The poems show the feelings of resentment and separation from their parents. In Larkin's poem he states that your parents "fuck you up", a bold and uncanny statement as if he is saying it without thinking, maybe like many of the people in the "hippy" era, as more freedom came about and the teenager was born. He not only mentions the generation gap between him and his parents but also the resentment for his "soppy stern" grandparents who "fucked up" his parents lives. He shows his defiance against his parents control over him as if that part of your life is restricting. He says you should "get out" away from your childhood and make the most of your freedom, trying to make a separation between you and you parents. The separation is clearly demonstrated when he advises not to "have any kids yourself" showing his resentment of parenthood as a whole, and an unwillingness to be anything like them.
In Plath's poem she displays a forceful hate for her rule abiding father who had "no god but a swastika" showing he is a tyrant and a law abiding fascist. However she also shows an affection for her father as she tried to get "back, back, back" to him. This phrase shows how she might be missing him in the grave but also sounds pretty violent like a sort of stabbing movement, with the three strong syllables. Larkin in his poem shows that even though he can connect to his parents he is unwilling to be similar to them to avoid the "misery" being passed on to him. Plath however is unable to be like her father who passed away when she was a child. She blames him for his own death which leads her into writing such forceful poetry.
'Digging' by Heaney shows us the separation of the generation but he does not resent it but respects it. He writes as if digging was something he was not good enough at as he has "no spade to follow men like them", showing respect for the older generations and that they are too good at their job to follow in their footsteps. He also seems to come across as more important than his father as he "looks down" from his bedroom window as if digging is a peasant's job, contradicting the pride that he shows in his heritage. You also notice the separation between father and son when he mentions about his fathers "straining rump" as if he feels sorry for him and affectionate that he is doing all the work while he is still relaxing in his bedroom. However he worships his father and respects him largely telling us that "by god, the old man could handle a spade" showing his pride in his heritage and appreciation for his father and his job.
With Larkin his parents represent a generation which you cannot get away from. His grandparents, in the next generation above, are also represented irrespectably with "old style hats", making them sound stupid and odd as if it is something to be ignored. He also thinks of his grandparents as "soppy stern" which gives us the idea of characters which live by petty rules, restricting their children of freedom. The parents are not looked upon respectably, as they hand on "misery to man" through the generations. Showing that he has no concern for his parent's situation, thinking that all they represent is monotonous. The fact that he does not believe in having children contrasts with the traditional view of the meaning of life bewilders some people. With his advice to us, "to get out as early as you can" and to live an exciting but short life so you can get away from the idea of becoming parents and polluting your potential children's minds.
Plath refers to her father as a "brute" maybe due to the fact that he was part of the fascist regime, something she remembers bitterly. She also remembers him by the picture of him at the black board with the "cleft instead of a foot" showing that he was like a devil to her and also like a burden which thrived on rules and oppresion. The references to her father being like a vampire who "drank her blood" also shows that she thinks her father was an evil superhuman which lived off of her and ended her love for life. He adored not "god but a swastika" showing his Nazi and Aryan purity and rule abiding ego that he could not leave. The black boots that he wore reminds her of the time "in which she lived" like a foot being smothered with protection, discarding her freedom while leaving his footprint from her as if she is just another lost soul. However when she says she makes a "model" of her father it shows something she never had in her life, a role model in a father to look up to and admire.
