In the first line of stanza three, the mood changes completely. It has a much jollier feeling, because the baby hasn’t realised yet all that is happening around it because of his innocence. Heaney manages to make this contrast, by, rather than a monotonous description, pacing it up, giving it a rhythm making it have shorter, stronger sounds managed by the “ed” in the past tense. In the next lines, the narrator is “embarrassed by old men standing up to shake [his] hand” probably because he doesn’t know what to do, or how to act. In this stanza, the boy seems not to be preoccupied by the death; he seems to be much more worried about what others think of him.
In the fourth stanza, the narrator quotes exactly what the old men are saying, because he probably doesn’t think they really mean what they are saying. This makes us feel that the narrator has despise over them, like in the next line when he says “strangers”, because he probably feels that shouldn’t be there if they aren’t close to the family. When they offer their condolences, the old men use a euphemism because it would be too harsh. The word death is usually very strong, and in this situation, it will really be offensive.
In the next stanza, the narrator is describing all that is happening, still without much emotions and describing everything in clinical words. Like in the rest of the poem, he seems to be more worried by what is happening, rather than crying himself; and this is disturbing for the reader. In the first line, the narrator’s mother “[coughs] out angry tearless sighs” and this makes the reader think that she is really shocked, tearing apart and about to collapse. It also makes the reader feel shocked itself.
In the next stanza, the narrator is describing all that is happening, still without much emotions and describing everything in clinical words. Like in the rest of the poem, he seems to be more worried by what is happening, rather than crying himself; and this is disturbing for the reader. In the first line, the narrator’s mother “[coughs] out angry tearless sighs” and this makes the reader think that she is really shocked, tearing apart and about to collapse. It also makes the reader feel shocked itself.
In the sixth stanza, the words “snowdrops” and “nurses” have a stronger effect by being at the end of the line. These two words contrast, because nurses makes you think about illness and death, and snowdrops, being white, and as they flourish, make you think of a new beginning. There is a contrast between life and death. When the boy “[sees] him for the first time in weeks, paler now”, he starts to have feelings; he seems to be quite sad, and by using the word “him” it seems as if he doesn’t want to talk about it and is disturbed.
The last stanza is the one with the most powerful effect. In the first line, poppy bruise gives a connotation that the wound is very large, and red, by the blood. It makes the reader feel sad, because of how young the boy as. The baby “lay in his four foot box as in his cot” and this gives an image that the baby as really small; so small he still used a cot. This gives a shocking effect on the reader, as it makes you realise how small he is. As the baby as is “knocked clear”, this shocks the reader a lot, because it gives the impression that he as hit really hard, fast and violently.
The last line of this stanza is apart from the others. This makes it have a stronger effect on the reader. This line repeats what is said before, because the narrator is really shocked, as is the reader when reading this, because you realise how small the baby is. By the alliteration of the letter “f”, and short syllables, it gives a even stronger effect, as it makes you feel the anger of the narrator.
In conclusion, we can see that the title of the poem, “Mid-Term Break” doesn’t relate at all with the poem; because the title makes us think of vacations and fun when it is actually about death. This is called tragic irony. The overall effect this poem had on me, as really strong. It made me feel sad, disturbed and shocked, but despite this I believe it is wonderfully written.
