Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access for just £4.99 per month

GCSE: Seamus Heaney

View now
Discover fantastic essays... Learn from Teacher-annotated essays and dramatically improve your grades
Students learn faster on Marked by Teachers. Learning from worked examples accelerates learning by 29%. Use this accelerated learning to reach your potential

350 GCSE Seamus Heaney essays

  • Marked by Teachers essays 1
  • Peer Reviewed essays 17
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. …
  6. 35
  1. Marked by a teacher

    Commentary on Seamus Heaney's "Scaffolding".

    3 star(s)

    A well-structured essay which explores the theme of friendship in Heaney's poem very well. It stays firmly focused on what the essay demands throughout.

    • Essay length: 502 words
    • Submitted: 28/06/2004
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Stephen Evans 01/05/2013
  2. Peer reviewed

    Follower by Seamus Heaney

    5 star(s)

    The Response to the Question is extremely well-established. It is structured so ideas and explanations are easily written, explored and read by examiners. The candidates focuses attentively on the steer…

    • Essay length: 857 words
    • Submitted: 31/03/2006
    • Reviewed by: (?) sydneyhopcroft 22/02/2012
  3. Peer reviewed

    Compare 'Digging' and 'Follower' by Seamus Heany

    4 star(s)

    This is a very competent response from a candidate who shows a fair knowledge of the two Heaney poems 'Digging' and 'Follower'. Though not perfect, the candidate has incorporated a…

    • Essay length: 762 words
    • Submitted: 03/12/2007
    • Reviewed by: (?) 01/07/2012
  4. Peer reviewed

    Death Of A Naturalist comment on how appropriate the title, "Death of a Naturalist", is and comment on how it changes meaning.

    4 star(s)

    This is a very confident essay that makes the majority of it's points clearly (and happily tackles more intricate analysis) and presents so really fresh ideas about the poem 'Death…

    • Essay length: 533 words
    • Submitted: 06/03/2007
    • Reviewed by: (?) 02/09/2012
  5. Peer reviewed

    Death of a naturalist

    4 star(s)

    Though working without a prompt to focus the response, the writer competently explores the general use of language and primary themes of ‘Death of a Naturalist’. The writer perceptively describes…

    • Essay length: 871 words
    • Submitted: 14/02/2007
    • Reviewed by: (?) ib95 28/02/2012
  6. Peer reviewed

    Sunil Mirpuri

    4 star(s)

    This response is for a question about how Seamus Heaney changes his narrative voice in his poem' Punishment'. There is an unbroken focus on the narrative voice and how it…

    • Essay length: 944 words
    • Submitted: 17/10/2006
    • Reviewed by: (?) sydneyhopcroft 06/03/2012
  7. Peer reviewed

    The poem 'My First Sonne'was written by Ben Jonson. 'The poem is a first hand experience from the father, which his one and only son died. In the poem 'Mid-Term Back' written by Seamus Heaney, the author focuses

    4 star(s)

    This answer is an analysis of the poems 'Mid-Term Break' by Seamus Heaney and 'On my First Sonne' by Ben Jonson. The candidate retain and excellent focus for the entirety…

    • Essay length: 797 words
    • Submitted: 18/08/2006
    • Reviewed by: (?) sydneyhopcroft 09/04/2012
  8. Peer reviewed

    Compare the poems 'Mid-Term Break' by Seamus Heaney and ' 'Out Out- ' ' by Robert Frost

    4 star(s)

    A valid and well-reasoned response to the given question. This candidate discusses the tragedy of both poems, notably Heaney's sense of loss and grief within 'Mid-term Break' which they link…

    • Essay length: 5246 words
    • Submitted: 31/03/2006
    • Reviewed by: (?) garethevans 31/08/2012
  9. Peer reviewed

    How Do You Respond To Mid-Term Break? What techniques does Heaney use? Having read the title 'Mid-Term Break', I assumed that the poem

    4 star(s)

    This is one of those very beguiling questions that directly asks for a personal response. The danger here is that candidates, instead of incorporating a personal view mixed with an…

    • Essay length: 748 words
    • Submitted: 20/02/2006
    • Reviewed by: (?) sydneyhopcroft 26/02/2012
  10. Peer reviewed

    A comparison between Seamus Heaney's

    4 star(s)

    The candidate here has responded well to a question that asks of the presentation of the themes in Seamus Heaney's 'Digging' and one other poem from the AQA Anthology. This…

    • Essay length: 1178 words
    • Submitted: 26/10/2004
    • Reviewed by: (?) sydneyhopcroft 16/03/2012
350 essays
  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. …
  6. 35

Meet the Marked by Teachers team

The teachers

Our team of teachers have over 435 years of teaching experience between them - that's a lot of essay marking.

Find out more about the team

TSR peer reviewers

The peer review team is a specialist squad of the brightest UK student talent, working together to provide rounded essay reviews.

Find out more about the team

Conclusion analysis

Good conclusions usually refer back to the question or title and address it directly - for example by using key words from the title.
How well do you think these conclusions address the title or question? Answering these questions should help you find out.

  1. Do they use key words from the title or question?
  2. Do they answer the question directly?
  3. Can you work out the question or title just by reading the conclusion?

  • Compare the different memories o f childhood presented in "Mid Term Break" and "In Mrs Tilschers Class"

    "In conclusion both of these poems deal with childhood memories. Heaney's' poem is more sad and we learn it effects him emotionally. Duffy's poem is an experience I think we all go through and we can deal with. I prefer 'Mid Term Break' as it affected me more emotionally as I can not sympathise with him. I think the poem is written really well as he builds up the tension that he felt. Jade schofield"

  • Compare and Contrast 'Death of a Naturalist', ' An Advancement of Learning' and ' The Early Purges'

    "In conclusion, the main similarities between the three poems are in the language used. By this I mean that of particular phrases such as war words and the usage of similes and alliteration and the fact that they are all about animals and fear. The main differences are that "The Early Purges" is a different structure to the other two poems. I have learnt about parts of Seamus Heaney's childhood and his coping with fear. I have also learnt different techniques to use in poems, for example alliteration. I have enjoyed the excitement Heaney builds up in each poem. My favourite poem is "An Advancement of Learning" because I can understand and picture everything Heaney describes. Also it is my most preferred poem due to the fact I can relate to confronting a fear and not having a path to turn to and then the fear swam away from me, so I can relate to the story."

  • Compare one poem by Seamus Heaney and one poem by Gillian Clarke to show how they use imagery to create effects.

    "CONCLUSION Both the poems, Mali and Blackberry Picking convey a strong message and meaning to the poem. The poem Mali is about a child's 3rd birthday, so naturally it is going to be a special occasion for her. I think Mali was written because it was such a special day for Gillian and it meant so much to her. In my opinion, I think Mali is a very effective poem. The many feelings and emotions conveyed in the poem, along with the poetic devices, especially imagery, make it a very interesting poem to read. The poem Blackberry Picking is about a past experience that Seamus had of blackberry picking. I think he wrote this because he feels that the memories of blackberry picking were very special to him and he wants to remember them. I think blackberry picking is also a very effective poem. The details of the blackberry picking are very well explained by his especially good use of vivid imagery and the other poetic devices in the poem. Edward Jones"

Marked by a teacher

This essay has been marked by one of our great teachers. You can read the full teachers notes when you download the essay.

Peer reviewed

This essay has been reviewed by one of our specialist student essay reviewing squad. Read the full review on the essay page.

Peer reviewed

This essay has been reviewed by one of our specialist student essay reviewing squad. Read the full review under the essay preview on this page.