Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney - review

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English Homework                                                                                 Elin Nixon

Mid-Term Break

Looking first at the poem written by Seamus Heaney it portrays a very powerful and clear message. I guess that it is set in Ireland, he gives clues of this throughout the poem and as he is originally from Ireland I think that it is a safe presumption to make. Mid-Term break an incredibly sad poem. In Mid term break Seamus Heaney's tells of the tragic death of his younger brother, who was sadly killed. Seamus Heaney describes in the poem of what he did that day when he's younger brother was killed. The stanza begins with the "morning" in line one, but it is two o'clock in line three, showing that hour have passed in waiting. The second stanza begins with the image of Heaney's father "crying". Heaney's father appears to be a strong man of few words, so having him crying causes a powerful emotion in the reader. The effect that his father crying has on Heaney is also written, he says how his father had ‘Always taken funerals in his stride’ this gives the clear message that this funeral is different, devastating for even the seemingly stronger members of Heaney’s family. Heaney skilfully takes the reader with him as he enters the house through the porch as we meet his father; "Big Jim Evans"; the baby in its pram; the old men gathered in the room; and finally Heaney's mother coughing out "angry tearless sighs", which show that she was hiding her true emotions. When Heaney writes of "Big Jim Evans" it has an almost hidden meaning. There seems to be and invisible emphasis on the word, ‘Big’ making it stick out in your mind. I think that Heaney does this on purpose; the word ‘Big’ brings the image of a strong, tough man I feel we are meant to translate it to mean that if ‘Big Jim Evans’ says that it was a hard blow that something extremely bad must have happened. In the few line of the poem alone we are seeing a mass of very different emotions. The first opening lines give the impression that Heaney is almost bored, he says how he ‘counts the bells knelling classes to a close’ and how he had ‘sat all morning in the sick bay.’ Before his neighbours came to collects him. He next moves abruptly to say how he met his father crying in the porch. Here is another emotion, devastation. Also when he says how his father is always strong and collected at funerals you can almost pick up on his surprise to see his father in such a distressing state. He goes on to talk of ‘Big Jim Evans’ and his statement. I feel that Jim Evans expresses deep sadness and woe. He then writes of another emotion, one quite different to the ones identified earlier, joy and happiness, ‘The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram.’ The next strong emotion described is that of his mother, ‘…coughed angry tearless sighs.’ It is a difficult to interpret this emotion, though I do feel that his mother is in some way trying to disguise her sobs with coughs. Trying to contain her trouble and keep on a strong front, maybe for her guests or for her eldest son, Heaney. We learn in the sixth stanza that Heaney hadn't seen his brother for six weeks having been "away at school", this almost gives the impression that Heaney may be feeling slightly guilty that in the last few weeks of his brothers life he was not there with him. I think that Heaney is confused as to what he should feel. He has seen each of his parents express very different emotions and he seems confused as to which he should feel. He writes of his brothers bedside, ‘Snowdrops and candles soothed his bedside. I feel that with most other sentences in this poem this to holds a hidden meaning. Snowdrops are seen in snow and so are associated with the harsh cold, whereas candles host a flame, linked with heat. His brothers bedside seems to host two of the extremes, I think that this contrast of hot and cold is presents within Heaney, he seems angry that his brother has died so young and yet the love that he show towards his younger brother is also evident. The words "paler now", hang at the end of the stanza on line 18, causing a sad pause before the sentence continues. He writes of the ‘…poppy bruise.’ This is important, a poppy represents peace but also death. Strongly linked with the loss in War it relates to both peace, and death. Although his brother was killed innocently in his youth he is now at peace. The final line stands out of the rest of the poem. Almost every word is special so that the reader must take in the line's message and the shock and deep grief that the family must have felt. There is shock for the reader reading it for the first time also, when they that he was only four years old. In the final line Heaney plays on words, ‘Four foot’ and ‘Foot for’ a clever and blunt way to end the poem. I believe that a poem such as this must have a sudden ending that lingers in the readers mind, something that makes them stop and think, Heaney, I think does this perfectly.    

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