Connection With Our Past

I really connected to Seamus Heaney's poem "Digging".  I love learning about my personal history, that is my ancestors.  I am simply fascinated with the stories that my grandfather tells me about his father and his grandfather, etc.  It gives me a sense of pride in who I am and what my family is. It seems as if Heaney is also enthused about his family heritage. He speaks with reverence about his father and grandfather.  He is very proud that he can say that he comes from the same line of men as them.  He also acknowledges the fact that he is not them but he still has the same characteristics and traits but uses them in a different way.  I liked this because we cannot be like our parents or grandparents because we live in a different society than they lived.  We can, however, use the traits that are passed down from them in our lives just in a different way. I suppose I connected with this poem because of the great pride I have in being a "Sloan" the same way that Seamus shows the great pride he has in being a "Heaney".