This poem captures what appears to be an ordinary moment in the poet’s young life. Heaney remembers spending time alone with his mother, peeling potatoes in a comfortable silence.
In a shift of tone, the poem moves forward in time to when his mother has passed away. He acknowledges that the time spent carrying out this chore was the closest they had been to each other.
When All the Others Were Away at Mass
By Seamus Heaney When all the others were away at Mass I was all hers as we peeled potatoes. They broke the silence, let fall one by one Like solder weeping off the soldering iron: Cold comforts set between us, things to share Gleaming in a bucket of clean water. And again let fall. Little pleasant splashes From each other’s work would bring us to our senses.
So while the parish priest at her bedside Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying And some were responding and some crying I remembered her head bent towards my head, Her breath in mine, our fl uent dipping knives– Never closer the whole rest of our lives.
