Clearances 7 Flashcards
What is the main theme of ‘Clearances 7: In the last minutes’ by Seamus Heaney?
The poem explores grief and loss, particularly the loss of a parent, while suggesting hope that something of the mother will live on in those at her death bed.
What moment does the speaker observe in ‘Clearances 7’?
The speaker observes the actual moment of his mother’s death.
How does the speaker describe the family dynamic at the death bed?
The speaker is with his father and siblings, and the father speaks to the mother, reminding her of their shared experiences.
What does the phrase ‘The space we stood around had been emptied/ Into us to keep’ suggest?
It suggests that the family will keep a part of their mother within them forever.
What is the significance of the line ‘Then she was dead’?
It introduces a sense of finality and acceptance of the mother’s death.
What literary form does ‘Clearances 7’ take?
It is a sonnet, specifically the seventh in a sequence of eight elegiac sonnets.
How does Heaney convey the relationship between the speaker’s parents?
Heaney uses hyperbole to suggest that the father said more to the mother at her deathbed than in all their life together, indicating a marriage where emotions were not often shared.
What is the effect of using pronouns like ‘she’, ‘he’, and ‘we’ in the poem?
It turns a personal moment into one with universal resonance, making it relatable to any family experiencing loss.
What is notable about the structure of the sonnet?
It is written in fourteen decasyllabic lines but does not follow the traditional Petrarchan or Shakespearean rhyme scheme, making it a blank sonnet.
What does the simplicity of the language in the poem create?
It creates a poignant tone as Heaney observes the moving scene in precise detail.
Who was Seamus Heaney?
Seamus Heaney was a poet born in 1939 in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and the eldest of nine siblings.
What is the context of the poem ‘Clearances 7’?
It is part of Heaney’s collection ‘The Haw Lantern’ published in 1987, dedicated to his mother who died three years prior.
Links to other poems
You could compare Clearances 7: In the last minutes on the theme of the loss of a loved one with:
■Funeral Blues by WH Auden
