FULL POEM - SCROLL DOWN FOR LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS
They are waiting for me somewhere beyond Eden Rock:
My father, twenty-five, in the same suit
Of Genuine Irish Tweed, his terrier Jack
Still two years old and trembling at his feet.
My mother, twenty-three, in a sprigged dress
Drawn at the waist, ribbon in her straw hat,
Has spread the stiff white cloth over the grass.
Her hair, the colour of wheat, takes on the light.
She pours tea from a Thermos, the milk straight
From an old H.P. sauce-bottle, a screw
Of paper for a cork; slowly sets out
The same three plates, the tin cups painted blue.
The sky whitens as if lit by three suns.
My mother shades her eyes and looks my way
Over the drifted stream. My father spins
A stone along the water. Leisurely,
They beckon to me from the other bank.
I hear them call, ‘See where the stream-path is!
Crossing is not as hard as you might think.’
I had not thought that it would be like this.
LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS
STANZA 1
They are waiting for me somewhere beyond Eden Rock:
The speaker, the voice of the poet, recollects a specific narrative from his childhood in the poem ‘Eden Rock’, albeit in the present tense – designed to more deeply immerse himself and the reader in his idealised childhood memories. ‘Eden Rock’ is a biblical reference to the Garden of Eden – a paradise designed by God to be inhabited by Adam and Eve. This reflects the speaker’s nostalgia as he imagines the scene to be so perfect, so as to be divine.
My father, twenty-five, in the same suit
Of Genuine Irish Tweed, his terrier Jack
Still two years old and trembling at his feet.
The words ‘same’ and ‘still’ are associated with familiarity, which provides comfort to the nostalgic speaker who recalls this scene in an effort to more closely connect with his childhood. The ‘Genuine Irish Tweed’ and his father’s ‘terrier Jack’ are positive, comforting symbols of his childhood which would have been a source of family happiness in unique, respective ways.
STANZA 2
My mother, twenty-three, in a sprigged dress
Drawn at the waist, ribbon in her straw hat,
The speaker’s description of both his mother and father is intricate and detailed and features specificities such as his mother’s ‘sprigged dress’ and his father’s ‘Irish Tweed suit’ which highlight just precious his parents’ memory is to the speaker.
Has spread the stiff white cloth over the grass.
Her hair, the colour of wheat, takes on the light.
These two lines portray her beauty in the eyes of the speaker. The image of the ‘white cloth’ religiously symbolises her spiritual purity, such that in no way is she tainted by sin. Additionally, the spectral imagery of ‘her hair, the colour of wheat, takes on the light’ is a metaphor for her being so beautiful, that her beauty is almost supernatural or angelic.
STANZA 3
She pours tea from a Thermos, the milk straight
From an old H.P. sauce-bottle, a screw
Of paper for a cork; slowly sets out
The same three plates, the tin cups painted blue.
From the supernatural, divine imagery of the second stanza the tone shifts to the mundane and ordinary in the third, although the intricacy of the speaker’s description is maintained. This meticulous narration emphasises how much his parents’ presence means to the speaker as these seemingly ordinary memories are transformed to become poignant and significant in his eyes. Again, the familiarity of the ‘same three plates’ is comforting to the nostalgic speaker.
STANZA 4
The sky whitens as if lit by three suns.
The sky whitening ‘as if lit by three suns’ is a grandiose, supernatural image and a biblical allusion to the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity, in Christian Doctrine, is the unity of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit as three persons in one Godhead, such that one God exists in three Divine persons. Such is the joy felt by the speaker upon this reflection, he views the unity of his parents and himself to be so divine that it mirrors the Holy Trinity. Additionally, the ‘sky whitening’ symbolises a heavenly light, potentially a representation of the rays of light reported in the Bible during Jesus’ ascension to heaven.
My mother shades her eyes and looks my way
Over the drifted stream. My father spins
A stone along the water. Leisurely,
The language, such as the ‘drifted stream, and the use of the word, ‘leisurely’, as well as the caesura throughout these two lines creates a relaxed, peaceful tone.
STANZA 5/6
They beckon to me from the other bank.
I hear them call, ‘See where the stream-path is!
Crossing is not as hard as you might think.’
I had not thought that it would be like this.
These concluding lines can be interpreted literally, however, the emotional depth of the final line implies otherwise. In fact, the entire poem can be viewed as an allegory for death – the speaker’s parents already dead, with the speaker on the edge of death himself. This interpretation is also supported by the biblical references and spiritual imagery throughout the poem. These final lines, then, become far deeper in their meaning, with his parents beckoning to him to join them ‘from the other bank’ and telling him that crossing the stream separating them ‘is not as hard as [he] might think’ being a metaphor for them calling for their son to leave the living world and join them in death. The final line is ambiguous, leaving the reader questioning whether the cause of the speaker’s surprise is the feeling of death itself, how it came about, or what follows!
