Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 9
Of reins, the sweating team turned round
- With a single "pluck" (a delicate little tug) of the reins (which are attached to the horses), they turn around.
- This line takes the admiration for the father one step further: not only is he skilled with the plowing equipment, but his team of horses respects him so much that they hardly have to be told to make the necessary turns. The horses know who's boss, it seems.
Lines 10–12
And back into the land. His eye
Narrowed and angled at the ground,
Mapping the furrow exactly.
- The team of horses turns, and quickly gets back on track with the plowing.
- Lines 11 and 12 really zoom in on the father. We get to see his squinting, focused eyes as they watch the ground before him.
- The speaker of the poem is studying him very closely.
- We also get to see how focused the father is. In order to be as good at plowing as he is, he not only needs to be strong and commanding, but extremely focused on the details of the land he's working ("mapping" […] "exactly"). Michael Jordan had the tongue out at moments of extreme concentration, and this guy gets his squint on.
- And we get another example of a perfect pair of end rhymes ("round" and "ground"), and a pair of slant rhymes ("eye" and "exactly").