A line by line analysis and notes on this poem. This will help you understand what the poem means in simple terms.

1. FOLLOWERSeamus Heaney

2. What is the role of parents
when they have young kids,
and how are these roles
reversed?

3. 1. My father worked with a horse-plough,
2. His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
3. Between the shafts and the furrow.
4. The horse strained at his clicking tongue.
1. An expert. He would set the wing
2. And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.
3. The sod rolled over without breaking.
4. At the headrig, with a single pluck
1. Of reins, the sweating team turned round
2. And back into the land. His eye
3. Narrowed and angled at the ground,
4. Mapping the furrow exactly.
Follower
Seamus Heaney

4. 13.I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake,
14.Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
15.Sometimes he rode me on his back
16.Dipping and rising to his plod.
13.I wanted to grow up and plough,
14.To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
15.All I ever did was follow
16.In his broad shadow round the farm.
13.I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
14.Yapping always. But today
15.It is my father who keeps stumbling
16.Behind me, and will not go away.
Follower
Seamus Heaney

5. stanza
one
1
His father was a farmer before the
time of tractors.
2
He was strong - ‘globed’ tells us
what his posture was when plowing:
his shoulders were rounded. It also
hints not only at his physical size but
also his importance to the speaker.
2 / 3
Simile: his shoulders are compared
to a sail emphasizing the size and
power that they generate.
4
He was able to command a horse
with the slightest sound which
shows that he was powerful but also
gentle.
1. My father worked with a horse-plough,
2. His shoulders globed like a full sail strung
3. Between the shafts and the furrow.
4. The horse strained at his clicking tongue.

6. stanza
two
This stanza describes the father’s
expert knowledge of his farming
implements.
wing: the part of the plow that
goes into the earth.
sod: damp soil
pluck: gentle pull (this shows how
effortlessly the father controls the
horses)
5. An expert. He would set the wing
6. And fit the bright steel-pointed sock.
7. The sod rolled over without breaking.
8. At the headrig, with a single pluck

7. stanza
three 9
Enjambment - this line follows
from the previous stanza.
The father, although powerful, did
not have to use his power to get
the horses to do exactly what he
wanted.
10 / 11 / 12
The most difficult thing about
ploughing is making sure the
furrows are exactly straight. The
father would squint and do this
with absolute precision.
9. Of reins, the sweating team turned round
10. And back into the land. His eye
11. Narrowed and angled at the ground,
12. Mapping the furrow exactly.

8. stanza
four
13 /14
The speaker contrasts himself
with his father - he is the opposite
of powerful. He is an amateur: he
can’t even walk behind his father
without falling.
15
His father cared for him and even
carried him.
16
He walked rhythmically.
Plod - to tread heavily while
walking.
13. I stumbled in his hob-nailed wake,
14. Fell sometimes on the polished sod;
15. Sometimes he rode me on his back
16. Dipping and rising to his plod.

9. stanza
five 17 / 18 ./ 19
The speaker expresses his
longing to become like his father.
He seems more interested in the
performance than the actual
work, which shows how he
idolises his father.
19 / 20
The speaker shadowed his father.
17. I wanted to grow up and plough,
18. To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
19. All I ever did was follow
20. In his broad shadow round the farm.

10. stanza
six
21 / 22
Again the speaker emphasizes
his own ineptitude.
22 / 23 / 24
In these final lines the roles have
reversed. The speaker is now an
adult and is strong but his father
has become old and lost his
strength. He even follows him
around in the same way. The
speaker has gained his
independence and his father has
lost it: the circle is complete.
The speaker got what he wanted
(he is now like his father) but it is
a bittersweet victory, because his
father has become old and
decrepit.
21. I was a nuisance, tripping, falling,
22. Yapping always. But today
23. It is my father who keeps stumbling
24. Behind me, and will not go away.

11. Form
The poem has six stanzas
with an ABAB rhyme
scheme. One of the rhymes
in each stanza is a half
rhyme. This mirrors the
ineffectual attempt the
speaker makes to be
exactly like his father.
Rhythmically, the lines are
mostly iambic tetrameter. (8
syllables, with every second
syllable stressed)

12. Questions
1. ...