‘Then said the Jews unto Him, now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, if a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered: Yet ye have not known him; but I know him and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. Then said the Jews unto him; Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them: Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple going through the midst of them’
Heaney’s great – grandmother was rejected by the local people, she also like Jesus had to bear accusations and scorning. She was called ‘Lundy!’ and ‘The Exogamous Bride’. But she, like Jesus himself could forgive them, as the motif of ‘exonerating and exonerated stone’ suggests forgiven and clarified suffering.
In the second sonnet we may find the description of the common meal:
‘The china cups were very white and big/
an unchipped set with sugarbowl and jug/
the kettle whistled. Sandwich and teascone/
were present and correct (…)
and don’t be dropping crumbs. Don’t tilt your chair (…)’
This may be an analogy to the Christ’s Last Supper which He ate for the last time with His Apostles. It is the sign of farewell before departure but it is also the announcement of remaining forever in the Bread and Wine. It symbolizes constant presence in the relatives’ hearts. The memories of those who left us are still alive in our recollections of the moments spent together and even in the common and ordinary activities as for instance eating a meal. In the Old Testament the sign of reception and hospitality was very important and obeyed meticulously:
‘And said, My Lord, if now if I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, so do, as thou hast said. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetchet a feast calf tender and good and gave it unto a young man; and he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat’
In the New Testament, Christ through the establishing the Eucharist gives another sense to the common meal. The common eating and sharing the table together is the moment of forming relationship and is the opportunity to be together, to celebrate and to show mutual love, understanding and respect. During the Last Supper Christ makes an announcement of the heavenly feast eaten with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.
‘With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come’
The second and the third sonnet in the cycle allude to the moment of coming from the earthly life to the heavenly life.
‘It is Number 5, New Row, Land of the Dead/
where grandfather is raising from his place
(…) and they sit down in the shining room together’.
The memories recall the reality and the reality recalls the memoirs. Heaney ponders over the past and reminiscences about the activities that he used to perform with his mother. Now she is gone and the poet has only the recollections left.
‘I remembered her head bent towards my head/
(…) Never closer the whole rest of our lives’.
The motif of suffusion of the two worlds – the Earthly Life and the Land of the Dead – symbolizes Christ descending to the abyss after His death and before the Resurrection. It is the Christ himself who joins these two worlds in the great mystery of death and the Resurrection.
‘Verily, verily I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy (…)And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again , and your hearts shall rejoice and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full (…) I overcome the world’
The fourth sonnet may be treated as developing the theme of ‘communing with a person at her level.’ Heaney’s mother accepted every person as he or she was, adjusted to this person’s level and loved the person with disinterested love. The same love characterized Christ. He stooped himself to our human level to take our weaknesses on his shoulders and to perfectly commiserate with us.
‘Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all the believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set froth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood’
‘What shell we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?it is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemnth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.’
The fifth sonnet depicts the ordinary every day activity, namely, folding the bed linens. Here it evokes associations with the funeral rites. It may be related to Jewish rituals during which the body of a deceased person was wound in the linen.
‘And after this Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus, which at first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to burry.’
This may be also the announcement of the coming death and the second, eternal life. The Turin Shroud plays a very important role in the Christian tradition. It refers to the faith in Christ’s Resurrection. It is an indirect proof confirming the fact of the Christ’s rising from the dead. This is the foundation of the Catholic faith from which overflows the Christian hope for the Eternal life with God and all the dead whose names are written in the Book of Life.
‘Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels’
The sixth sonnet alternates ritual or liturgical motifs and their meaning. The sonnet depicts the liturgy of the Saturday in the Holy Week which is a mystery of signs. ‘The midnight fire’ – in the Catholic church it is consecrated and it symbolizes the transition from darkness to light, from death to a new life with God. ‘The paschal candlestick’ has the same meaning as the fire and it symbolizes the coming or the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through this holy liturgy we have an access to God who gives us faith in eternal life. All these symbols and signs are the meeting point of life and death. This is the place where we meet in the name of God our relatives who are at the other side of life.
‘For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: do this in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come’
The seventh sonnet is a confirmation of the unavoidable fact of death of every human being. Heaney does not grieve and lament but stands thoughtful over the great mystery of death and over the necessity of the departure in the ‘empty space’. He does not sink into despair but reflects anxiety and the difficulty in understanding that mystery. The poet discovers the’ empty space’ caused by his mother’s departure in himself. Nevertheless, there is still a flicker of hope for a ‘pure change’. The departure of Christ also caused the feeling of emptiness in the Apostles. They felt as if they came to a standstill. The panic, stagnation and spiritual paralysis recede along with the Resurrected Lord.
‘Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.’
The eighth sonnet is a kind of continuation of the previous one. The motifs of the Holy Tree, which collapsed into mud and the soul ‘ramifying and forever silent’, correspond to taking the Christ down from the Cross, placing Him in the sepulcher and rolling the stone. Probably everything is surrounded by the silence which may bring many things – good or bad as well. In this silence there are joined pain and solace, despair and hope, longing and faith altogether.
‘Słownik symboli’ Władysław Kopaliński; Wiedza Powszechna 1990; p. 141
The ‘Holy Bible’ King James Version; the World Publishing Company; Cleveland and New York; Deuter 17; 1-3, 5
ibid., St. Luke 22, 15-18
ibid., St. John 16; 20, 22-24, 33
ibid., St. John 19, 38-40
ibid., I Corinthians 12, 24-26
ibid., St. John 20, 19-20