Digging

Seamus Heaney wrote during the second half of the 20th century. His work is steeped heavily in the literary mythos and ideals of the Postmodern era. Postmodernism, a literary movement that began in the 1960s after the conclusion of World War II, is partially defined by its break from the realism of the Modernist movement of the early-20th century (1900-1950). Like most Postmodernist literature and philosophy, Postmodernism refuses to be hemmed in by any formal literary precepts. In poetry, this means more of a focus on the personal narrative; poetry during this period is more fluid and often follows a stream-of-consciousness style. Strict form and meter are relaxed or dropped entirely in favor of free-verse poetry, which does not conform to any predetermined rhyme schemes or metrical units.

In form, Heaney’s writing is also Postmodern, though it does make use of rhyme and sound as it sees fit. “Digging,” for example, is written primarily in free-verse, and it follows no set meter. The stanzas vary in length without following any apparent pattern. Twice, Heaney uses couplets—once at the beginning of the poem and again after the fourth stanza, but neither