ABSTRACT
One of the earliest poems by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney is about work. Speci®cally, his poem, `Digging', parallels the agricultural labour of Heaney's father digging the damp soil (Heaney 1998: 3). Starting with a simile for the pen, which is `snug as a gun', the writing tool is ®nally brought to a different kind of phallic identity. Although the poet has `no spade' with which to follow in the footsteps of men like his father and grandfather, he will strive to use the pen to cultivate a different landscape: `I'll dig with it' (ibid.).
