Funeral Rites : Summary
Funeral Rites is a notable literary work by Seamus Heaney. A complete discussion of this literary work is given, which will help you enhance your literary skills and prepare for the exam. Read the Main texts, Key info, Summary, Themes, Characters, Literary devices, Quotations, Notes, to various questions of Funeral Rites.
Summary
This is a mourning poem. When the poet wrote this poem, there was a heated relationship between Catholics and Protestants. A war broke out between them in Northern Ireland in which more than three thousand people died. The poet basically through this poem requested them to perform the last rites of those people who died and expressed that they should stop this war and reconcile among themselves.
In this poem, the poet mainly conveys this message to the readers by describing the cremation ceremony of one of his relatives and appeals to Catholics and Protestants at that time.
Due to the death of his relative, their entire society fell into mourning. All the people of the society attend the funeral ceremony and at the same time, carry the coffin of the deceased in which the poet himself participates.
By this, the poet is trying to convey that the people of Ireland should bind each other in bonds of socialization and brotherhood in which there is only peace. In society, walking shoulder to shoulder with each other can provide comfort and human-to-human conflict can be stopped very easily.
He narrates the problems of Ireland and his experiences of the time about the present situation and makes connections between the past and mythology with the present.
He urged the Irish to learn from past experiences, stop violence, and return to society and live together.