The values of family and changes in time and age are recurring themes of many of Seamus Heaney’s poems. Much is true for Follower, a poem recounting the poignant tale between the relationship between father and son. Written in first person, the poem begins with the speaker recounting his father line of work, and soon switches to focusing on the speaker’s life. Because the poem was written in first person, it can be assumed that Heaney was recounting his childhood. Heaney moves from the perspective of a young, admiring son to an exasperated one. The child literally followed in his father’s footsteps as he ploughed or worked around the farm but he also follows him in a generational way. Finally, he is ruefully aware of his father’s dependence upon him, realizing that his responsibility “will not go away”. While Heaney was a child, he was a “nuisance, tripping, falling and yapping always.” This shows that Heaney’s father took care of him as he was a child but as his father got older, his strength failed. When it became Heaney’s time to take care of his father, he realize that he has to undertake the responsibility of taking care for his father and that the responsibility will not go away. The tone of that passage shows some dread as he realizes that he has to take care of his father for an…show more content… In the end, although he “wanted to grow up and plough”, he did not choose to follow his fathers footsteps and became a writer instead. Furthermore, at the end of the poem, he became the leader as his father became too old and became dependent on him. By stating “All I ever did was to follow” could suggest that the Heaney was first doubtful and hesitant in leading his father. By rhyming the ending words such as “follow and plough,” Heaney created a continuous line of story in which shows the continuous and inevitable aging process every human