“The principle concern of poets is either to explain themselves to the world, or explain the world to themselves.” Consider in detail the principle concerns of Seamus Heaney’s poems Personal Helicon and Digging in the light of this statement.
The theme of personal identity is prominent in the poems Personal Helicon and Digging by Seamus Heaney. Heaney seeks to understand and to explain the world to himself. Both poems are therapeutic and reflective in that Heaney uses the world to discover himself and his past. In Digging, the persona ‘[digs]’ through his ancestral past, prying though ‘living roots’ in an attempt to make sense of his past and therefore, able to define himself. The motif of ‘digging’ down is reminiscent of a search for a deeper idea and thus, a deeper understanding of the world. In Personal Helicon, the persona introduces the readers to wells in his childhood. Looking down into the wells is, once again, a motif for personal reflection. It offers him varied ways to perceive things, the ability to understand the versatility of humanity. It is an appreciation of the positive and negative aspects of human nature and through this, an increased awareness of his unique inner self.
The poem Digging is largely evolved around the concept of ‘digging’ down in the revelation of the persona’s past and in doing so, explaining the world to himself. The motif of ‘digging’ is present throughout the poem. At the beginning of the poem, Heaney sets the scene of the persona holding a pen ‘as snug as a gun.’ The poet uses a simile to symbolically portray the pen as having the power to record things of the past, and thus, allowing him to make sense of his past. While a spade allows for the physical act of ‘digging,’ a pen equates to the psychological act of ‘digging.’ The persona wishes to ‘follow men’ in the previous generations before him, yet he does not have the conditions to do so. Instead, all he can do is to record the memories of these motivated skilful men before him. He tries to identify the qualities possessed by his ‘old man…[and the] old man’ before him, in an attempt to evoke family traditions, to understand his past and all those exemplary people – his father, grandfather who were the pride of their family and their community. In doing so, he is able to make sense of the world in his childhood. The poet successfully brings the readers back in time, ‘twenty years away,’ in the third stanza as his father ‘[stoops] in rhythm through potato drills.’ This allusion to music suggests that at the time of the persona’s father, the act of digging is no longer seen as a daily chore, the work required to feed the family. Instead, it is a form of enjoyment, to bind the family together as his father and him ‘picked’ the ‘new potatoes,’ loving their cool hardness in their hands.’ The poet brings the readers back even further in time to his childhood with his grandfather in the fifth stanza. There is a sudden change of tone as the persona describes his grandfather, this is done with almost a sense of pride as the persona boasts that he ‘once…carried him milk in a bottle’ and that he can ‘cut more turf in a day than any other man….’ This suggests that back in his grandfather’s days, he dug for living, for supporting his family. There is a sudden transition back to the present and the poet writes that ‘living roots’ awaken. This shows that the persona has gradually understood that different time-periods call for different treatment of the same subject, whether it is the act of digging. He realises and finally accepts that in the present, his sole task is to write. He is not able to ‘follow men like [his grandfather and others]’ simply because the context do not permit for such; instead the most he can do is to ‘dig with [his pen],’ to record the world he has finally made sense of.
Similarly, the motif of looking down into the wells in Personal Helicon allows the persona to make sense of the world. However, this time, instead of prying through ‘living roots’ into the persona’s ancestral past in differing time periods. Heaney uses different types of wells in the same time period to aid the revelation of varying ways of perceiving the world the persona lives in, allowing for an innate appreciation of the good and bad aspects of human nature, enabling him to gain an understanding of the world and ultimately, gaining awareness of himself. Aside from this, the different depth of the wells symbolises the degree of the persona’s understanding of himself. Once again, like Digging, in the beginning of the poem, the poet brings the readers back to the childhood of the persona. In the second stanza, the persona encounters a well, at this point, he describes it as being ‘so deep you saw no reflection in it.’ This suggests the persona is yet to discover things, to come to a conclusion that some things are not just what they seem, one cannot judge something only by seeing the surface of things. The next well is a shallower one, it is under a ‘dry stone ditch fructified like any aquarium.’ The use of simile and a half rhyme emphasises a slow transition of understanding the world he lives in, that beneath the surface of the dark reflection of the water, there are things much more interesting. Here, the poet makes reference to ‘long roots from…soft mulch,’ this is reminiscent of Digging in that roots symbolise family tradition; in this context, the meaning is somewhat similar and it shows the persona’s deeper understanding of things around him. The very last well that is mentioned ‘had echoes,’ this suggests the well is very shallow. It echoes back with ‘clean new music,’ yet in the next line, the well is described as ‘scaresome,’ to take this further, the poet makes mention of a rat. This sudden transition suggests that mixed with any positive things are negatives, one cannot be close minded and look at only one aspect of things and neglect the other side, but rather to take into account the whole and then make judgements based on the whole picture. At this point, the persona refers to his own ‘reflection,’ suggesting that he has finally made sense of the world and consequently, himself.
