It is a brilliant book that I can't resist to put down, and I just had to keep reading and reading. He's an amazing writer and is a genius with words. It's the kind of books that I would suggest twelve year olds and above get into. It's a thrilling book full of events and I strongly recommend it to any reader. He has a way of making you think you were there with him as he describes how he watched his colleagues being shot down by German Ju88's.

I'd most certainly without a doubt put it in the top five books I have ever read. He has also written another autobiographical book of when he was a child and how his life was growing up which is another excellent book. Going Solo is a very easy read although it leaves you at the end of the book wanting more with an ending that doesn't quite finish it as well as it should although don't let this put you off it. He has a very good memory of the events which occurred. Also every couple of pages he includes a letter that was written back to his mother while he was in the war.

Overall it is a great read - 5 Stars

The poem nutting shows a progression of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood much like in the prelude. Both poems have an object which they cannot resist going into with the secret, untouched bower in nutting and the shepherd's boat in the prelude. In both poems the boy goes where no one has ever been before and ruins the feeling of the untouched atmosphere. In nutting he "dragged to earth both branch and bough" showing his recklessness, doing things without thought before he sees what damage he has done and regrets his actions. This is also shown in the prelude when his boat left "small circles glittering idly in the moon" as if polluting the clam, tranquil lake.

Wordsworth also mocks his boyish naivety as he sets off "tricked out in proud disguise of cast off weeds". Showing it was his first experience wearing clothes he'd never thought of wearing before as if it was a costume, showing a childlike impression of his experience. This same inexperience is shown in the prelude when he goes out in the boat without thinking, looking for adventure. In both poems it seems as if someone is watching him when he sees the "intruding sky" in the nutting poem looking down on him as if disappointed in what he has done wrong. This is also shown in the prelude when he rows up to the big cliffs which rose up "like a living thing" also as if nature is displeased with what he is doing.

Both poems are similar in the way that they follow a boys change from adolescence to adulthood. The protagonists in both poems are both naïve and reckless doing things without knowing what might happen and after their experience they have become more mature and realize their mistakes which they both regret.

The first poem, in contrast with the second, is more hopeful and free than the other. Blake uses strong contrast to the cruelty of the chimney sweeping boy's lives. In the poem one of the boys has a dream in which an angel frees them from the “coffins of black.” They then go “down a green plain, leaping, laughing” and “wash in a river and shine in the sun.” This is the bright picture of freedom Blake paints in contrast to the imprisonment of the coffins. The boy is then told by the angel to “be a good boy and he'd have God for his father and never want joy.” This, in contrast to the hopelessness, is a painting of hope. This first poem ends with the little chimney boy awaking and even though the morning was cold he was happy and warm. A painting of bright colors and filled with a sense of hope that thing will get better.

The second poem, on the other hand, paints a picture of the same scene but with darker colors. He uses paints like “clothes of death,” “notes of woe,” and “heaven of our misery.” Blake links this poem to the first by repeating the same “weep, weep” of the first poem. Because of this link, this poem seems to be a response to the first. The second stanza confirms this assumption because is says that because the boy was happy like in the first poem his parents “clothed him with clothes of death and taught him to sing notes of woe.” This stanza is a perfect contrast. By linking it to the first poem, Blake contrasted hopefulness with misery. The two poems are a link between white and black.

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.

'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.