern Ireland, where Heaney was born in 1939, was predominantly an agrarian economy. Heaney himself grew up on a farm, which played an important role in making the land a dominant motif in his poems. In 'At a Potato Digging' Heaney strips agriculture of its dignity, to describe a change in the Irish's relationship with the land due to the potato famine of 1845-50. Potatoes were an integral part of Irish existence, constituting the staple food as well as the main source of sustenance; it was at the root of Irish culture. When degradation struck, acres of farmland were reduced to a pile of rotting mud. Out of a population of five million, one million died and two million emigrated. The potato ceased to be a staple product, shaking the foundations of Irish identity. His poem is divided into four parts, the first and last depict the present still haunted by memories of the famine, the second describes the potato as something beautiful, but at the same time repulsive and the third tells of the famine itself. Heaney recounts the indelible horrors of the potato famine to describe the changed attitude of distrust towards the land in order to bring out the altered notion of Irish identity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The poem opens with the description of agriculture in the present as an activity devoid of dignity. Heaney uses the onomatopoeic words "stumble", "crumbled" and "fumble" which also form an internal rhythm to evoke images of clumsiness. The loss of dignity is further emphasized in "humiliated knees". “Humiliated” implies that there was once pride in agriculture, which had been lost due to the famine. Being forced to bow is poignantly described in “like crows attacking crow-black fields,” where the image of the street sweeper is evoked. The land is explained as something that died during the famine. The loss of faith in the land is counted in the superstition of paying "homage to the god of the harvest". Northern Ireland is predominantly Catholic and follows a monotheistic doctrine. Paying homage to the God of the Harvest (a pagan figure) reflects the shaking of existing identities due to the horrors of the Famine. The first section of the poem follows a loose iambic meter, which imitates the rhythm of digging. An abab rhyme scheme distinguishes the present from the past. The image of the potato serves as a link between the past and the present. Described in free verse with a loose trochaic meter, the potato is both beautiful and repulsive. Enjambement plays an important role in distinguishing the two contrasting evocations: "the slit-eyed tubers look like the petrified hearts of drills. Split / with a spade they show themselves white as cream". While “slit-eyed” evokes the image of disease, “white as cream” is a positive image of the freshness inside the potato. The "good smells" express a sense of contentment, distinguishing the tone of the second section from the first. While the former reflects mistrust and fear towards the earth, the latter builds a sense of reverence through images of birth. This reverence predates the famine. The “swollen pebbles” and “slit-eyed tubers” set the stage for the memory of the famine in the next section by describing the.