By examining and connecting to the past years, we are more likely to understand the present day. In "Digging," written in 1966, the contemporary Irish poet, Seamus Heaney provides a perspective of his stage in life and place in the modern world through exploring his rural Irish ancestors, their traditions and heritage. This discussion will concentrate on the various ways in which Heaney offers a particular version of reality to the reader through his representation of the Irish cultural identity.

To commence, Heaney plays on the tittle "Digging," throughout the poem. The action of digging itself is stereotypical of Irish people and their land. This metaphor occurs on different levels. The poem is about how Heaney, by choosing to be a poet, has to dig through his mind for the lines of his poem in the same way his Irish father and grandfather had to dig through `potato drills'...