Compare & Contrast "Mid Term break" by Seamus Heaney & "Treasure in the Heart" by Joolz.

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Compare & Contrast “Mid Term break” by Seamus Heaney & “Treasure in the Heart” by Joolz.

        Recently I have been studying two similarly themed poems both concentrated upon the chilling reality of death. In the following essay I will to analyse & compare the similarities & contrasts between “Mid term break” Written by Seamus Heaney & “Treasure in the Heart” written by Joolz.

I will attempt to delve & explore the subconscious meanings behind the structure and wording of these poems.

         I will attempt to give a brief overview of relevant background information concerning Heaney & Joolz which had a substantial effect on the poems written by both poets.

              Seamus Heaney was born in April nineteen thirty nine, the first of a closely knit family what would eventually turn out to be nine siblings. This ment Seamus felt a lot of responsibility to his family from a young age. This is surely a contributing factor to why he wrote this poem as he would have surely blamed himself in part for his brother’s death.

             This is very similar to one of the reason why Joolz would have written her poem both were very close to these people and felt a lot of anguish at there passing. Both would have wanted to be able to pay there respects in a more memorable & effective way for themselves.

               Seamus family was a mixture of “old Ireland” his father being a second generation cattle. But his mother was a descendant of the “new Ireland” a family with many Irish industrial ties. This surely gave Seamus a unique and very diverse view when it came to his surroundings.

               When Seamus was only twelve years old he was awarded a scholarship to St.Columb College. This gave him a real opportunity to do what he could with his life. Evidently family was a very important subject in Heaney’s life & I am sure that is why he found it so important to write a poem about this event.

               From studying the title of his poem “Mid term Break” you would expect a happy poem with children playing having fun. You would not expect the opposite and that is exactly what this poem really represents. The poem is about death and the wave of misery & destruction that affects the concerned people.

               Another way you could look at the title of the poem is that he wanted to make his last memory of his brother a fond one.

              As he was also older when he wrote this final reflection it would have ment it would be a more mature & reflective title, this however would surely of been different had he wrote it at the time of the death the title would have probably been more an angry outburst of sadness & hatred upon his part.

              The word “angry” in the title could first of all represent a break in the routine of everyone’s life, as if once the terrible accident happened everything halted to a stop as people took time to mourn. This word break could also symbolize a time of great time of sadness & grief just like “bells knelling”.

                       The start of the poem starts slowly rather ambiguously like a sick joke slowly revealing the punch line. He begins the poem with slow & cagey vocabulary it signifies a young boys nervous, clammy state of mind. You can identify with how he would feel when he says:

“I sat all morning”

                         From this you can feel the tension in the air like a tightly pulled string about to snap.

                         When you think of having to wait some-where for a long time alone it conjures up memories of boring and sad times. This really sets the theme and tone for the rest of the poem just in this one line a very effective way to begin. He leaves it very mysterious at the start but you know what the general flavour of the poem is going to be from this one taste.

                           The whole poem is set in first person. This gives it a more immediate impact as if you are living the occasion right now. This is more of an effective style when trying to show the reader the circumstances of the writers anguish. Rather than being set in third person it is more in your face and this gives you the sense of almost viewing the whole scene as a bi-stander.

                          The use of wording in the second line is a very significant & begins to give you an inkling of what has happened when he says:

Join now!

“Bells knelling”

                           The way knelling is slotted into the poem is a useful indicator of what has happened, as seen by the actual definition of knelling which is: (verb) 1. To ring a bell slowly & solemnly, especially for a funeral.

                          So as shown by the very descriptive use of wording used at this stage the bells were a very significant part his memory of this saddest of times.

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