Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Why do you think Heaney spends so much time describing the father's expertise?
- How does the fact that the son is the speaker of the poem affect your reading?
- If the son looked up to his father so much, why do you think he didn't just learn how to plow? What, or who, could have been preventing him from following in his father's footsteps?
- How does the title affect your reading of the poem? Does it change or develop in meaning for you as the poem progresses? How so?
- What is the effect of the 180-degree turn we get at the end of the poem (when the speaker says his dad follows him around all the time)? Does it change the way you think about the rest of the poem? How so?