Discuss how Seamus Heaney presents childhood in "Death of a naturalist" and "Mid term break".

Review of essay

Rating: 3 star(s)

Response to the question

The question here asks it's candidates to discuss how Seamus Heaney presents the image of childhood in two of his poems - 'Death of a Naturalist' and 'Mid-Term Break'. In this answer, the candidate addresses both poems in turn, though they often get bogged down in what they poems are trying to say, rather than actually analysing how Heaney accomplishes it. There is a recurrent focus on the imagery conjured up in the poems, and often the candidate contradicts themselves in doing so - they speak of the mood at the beginning of 'Death of a Naturalist' to be "low and down putting (sic)", yet then describe it as a summer landscape, which is quite stereotypically the opposite. To opening lines are a mix of both actually, with the summer afternoon humming with nature and sweltering heat - there is a sense of impending danger here.

Level of analysis

In terms of analysis, this answer scrapes the surface but very rarely manages to delve much further than the obvious. Most particularly, the candidate spends a lot of time talking about what the poems are about and the feeling the reader gets in very general terms, without really applying any of the poems' context. There doesn't seem to be a very good understanding of Heaney's reasons for writing 'Death of a Naturalist', though there is evidence of some appreciation of the motivation behind 'Mid-Term Break'. Contextual appreciation is imperative for any candidate wishing to score higher than a C grade. Candidates must partake in external research - it often surpasses many GCSE students that the internet is an expendable source of information about these very poems, considering thousands of other students around the world are studying the exact same poems - a lot has been written about Seamus Heaney's poetry in professional journalists' blogs etc., and these are an absolutely invaluable source of external information that can be integrated in the candidate's own answer; they can also help with an understanding of poems and their themes - something which appears greatly lacking in this answer.

Quality of writing

The Quality of Written Communication shown by this candidate is poor. The method of quoting is very poor as well. There are almost no quotation marks used when sourcing the poem, which is unacceptable at GCSE standard and there is a frequent disregard for the standard of grammar. Furthermore, there is little use of appropriate punctuation, even with points as simple as commas. There must be care taken with QWC as the expression of the candidates' answer is just as important as the analysis; it does not matter how good the answer is - if the answer cannot be read, then examiners will deduct marks.