Lightenings - 8
Lightenings - 8 - meaning Summary
Mercy in the Marvellous
The poem retells a medieval Irish legend in which monks at Clonmacnoise see a ship floating above the monastery. When the anchor snags the altar rails, a crewman climbs down to free it, but he cannot survive in the monks' world. The abbot orders the monks to help him, and the ship departs. The poem presents the encounter as a brief crossing between ordinary life and the marvellous, shaped by mercy.
Read Complete AnalysesThe annals say: when the monks of Clonmacnoise Were all at prayers inside the oratory A ship appeared above them in the air. The anchor dragged along behind so deep It hooked itself into the altar rails And then, as the big hull rocked to a standstill, A crewman shinned and grappled down the rope And struggled to release it. But in vain. ‘This man can’t bear our life here and will drown,’ The abbot said, ‘unless we help him.’ So They did, the freed ship sailed, and the man climbed back Out of the marvellous as he had known it.
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