Students
Teachers & SchoolsStudents
Teachers & SchoolsTools
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work they go! This poem deals a lot with men (of three generations), their work, and their tools. But before you write this one off as a poem for manly men and no one else, let's take a moment to think about what those tools might mean. The repeated references to the spade and shovel, and all the hard work that goes into putting those tools to use, allow Heaney to emphasize the value of manual labor. Our speaker speaks of his dad and grandpa's work with admiration and pride.
But he has pride in his own work, and his own tool, too. The speaker uses a pen to dig, because he knows he has no skill with a spade. He plays to his strengths and finds value in his own work, even though it's not quite as physical as that of his elders. But hey, honest work is honest work, and a pen's just as good for digging as a spade. It just might uncover something other than a potato.