When all the others were away at Mass

• 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 a 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.

  
  

  This part of the sonnet is the octet, consisting of eight lines.
• So while the parish priest at her bedside

  Went hammer and tongs at the prayers for the dying

  And some were responding and some were crying

  I remembered her head bent toward my head

  Her breath in mine. Our fluent dipping knives.

  Never closer the whole rest of our lives.

  This part of the sonnet is the sestet, consisting of six lines.
• Themes:

  • Nostalgia - Heaney illustrates the theme of nostalgia by reminiscing about peeling potatoes with his mother back when he was a child
  • Grief - Heaney incorporates the theme of grief in the poem by looking back at the memory with his mother that he cannot experience anymore, cause she's dead
• Message:

  • The message of this poem is focused on cherishing ordinary moments. Peeling potatoes is a mundane task but Heaney remembers it as the closest him and his mother have ever been so he holds the moment to high regard.
• Poetic Techniques:

  • Imagery - "hammer and tongs" "solder weeping..."
  • Simile - "like solder weeping off the soldering iron"
  • Juxtaposition; contrasting two different things - going to mass and peeling potatoes
  • Tone - the tone has a hint of nostalgia to it, shown with the adjectives used