Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 17–18
I wanted to grow up and plough,
To close one eye, stiffen my arm.
- No surprise here—the speaker (the son) wants to grow up and plow too because he admires his father so much that he wants to be just like him.
- He not only wants to grow up to plow, but he wants to mimic the exact way his father did it: "To close one eye, stiffen my arm." It makes you wonder what is more appealing to the speaker: the actual work of plowing, or becoming like the man he admires.
- Keep in mind that the son doesn't seem exactly cut out for this kind of work, what with all the stumbling and bumbling all over the place. It's like wanting to be a mathematician when you have trouble with the times table. It's not looking good for him.
Lines 19-20
All I ever did was follow
In his broad shadow round the farm.
- It seems he never gets to be a plowman, because "All (he) ever did was follow" his dad around the farm. It doesn't look like he was ever actually learning to do the work in a hands-on sort of way.
- It also seems like he lived in his father's shadow for a while, and from the way the speaker describes it, it's a pretty big shadow—sort of like having big shoes to fill. The speaker spent a lot of time admiring his father while he was growing up, and maybe that took away from becoming more independent and pursuing his own path.
- On the other hand, he seems like a pretty young kid. Maybe he'll break away from that shadow as he gets older. Let's read on, Shmoopers.