In Memory Of My Mother by Patrick Kavanagh is a moving tribute to his mother by the great Irish writer Patrick Kavanagh.
It is ranked number 12 on my list of top 100 Irish poems which I am updating weekly. It is not anywhere as long as last weeks 756 line poem.
The poem is about a son remembering his mother fondly after she has died.
Written in a way that is understandable, lovable, and memorable.
In Memory Of My Mother: Meaning and Notes
Among your earthiest words the angels stray.
Kavanagh’s mother, Bridget, died on 15 November 1945, and this poem is his tribute to her. Rather than dwell on her grave, he remembers her alive and content in the Monaghan countryside around Inniskeen.
The memories are all ordinary ones, from farm, church and market town. That is the point. Her plain country talk sits right beside something holy, and Kavanagh shows that for her the sacred and the everyday were never far apart.
He speaks to her directly and stays in the present tense, so she never quite feels gone. The poem is about grief, but it ends in warmth and a quiet faith that she is still with the family.
Kavanagh also wrote a second, lesser-known poem with the same title, which the Patrick Kavanagh Trust has published from his manuscripts. The one most people know is this one.
The full poem is not published online by an authorised source. You will find it in Patrick Kavanagh’s Collected Poems, edited by Antoinette Quinn (Allen Lane/Penguin).
Did you enjoy this Irish poem?
Comment below and let me know. Don’t forget to check my list of top 100 Irish poems here.
I really enjoyed this Irish poem and I am sure it will resonate with many of you. I am sharing new poems every week on my email newsletter, the weekly dose of Irish. You can subscribe here.
Thanks for stopping by,
Stephen