Has its own individual outlook towards death. The three poems that I am studying are 'Mid-Term Break' by Seamus Heaney, 'In Memory of my Mother' by Patrick Kavanagh and Emily Dickinsons poem, which still remains untitled.

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English Language Coursework

With reference to three poems – at least one pre twentieth century – discuss the ‘treatment’ of death.

Death is a controversial topic that has been the subject of many poems as almost every person is curious to what happens when they depart this life.

The three poems that I am studying have very different views of what happens after life and each one has its own individual outlook towards death.

The three poems that I am studying are ‘Mid-Term Break’ by Seamus Heaney, ‘In Memory of my Mother’ by Patrick Kavanagh and Emily Dickinsons poem, which still remains untitled.

‘Mid-Term Break’ is about the sad and disquieting subject matter of death.  It is a view from the poet Seamus Heaney as a young boy being confused as to how to react to the tragic death of his four year old brother.

Heaney wrote this poem as an adult looking back at the time of his brother’s death and his thoughts and feelings of his first experience of death as a young boy.

 In the first stanza, Heaney recalls his memories of sitting in school waiting for his neighbours to drive him home – “Counting bells knelling classes to a close” The school bells could imitate the sound of a funeral bell giving the reader a partial view into the following events.   The young boy is not thinking about the awful tragedy, his childish mind is counting the bells ending the classes as if his mind had gone blank. He is too young to take in the true horror of what has happened. This line referring to the school bells could also reflect the sound of a funeral bell tolling.  

In the second stanza he meets his father standing in the porch as his neighbours leave him home.  The young boy is confused and frightened to see how devastated and upset his father is, he had never seen his father cry before, he had always taken funerals “in his stride.”

The third stanza describes how innocent and unaware his baby brother/sister is of what has happened.  It describes how the baby “cooed and laughed and rocked the pram.”  It also describes his sheer embarrassment of the older male visitors who stood to shake his hand as if he was unworthy of such gestures.

Throughout the poem the entire poem there is not a word of sorrow or sense of bereavement on the part of the writer.  Instead, the young boy is shocked and baffled toward the days events.  This was his first experience of death and he is only now facing up to the real horrors and reality of death and its effects on a family.  The young boy feels embarrassed and baffled by the numerous amounts of adult visitors who have invaded his home whilst his mother coughs “out angry tearless sighs.”   This is a most poignant and moving image in stanza five of Heaney’s mothers who is so contorted by grief and shock that her anger leads to “tearless sighs.”  

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The poet is more amazed by the reactions of his family and neighbours then by his own loss of a brother.  

In stanza six when he goes up to the room where his brothers corpse is, he can only notice the details in the room – the bruise, the coffin, the snowdrops and the candles.  He does not cry, instead he appears numb with shock.  This stanza and the following one contains some very vivid phrases, the items surrounding the coffin symbolise the innocence and purity of the dead boy.  The line “candles soothed the bedside” gives ...

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