'Digging' does show that his parents represent the weight of tradition and history. He shows this when he talks about his father digging "just like his old man", with the knowledge and skills of the job have been passed down through the generations. The tradition is remembered by Heaney through the "cold smell of potato mold" which reminds him of his childhood and family heritage. The history and age of the tradition is also described when his father "comes up 20 years away" whilst digging, emphasising the history and time passed as the layers of bog become thinner. His memories of digging are also shown in the poem through his father's actions displaying his influence on his son. If the tradition is going to be passed on Heaney has to be watching and following his father.
In Larkin's poem he says that you should get away from your parents and "don"t have kids yourself', this is taking his views to the extreme, wanting the generation gap to cease its existence. This bold statement is almost so crazy that you could take it as a joke, finding it a bombast kind of humor. Also the eye catching first line of "they fuck you up" could also be interpreted as a bold and uncanny joke, written to draw intrigued readers into the poem which some might associate with a stereotypical rebellious teenager. Although having parents is inevitable he uses them as a role model of what not to become and be like. The last two lines make you think whether he is being serious about what he is saying or if it is just a sincere pun. As Larkin has pretty much done the opposite to what his parents have done maybe we should treat his poem this way, so you should pay no attention to the message of the poem and do what you want.
In the poem by Plath comparisons are made with children's nursery rhymes and suffering which causes a dark and sincere kind of poem. She mentions that she lived like a "foot" in a boot, like the commonly known nursery rhyme, "barely daring to breathe". This almost ironic phrase takes a comforting nursery rhyme and makes it sound bitter and depressive. Plath also mentions that "every woman adores a fascist", showing her bitterness for the oppressiveness of the Nazi rule, again showing irony and extreme sarcasm. Near the end of the poem she communicates her thoughts by saying how she is "through" with her dead father as he did was influence her depressed life. This shows that she has finally had enough of life without someone to guide her like he might have done or even that now she is surrendering herself to him, ready to join him in the grave. This delivers the final punch to the poem like a storm which has blown itself out.
In Heaney's poem he shows a fair bit of humor and irony to assert his argument for why he chose to write, and that it was not the easy way out of the traditional digging. He starts off by saying how he holds a "squat pen" to emphasize that writing is just as difficult as digging. The similarities between digging and writing are also shown when he describes the way you dig, with a "boot nestled on the lug, the shaft against the inside knee". If you imagine how this would look on the spade and compare it to how you would normally hold a pen, the actions appear to be very similar, as if writing has evolved from digging. He also shows some irony when he tells us how he used to give his grandpa milk in a bottle "corked sloppily with paper". The paper in this time was merely an accessory and not needed for many things, but for Heaney in his later life it proved to be a necessity as it is one of the things he is associated with. Heaney finishes off the poem by saying he will "dig with it", referring to the fact that he will write instead.
The generation gap to Larkin, Plath and Heaney was huge; the separation between them and their parents was portrayed at times as if they were nothing like their parents. Larkin did not want to be associated with his, so made the gap as big as possible. Plath was already separated from her father who made her feel resentment towards him as if it was his fault for dying and leaving her suffocating in his wake. Heaney also felt the generation gap. Although he respected his parents a lot he almost looked down on the peasant like job of digging, and did not carry on the tradition passed down the generations.
