Mossbawn Sunlight

Seamus Heaney Mossbawn Sunlight

"she stood in a floury apron by the window"

Cues from the poem Mossbawn Sunlight used are “ sunlit absence”, “ helmeted pump in the yard”, “and the sun stood like a griddle cooling”, “dusts the board with a goose’s wing”, “her hands scuffled over the bakeboard “ and, “she stood in a floury apron by the window”

Heaney has noted the Vermeerish element of the scene he described. Cues for the painting, were taken from several of Vermeer’s interiors where the sun streams in from a window the left on to the milkmaid, musician, letter writer or geographer etc.

“The helmeted pump in the yard” portrayed is based on the pump in the photograph published in Stepping Stones by Denis O’Driscoll where Heaney shows the pump to one of his sons. Gillian Turner was the model and was in Rosie McClelland’s art class.

“An incomparable poem of the idyllic within the straitened- conveys a child’s happiness insured by adult’s love” according to critic Helen Vendler in her book on Seamus Heaney.

Heaney’s poem Sunlight Mossbawn from his collection 'North 1975', is "a powerful evocation of place and of love" and is dedicated to his Aunt Mary Heaney who is the subject of the poem.

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