Seamus Heaney Clearances

One of the most moving and emotional of Heaney's works is his collection of sonnets called 'Clearances'. These sonnets were written in dedication and memoriam to his mother Margaret Kathleen Heaney, who died in 1984. As Neil Corcoran comments "Everything Heaney has himself written about his childhood reinforces the sense of domestic warmth and affection as its prevailing atmosphere." (A Student's Guide to Seamus Heaney, Faber & Faber Ltd, 1986, London.) The eight sonnets are filled with lively, detailed and vivid memories depicted often through rural imagery; the strong and loving relationship between Heaney and his mother is constantly referred to also. Heaney has no difficulty in expressing openly the love felt for his mother, both by him and his family, as we see in the invocation at the beginning of the collection; “She taught me what her uncle once taught her.”(S, Heaney. In Memoriam M. K. H, 1911 -1984. Line 1.) Here we see how his mother has taught him simple but great life wisdom, how to live and deal with problems in everyday life. This immediately identifies a clear picture of love and devotion towards her son, illuminating right from the beginning their strong mother/son relationship. The nine-line poem Heaney places as an epigram hints both at this key difference and at the poems' work of mourning. For the latter point, the second and third lines of the epigrammatic poem practically spell it out: "How easily the biggest coal block split / If you got the grain and hammer angled right." (S, Heaney. In Memoriam M. K. H, 1911 -1984. Lines 2, 3). In the elegiac context, the coal block is easily seen to be standing in for the work of mourning itself: its "linear black" suggests the facelessness of great sorrow, an overwhelming sadness that just could not be physically dealt with. That coal is subterranean in nature, brought out from the depths of the earth, lends the image the sense that the coal is displaced by the return of the dead to the earth. In any case, that Heaney is focusing on the possibility of splitting the coal block indicates his focus on getting the mourning done, rather than giving in to the coal-dark immensity of sorrow. His epigram poem ends on a note of invocation: "Teach me now to listen, / To strike it rich behind the linear black." (S, Heaney. In Memoriam M. K. H, 1911 -1984. Lines 8, 9). Having recalled that even the biggest coal block can be split, and concentrated on that truth, Heaney offers up a sort of prayer that he will be able to do the splitting before beginning the task of mourning, with the first of the sonnets. A nine-line epigraph (consisting of three tercet stanzas) is a revealing prelude that establishes the mother’s principal role as teacher, but also that the student son seeks to transcend the lesson, "Teach me now to listen." (S, Heaney. In Memoriam M. K. H, 1911 -1984. Line 8).
The first sonnet in the sequence opens with a cobblestone being tossed; the poet notes that it seems aimed at him, "Keeps coming at me, the first stone." (S, Heaney. Sonnet 1. Line 2). The hurled stone is a reference to his maternal great-grandmother, a Protestant who married a Catholic, thereby earning the derision of many in the community; it also symbolizes the unrest that plagued Ireland for so many decades. This is presented in line 3 as his grandmother is referred to a "turn coat," (S, Heaney. Sonnet 1) a traitor to her Protestant community. The reader can almost see the cobblestone through the years as if aimed at the writer; as unjust as it was hurled at his grandmother, he too has experienced the prejudiced stemmed from his religion. Within these lines Heaney displays a veiled distasteful view of religious discrimination he would have experienced; thus creating a categorised genre piece. Heaney disregards this notion by the line "mine to dispose," (S, Heaney. Sonnet 1. Line 12) highlighting his rejection of such prejudices. This is further reinforced by the use of "exonerating" and "exonerating stone," providing the reader with a note of empathy from Heaney and even a note of forgiveness. To be exonerated from all crimes. The first stanza lacks punctuation providing the reader with the imagery of fast pace and the tone of urgency. Heaney employs the petrarchan sonnet which is written based on the iambic pentameter consisting of two sections providing a passage of time. The first in the form of an octave; consisting of eight lines. Heaney uses this to inform the reader of the past event that had occurred. Within the sestet; the final six lines, the writer uses more punctuation providing the reader with a tone of acceptance and finality. The use of the words "riot" (S, Heaney. Sonnet 1. Line 4) and "running the gauntlet" (S, Heaney. Sonnet 1. Line 6) denotes danger as his grandmother rushes to attend mass. The sonnets flow is assisted by employing the monosyllabic sound "o" in "ago" and "brow" (S, Heaney. Sonnet 1. Line 1, 3) and similarly in "Sunday," and "Lundy!" (S, Heaney. Sonnet 1. Line 6, 8). The tone is one of disappointment, anger and later pity for ignorance he and his family have experienced. The sonnet is written in defiance of national social normality and highlights Heaney's love for not only his roots but pride in defiance of the religious expectations of the time.
As mentioned in the epigraph at the beginning of Clearance, life wisdom is reflected again. In Sonnet II we see his mother as a homemaker and disciplinarian who placed a premium on order, cleanliness and good manners: whereby she commands him on various rules when entering the house. This allows an insight into the nature of Heaney’s mother as well as providing one of his memories of her. Heaney is imagining what his mother would be experiencing after she had died and could be considered as her personal ideology of heaven, "Polished linoleum," and "An unchipped set..." (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Lines 1, 3). These are memories he is recollecting and gives the reader an image of safety and security as he was a boy. The mention of "china cups....white and big," (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Line 2) provides imagery of a child sitting with tea cups too large for his hands. The disciplinarian in her demanding that all "Were present and correct." (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Line 5). This is further supported by the lines "Don't reach. Don't point," (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Line 8) all directives given to a child to ensure correct behaviour. Heaney adopts sibilance through the use of 'sh' present in "Polished," and "shone." (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Line 1). This sets a relaxed almost sad tone, as "sh" is a soft sound. Lines 4 and 5 include a rhyming couplet, "run" and "sun" which changes the tone from relaxed to authoritarian The sestet adopts a more sombre tone and begins with the line "Number 5, New row, Land of the Dead." (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Line 1). This could be reference to a plot in a graveyard denoting her impending burial. "Where grandfather is rising from his place." (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Line 2). Note the ambiguity; he could be rising from his chair in the home or rising from the grave to greet his recently deceased daughter. By writing the first line as an address Heaney continues the theme of the sonnet being based in a home. The image is one of a daughter returning home to her father, "To welcome a bewildered homing daughter." (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Line 12). In rural Ireland at this time the daughter would have been taken to live with the husband’s family and Heaney is again presenting the idea of close family as after his mother's death she has returned to her original family home. The octave of the sonnet centralises on a strong memory that Heaney has of his mother alive. The use of punctuation between lined supplies a tone of military precision. Straightforward and controlled. The visual imagery is of a child sitting down for a tea with a special guest. Everything is bright, clean and in order. Lines 10, 11, 12 flow to denote that this is happening in the moment. This is interrupted by the grandfather's questions, "'What's this? What's this?" (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Line 13). Repetition of the question emphasising his surprise and presenting an abruptness; as death so often is. Regardless, the last line describes daughter and father sitting "in the shining room together." (S, Heaney. Sonnet 2. Line 14). Heaney's imagination of his deceased mother returning home to a "shining room," can be perceived as his challenge to the religious belief of heaven and yet another veiled theme of Heaney's questioning of Catholicism. Heaney employs a par rhyme scheme such as the use of "daughter" and "together." Representing his rural heritage by employing a colloquial rhyming scheme with "chair" and "stir."
Heaney's use of rural imagery links closely to his upbringing, he comments He later said: “I learned that my local Co Derry childhood experiences, which I had considered archaic and irrelevant to the modern world was to be trusted. They taught me that trust and helped me to articulate it.” (Seamus Heaney – One of Ireland’s greatest poets. (2013) Ireland Calling. Available at: http://www.irelandcalling.ie/seamus-heaney. Copyright Ireland Calling).
Heaney's rural exploitation was inspired from the poet Robert Frost, especially noted in the poem Bereft. "Where had I heard this wind before/Change like this to a deeper roar?" and in the line "Summer was past and the day was past./Sombre clouds in the west were massed." (Frost, R. Bereft. (2010) Available at: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/bereft). As with Heaney's writing the grief is almost too great to describe and through the naturalist imagery the emotive aim is achieved as if the poet is unable to find the adequate words. John Kerrigan comments on Heaney's work; "his poetry leaves too little in suspense."(John Kerrigan reviews "Opened Ground" by Seamus Heaney, www.lrb.co.uk/v21/n11/john-kerrigan/hand-and-foot.ISSN 0260-9592 Copyright © LRB Ltd 2014.) But this in itself is the beauty of Heaney's work; the ability to evoke the readers imagination and emotion.
Heaney's employment of recollections of his family ties and rural childhood in Ireland provides clear insight to his emotions and these features present in the maturity of his writing. Experiences of belonging to a Catholic minority and obvious pessimism to differences that occur between religions, exasperated by his rural upbringing. The collection of poems included in The Haw Lantern incorporate Heaney's journey not only through his personal experiences but resulted being awarded The Nobel Prize for Literature 1995. 'The complete solitary self: that's where poetry comes from, and it gets isolated by crisis; and those crises are often very intimate also.' (The Telegraph, Seamus Heaney has seen it all, Jenny McCartney, 2013, Copyright of Telegraph Media Ltd 2014.)