Clearances Case

Clearances is a poem written by Seamus Heaney in 1986. It talks about the relationship between him and his mother and how his mother ultimately died. Seamus Heaney was born in 1939, and as such, grew up in a time when society's values differ from today's. The most important aspect of this was the limited and simple role of women in society. Women led much simpler lives than they do now, barely having more to do than housework. Seamus's mother was one such simple minded woman. This is a necessary aspect to know in order to understand the poem. Furthermore, Seamus's poems usually have an initial appearance of being bright and nostalgic, but have minute signs of darkness which make the overall tone and mood somewhat dark. "Clearances", at least the shortened version, is in that category. It first talks about Seamus bonding with his mother and uses the instance of him peeling potatoes with her. Next, he talks about how he "dumbed down" his vocabulary, much to his distaste, in order to appease his mother, as she had a fear of affectation. It is extremely important to note that this suggests that even though Seamus bonded with his mother via simple house chores, he never truly had a good relationship with his mother and was never really open with her. Next, he talks about how the relationship between him and his mother became predictable. In the last stanza, it depicts his mother on her deathbed, in which Seamus remembers the times when he felt closer to his mother than he had ever been in his life. The general meaning of the poem is that in the end, after the somber fact of death, the things that one truly holds dear about a person are the seemingly small, insignificant details of a loved one. The nostalgic language used throughout the poem, seen in instances of him bonding with his no longer living mother, and dark setting at the end of the poem, in which a loved one finally dies, makes for a nostalgic yet somewhat dark tone, and subsequently makes the overall mood of "Clearances" somewhat sorrowful.

Literary devices are used numerously throughout "Clearances", in which similes and personifications are the most powerful. For example, the phrase "then flapped and shook The fabric like a sail in a cross-wind" is one of the clearer examples of similes used throughout the poem. This is a simile because it compares the fabric of the sheets to ship's sail. The comparison with the sail appeals to the reader's sense of vision as sails have a very distinguishable shape. Additionally, since sails make a distinctive sound as they cut through the wind, the simile also appeals to the reader's sense of hearing. This instance of folding a mere piece of cloth may seem insignificant, but the very fact that the author chose this instance as one of the things to include in memoriam of his mother shows that it is one of the things he truly holds dear about his mother, which supports the meaning of the poem. Furthermore, the phrase " 'So I governed my tongue In front of her," is personification, as to govern would mean to control humans, which means that he is referring to his tongue as if it was a human. This personification is the clearest illustration of how Seamus "dumbed down" his language in front of her. This leads the reader to assume that Seamus did not have a good relationship with his mother since he couldn't speak openly as his language limited to words that she would consider "dumb enough". This is an important literary device, as it contributes to clarifying