analysis of mid term break

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Mid-term Break by Seamus Heaney is a true account of a tragic incident that happened to him as a child. The poem is about the death of his 4yr old brother. The poem consists of three separate scenes, the college sick bay, the room full of visitors and the bedroom where his brothers’ body is laid. The poet has chosen these scenes for their importance and drama, when remembering that fateful day these are the scenes that are engraved in his memory. There is no importance attached to the journey home except that his parents did not collect him, and it was more than likely just a blur.The order of the scenes again are important to him, as the college sick bay would be a place of dread, as no-one who was not sick or injured was sent there, unless to receive bad news from home. The next scene again was unusual to him because of two things, his father crying and adults showing him a child, respect which was unimaginable in that time. The next scene is where the enormity of what had happened sinks in, and therefore is the most descriptive
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scene.The first scene takes place at school, from Stanza 1, line 1 and from stanza 4, line 2-3 we are told that he is at boarding school.The Author places a lot of emphasis on time, the whole of the first stanza, line 2 of the fifth stanza, also the first and third lines of the sixth stanza, all refer to time, this indicates the sense of heavy foreboding he felt, also the bewilderment and surrealism of the situation. The authors use of alliteration in the first stanza, line two tells us two things, the first is again the importance of ...

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