The storm inside, it rages on.

 In the poem “Digging” by Heaney the narrator is comparing his pen to his father's spade as hif life line and his chosen path. The narrator feels that his bloodlines work with the turf is outdated and not fulfilling. It is interesting how in the same piece of work he expresses an awe and and overwhelming sens of pride about his grandfather's skill in the trade, and his ability to “cut more turf in one day than any other man on Toner's bog” (Heaney 458). Yet at the same time he is portraying a sense of disapproval or superiority when compared to his father and grandfather, he does not wish to follow in the footsteps of “men like them”(Heaney 458). In the second stanza the image of the narrator literally looking down on his father is quite impact-full and telling to the overall tone of the poem. In this stanza the narrator creates a picture for us of him up above his father, looking down at him, behind his window the narrator is assumed to be safe and warm and clean not burdened by the heavy labours of his father and grandfather.

 

The most obvious overlap between the death of Sylvia Plath and her poem “Daddy” is her reference to herself as a Jew in the concentration camps and the self made gas chamber in which she met her end. The poem is very heavy and sad, and I would imagine the heart of someone in a suicidal state would feel much the same. I feel that someone would wish to write their own life in such a way because we all want to have our sorrows or anguish recognized to a certain extent. If someone were to read something I had written and feel as though they could relate to it or that it was telling their own story then I would feel a sense of justification for my feelings or my thoughts. And maybe if my thoughts and feeling were dark, in writing them for all to see I would be seeking a saviour, someone to see my pain and come rescue me. The last reason I could think that someone in Sylvia's position would want to write their life in the way that she did is to tell her side of the story so to speak, so that just maybe people would have some sympathy for her instead of just disdain at her final act; maybe they would understand her instead of judge her.