During this essay I am going to analyse the theme of family and Seamus Heaney's ties with his family. The poems I going to analyse are "Digging" and "Mid-term Break."

Seamus Heaney was born on his home farm `Mossbourne' in County Derry in Northern Ireland. He lived with his family for many years before being sent away to boarding school. His language separated his father and him, but they still shared the same love of the countryside and outdoors.

In the poem "Digging" the child turns into a man, but has no spade to follow in his fathers footsteps. Throughout the poem Heaney has tried to capture life on the farm: the sounds that are made, the smells that are created, the touch and feel of the soil and the rough potatoes; Heaney remembers life on the farm fondly.

The poem is irregular and there...