Ancestral photograph

Ancestral gives connotations of the distant past

Obvious connection to digging as digging in the past here we see Heaney reflecting on his
past considering his family ties against the backdrop of rural Ireland. A photograph is being
removed from a wall where it has been for a long time. This promotes a train of thought and
a reflection where the persona is taken into the past where he considers three generations
of his familys history.
Point 1 Imagery that describes the great uncle and how the photo must come down
Proud strong country figure
- Jaws puff
- solid as a turnip the simile is rooted in agricultural imagery
- dead eyes are statues proud figure
- jaunty hat pushed back sense of character/perhaps comedy
Arrogance
- Bullies strong and overbearing character
- heavy mouth doesnt look happy
- bowler pride in appearance seems to suggest that there is an artificiality
stage he is a stereotype
- scorn certain arrogance about the man
- silver watch raises the theme of time important is he a controlling figure
- dead pan hes showing no emotion trying to look over serious.
fathers uncle ties in who he is we finally find out.
trade how he learnt the farming way of life (preserved in the photo)
Long fixed fixed onto the wall but also the chemical process in which the photo is fixed
onto the paper
faded beyond, attitudes and values of there time have come as well it must come down
Caezura + now bring us straight back to the present
Simile with ripped from the skin suggests violence/pain/suddenness necessary but not
entirely a pleasant memory
- Inevitable rising and falling of fortunes of any family over time
Point 2 - Trade and how it has faded away
Specific agricultural register
Nature of marketplace
- Male competitiveness won at arguing + round of drinks
 - Enjambment conveys action
fair days changing fortunes of each family
heckled and herded uncomfortable up and down feel contributes to up and downness of
life.
Caezura with father, Ive watched you do the same dominance of men reference to
housewives dead mans stick still there
World modernises
- Go into the past saddened
- Constant negative image
- chapter, chronicle books from the past dont belong in modern day
removal of photo closes a chapter in their lives as the work they did no longer exists
Point 3 - Structure
Title
- Generations and generations of time
- Photo is an extended metaphor for the way of life jobs have faded away and the
persona no longer follows the trade
Continued use of personal pronouns
- Personal reflective tone throughout the poem
Time links into his own personal history
- Looks back at himself 20 years ago
- Looks back a generation emphasises how good life used to be
Whole third stanza is one line
- Suggests the flow of memories from the personas mind
- Rush of images that he feels
As soon as the photo is taken off of the wall the rhyme scheme begins to fall away
- Still sad about it??
Importance
Looks back at path his family has taken shows his roots persona (could be Heaney) has
strayed away from family