In his poem “In Memory of My Mother” Patrick Kavanagh states how even after the death of his mother he still feels and visualizes her as being alive. He loved his mother dearly as any other child and says that death can separate his mother physically from him but his mother will remain alive forever in his thoughts.
When Kavanagh says: “I do not think of you lying in the wet clay Of a Monaghan graveyard; I see you walking down a lane among the poplars On your way to the station, or happily”he means that he still feels that his mother is walking happily on her way to the station instead of living still in the wet clay of the graveyard.
Though the title of the poem makes it obvious that the poem is a sad one but a reader gradually realizes that the poet is not sad because he still feels that his mother is alive be it in his thoughts only. The poet also feels that his mother is again and again reminding him the fact that he should stay happy in life. The poet also imagines taking long walks with his mother in the markets and says that while walking with his mother, he gets lost in the oriental streets of thought.
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It is not that the poet is not accepting the fact that his mother is dead but he is in fact thinking that his mother’s soul is happy wherever it is. The poet even imagines his mother smiling up at him and saying that she is resting in eternity when he says “And you smile up at us — eternally.
This poem is not only an inspirational piece for its readers but it also motivates the readers to think that though one loses his or her loved ones; death cannot separate anyone from any other individual whom they love dearly. Yes death is a part of life but one should always remember that though death can separate two individuals but death does not have the power to remove the memories of past which an individual spends with the person he or she loved dearly.
A hidden inspirational message lies in the poem; life means moving on, no matter how hard life is to us, we should learn to move on because life is filled with innumerable and unseen hidden opportunities which lay in front of us only if we get over our fears and sorrows. When life becomes unfair one should always remember the fact that life is about to pose a better opportunity before us we just need to be patient.
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The death of the poets mother made him discover the fact that though he was initially scared of losing his mother but soon he realized the fact that death do not possess the power to separate him from his mother mentally.