When Heaney starts off his poem of his family he starts by saying that his pen that he is writing with is as snug as a gun. This can be seen as his pen and what he is going to write is going to do some "damage" not damage as if he is going to kill anyone, but it will cause some conflict. Such as some conflict from him and his father because what comes later on in the poem is he says I don't dig I write, he said it almost as if I'm better than you. It is like he is saying I do not have to do labor like my forefathers do; because I have a brain and can use it to my advantage.

The other way you can look at it though is that basically that he is honoring his father and grandfather. The...