Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Line 13
I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake,
Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
- At last, enter the speaker. We're finally being introduced to the "I" of the poem (the son of the man who's doing all that plowing).
- Don't get too tripped-up on the Irishism "hob-nailed." It just means the places in the ground that the plow and the plowman's feet have made ruts in.
- The boy is tripping behind his father while he works, trying to keep up. As we've found out, the father is very good at what he does, and seems completely focused and absorbed by the task, so maybe it's not that easy for a young boy to keep up.
- He also mentions that sometimes he falls on the "polished sod"—not very helpful, young man. Here's hoping his dad is an understanding guy.
- (The description of "polished" here suggests that the dirt is smooth and shiny where it's been cut by the plow.)
Lines 15–16
Sometimes he rode me on his back
Dipping and rising to his plod.
- His father seems like a cool dude. Even though he's working his bum off, he gives his son a piggyback. Maybe his son isn't exactly helpful, but the father is probably touched to have such an admiring fan accompanying him while he works. (Or at least he figures this will keep the boy out of his way.)
- "Dipping and rising" indicates the feel you might have when riding piggyback. The boy bounces along on his father's back with each step.
- Notice how the rhythm of the poem so far is a lot like "dipping and rising," too. The even length of the lines (and the regular end rhyme-slant rhyme combos in each stanza) create a sense of rhythm in the poem. So we can both imagine what the scene looks like and we can feel it, rhythmically, while we're reading the poem. (Check out "Form and Meter" for more on that effect.)