Digging

Digging is the process of using some implement such as claws, hands, or tools, to remove material from a solid surface, usually soil or sand on the surface of the Earth. Digging is actually the combination of two processes, the first being the breaking or cutting of the surface, and the second being the removal and relocation of the material found there. In a simple digging situation, this may be accomplished in a single motion, with the digging implement being used to break the surface and immediately fling the material away from the hole or other structure being dug.

Many kinds of animals engage in digging, either as part of burrowing behavior or to search for food or water under the surface of the ground. Historically, humans have engaged in digging for both of these reasons, and for a variety of additional reasons, such as engaging in agriculture and gardening, searching for minerals, metals, and other raw materials such as during mining and quarrying, preparing for construction, creating fortifications and irrigation, and also excavations in archaeology, searching for fossils and rocks in palaeontology and geology and burial of the dead.

Digging...

"Digging..." is a popular award winning Indian poem by the internationally acclaimed Indian English poet Gopi Krishnan Kottoor. The poem won Second Prize in the Seventh All India Poetry Competition conducted by The Poetry Society (India) in 1997. The renowned British poet Vicki Feaver was the Chairman of the award committee. This was the second major literary award for Kottoor, who went on to win four more major poetry awards at All India Poetry Competition.

Excerpts from the poem

Comments and criticism

The poem has received rave reviews since its first publication in 1997 in the book Emerging Voices and has since been widely anthologised. The poem has been frequently quoted in scholarly analysis of contemporary Indian English Poetry. The poem has become very popular in Indian English literature and has been widely anthologised.

Online references

  • Eighth National Poetry Competition 1997 - Award Winners
  • Digging - The Full Poem
  • Gopi Kottoor and His Poems
  • | K Srilata on Kottoor's Poetry
  • India Writes - Contemporary Indian Poetry
  • Death of a Naturalist

    Death of a Naturalist (1966) is a collection of poems written by Seamus Heaney, who received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. The collection was Heaney's first major published volume, and includes ideas that he had presented at meetings of The Belfast Group. Death of a Naturalist won the Cholmondeley Award, the Gregory Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize.

    The work consists of 34 short poems and is largely concerned with childhood experiences and the formulation of adult identities, family relationships, and rural life. The collection begins with one of Heaney's best-known poems, "Digging", and includes the acclaimed "Death of a Naturalist" and "Mid-Term Break".

    Poems

    From Mid-term Break

    Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,
    He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.
    No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

       

    "Death of a Naturalist," the collection's second poem, details the exploits of a young boy collecting frogspawn from a flax-dam. The narrator remembers everything he saw and felt at those times. He then remembers his teacher telling him all about frogs in a section that speaks volumes about childhood innocence. Finally, we hear about a trip to the flax-dam that went wrong. He feels threatened by the frogs and flees. His interest in nature has gone – this is the death of a "naturalist" suggested in the poem's title. The poem makes extensive use of onomatopoeia and a simile that compares the behaviour of the amphibians to warfare ("Some sat poised like mud grenades") amongst other techniques.

    Podcasts:

    PLAYLIST TIME:

    Digging

    by: Boondox

    [Verse 1:]
    So many times i sit and ask myself why are u afraid to die.
    What is this fear that blinds u
    Is it the thought of uncontrollable pain or
    Suffocating loss of oxygen to your brain
    Is it the people u have in your heart
    The ones closest by your side when your soul departs
    Its just a question that haunts mankind
    Where am i going? Is there an afterlife
    I sit and think about it and my blood runs cold
    The mysteries of life and all the stories untold
    Why we here? Where we going? Why do I exist?
    Is there a point or any answer to all of this?
    Will my spirit walk restless amongst the grave?
    Haunting generations in a vile of rage
    Or will my body just rot for maggot feast?
    Gnawing on my bones while i rest in peace
    [Chorus 2x]
    When you die
    (will u) re-a-lize
    (what takes u) From this life i suffer
    Diggin' myself out this hole that they buried me in
    [Verse 2:]
    The fear of darkness when they lower me down
    Will I be concious to the fact that im up under the ground
    And will i hearall the tears of the ones who attend
    And the dirt hit my coffin when they lower me in
    Or will I hover above lookin down on me
    Realize the situation and just what it all means
    A body laid to rest and a spirit left to fly
    No instruction or direction or a sky when i die
    Is there a tunnel? Will I walk into the light?
    See the people long lost who I knew in life
    Will my back spread wings as the choir sings
    A halo on my head that heavenly bling
    And in the blink of an eye will it be smashed away?
    Pulled into the grips of hell my soul left to pay
    For the sins of my fater and the sins of his father
    Will the demons leave me down like a lamb to the slaughter
    [Chorus 2x]
    Diggin' myself out of this hole that they buried me in to
    [Verse 3:]
    All the things that we ever knew
    Memories of this life coming back to you
    O we rocked deep inside of a shallow grave
    Eyes closed forever in our final resting place
    Will we remember all the pain of being alone
    And how the juggalo world took us into their home
    And now this hatchet means more than a tat on my arm




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