Heaney’s poem is written in villanelle form, which is a French style used in the sixteenth centaury. It consists of seven tercets and the poem ends with a final line on its own. Each stanza is a different scene and increases the tension of what the poem is about. The final line is perhaps the most shocking and in Heaney’s poem it is were we finally learn how the young the child was. Frost’s poem, however, is very different in form as it is a narrative free verse. This makes it feel almost like a factual newspaper story and therefore does not seem as shocking as Heaney’s poem.
At the beginning of ‘Mid-Term Break,’ the tone is impersonal and he does not seem like he really believes it is happening. He refers to his brother as ‘the corpse,’ and describes his father’s grief, mother’s anger and mother peoples sympathetic reactions. The tone changes as Heaney sees his brother alone. He begins to use personal pronouns like ‘him, and ‘he.’ The tone changes to sadness and Heaney is able to express his real feelings at the loss of such a young life. The tone of ‘Out, Out,’ is impersonal as frost was not close to the people involved. They are not named and Frost does not describe them in great detail. The tone is angry and frustrated at society throughout the poem and it reads like a newspaper report. Frost doe not seem to express the same personal grief or sadness at the death, unlike ‘Mid-Term Break’.
There are many strong images in ‘Mid-Term Break’ to help you imagine the scene. The phrase ‘bells knelling,’ is imagery as the word ‘knell,’ is usually used to describe funeral bells. It is letting us know something bad is going to happen. The word ‘morning,’ also has various meanings as it can mean mourning the death of someone, like in the poem. The image of, ‘the baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram,’ shows that despite the tragic event, Heaney realises life continues to go on around him. The use of local language like, ‘hard blow,’ and ‘sorry for your trouble,’ and the use of neighbours names makes you imagine the close knit community Heaney lives in. As the tone changes, the images also change. When Heaney goes to visit his brother ‘snowdrops and candles soothed the beside.’ This is an image for the innocence of the boy. The metaphor ‘a poppy bruise,’ is a symbol not only for how the bruise looked, but the poppy is also the symbol used by the Royal British Legion and stands for the loss of innocent life in a war. The simile ‘the four foot box as in a cot,’ describes how peaceful the boy looked. The final line ‘a four foot box, a foot for every year,’ is a powerful image as we learn the young age of the boy.
The imagery in ‘Out, Out,’ is different as there is one strong image running throughout the poem. Words like ‘snarled, rattled and leaped,’ give the impression that the saw is a dangerous animal and the repetition of this means this image flows throughout the poem. The verbs ‘snarled and rattled,’ are onomatopoeic and make the poem seem more realistic as you can almost hear the noises in your head. The next few lines contrast with the first few as the beautiful scenery of Vermont is descried. The scene quickly turns back to the farm yard and the words snarled and rattled are repeated again. This emphasises the image of the saw. The line ‘and nothing happened: day was all but done,’ makes you think that everything will be fine but there is still an increasing tension and threat in the poem. Words like ‘wish,’ make increases the tension as we wonder why the boy should have been given a break. Like ‘Mid-Term Break,’ there is direct speech in the poem to make the situation more realistic. This speech occurs when the sister calls ‘supper.’ The metaphor of the animal appears again as the saw ‘leaped.’ This verb is repeated throughout the next few lines, again to repeat the actions of the saw. As the boy’s reaction is described, words like ‘rueful laugh,’ contrast with the situation as it is like the boy believes this is all a joke. Again the use of speech when the boy says,’ don’t let him cut my hand off- the doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister,’ emphasises the desperation of the boy and makes the situation more realistic. There is no sign of grief at the end of the poem and the death is described as ‘little-less-nothing!- and that ended it.’
There is no rhyme scheme for either poem and perhaps this reflects the chaos and unbelief in the poems. The only rhyming lines in ‘Mid-Term Break ’ are the last two,’ No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear. A four foot box, a foot for every year,’ This is were we learn the young age of the boy and what happened to him and the fact that these lines rhyme empathise the situation and make them even more shocking. The only alliteration in the poem is in this final line as, ‘four foot box,’ and this makes it even more moving. Onomatopoeic words like ‘knelling, crying, cooed, laughed and sighs,’ make this seem realistic and it also adds to the rhyme of the poem. ‘Out, Out,’ also uses alliteration and sibilance as ‘buzz saw-snarled ’and‘ sweet-scented stuff,’ but in this poem it is to emphasise the image of an animal. The onomatopoeic words like ‘snarled and rattled also emphasise the image.
The use punctuation in ‘Mid-Term Break,’ creates a slow rhythm to emphasise the slow, sad atmosphere of the poem. Each stanza is a new scene in the poem. The first stanza he is in school, the second he is on the porch with his father, the third he is embarrassed by the baby and old men, the forth he is with his mother, the fifth the ambulance arrives, the sixth and the final seventh stanza is were he sees his brother again. Enjambment is used to make the poem flow from one scene to another in lines like ‘as my mother held my and in hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.’ It also emphasises the continuing distress of his mother.
The rhythm in ‘Out, Out,’ is very different. The first few lines reflect the actions of the saw and the rhythm also reflects this. There is a lot of punctuation in these first few lines. The line ‘and nothing happened: day was all but done,’ is end stopped to add to the tension. The enjambment in this part of the poem also builds the tension. As the hand is cut, and the boy’s life broken, the rhythm is also broken. The hyphens, commas, full stops and exclamation marks show the sudden panic of the situation. The rhythm slows again as the doctor arrives and the boy dies.
Both these poems deal with the death of a young person in different ways. Heaney describes how the others around him feel and the poem is impersonal until he sees his brother and is able to express his grief. The use of poetic devices makes the poem more shocking and the slow rhythm gives the poem a suitable mood. In contrast to this the free verse of Frost’s poem makes it feel like a newspaper report and without the use of names or description of feelings the poem feels impersonal throughout. The poet does not use many poetic devices but the poem seems also gory and violent due to Frosts descriptions. Heaneys poem however is calmer and more innocent. For these reasons I prefer Heaneys poem as it makes you sympathise with the situation better. Frosts poem is almost more of a political outcry as he is trying to tell society to stop letting young children work and he does not really deal with feelings on the death.
