By reading the first stanza may not be able to distinguish whether the poem is negative or positive, as the first stanza does not give much away.
When an important incident happens in a person’s life, they will remember every single detail of what happened on the day. The poem shows that the day was important to Heaney, a she remembers everything that took place and he was listing everything that happened.
“At two O’clock our neighbours drove me home.”
Here Heaney remembers the time as well as what happens. The time is barely remembered in a person’s life. This incident has a great effect on Heaney, so everything is brought back to his memory.
Another example of this is on stanza 5,
“At ten O’clock, the ambulance arrived.”
This quote also shows that the day was special to him and he will always remember every detail.
Heaney gives the reader a clue which tells us that the poem the poem is about a death and he reveals that it is a very personal and effective experience.
“In the porch I met my father crying- -
He had always taken funerals in his stride.”
This quote tells us that Heaney’s father is usually okay with funerals, but at this particular time, he is not. This suggests that it is the death of someone close to him, a family member, or a close friend.
In the following quote, Heaney uses a pun to describe how it feels when someone you love dies.
“And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.”
Heaney uses a play on words, by using the words ‘hard blow’ because it shows that the death has hit the father emotionally and physically.
By reading the next stanza, the audience should have already realised that Heaney is just listing down everything that he could see.
“The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram”
By listing down everything he could see, it shows that Heaney is in shock because everything has happened too fast and it is too much information to take in at once.
This quote also has a slight rhythm to it. It is also fairly positive compared to the rest of the poem, because the baby does not know what is going on. Heaney uses this effect so that it is in contrast the rest of the poem and so that the negativity of the poem stands out to the reader. This is juxtaposition.
In the following quote Heaney uses euphemism to avoid saying something unpleasant.
“And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble'”
By the old men saying that they were sorry for his trouble, it is clear that they do not really understand what he is going through, as troubles are usually small and simple. But to Heaney this is a catastrophe.
The old men may also have said this to Heaney because they did not want to say 'death' as it may emotionally hurt him.
Throughout the four first four stanzas of the poem, Heaney talks himself and how he's coping with the death, but by the end of stanza four, Heaney announces how his mother is coping with the death.
“...my mother held my hand
In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.”
The words 'coughed out angry tearless sighs' suggest that his mum is angry at the death. The words also show aggression and imply that she is forcing out the cough, as the word ‘coughed’ is a violent verb.
The fact that Heaney's mum is holding his hand shows that she doesn't want to lose him as well.
Heaney is struggling to understand what has happened. This is shown in the following quote,
“With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses”
The word 'corpse' suggests that Heaney has de-humanised his little brother, because he cannot come to terms with the bereavement and he cannot believe that he has died.
The following quote is an example of Heaney using personification,
“...snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside;”
The candles and snowdrops are playing the part of a nurse. As candles and snowdrops aren't humans and cannot replace a human being, it is personification. The calm mood is also shown in the quote. The flowers are a symbol in the poem, but also in reality for the family, a symbol for new life, after death. The snowdrop flowers are white in colour, this suggests purity and innocence. This shows that the boy who passed away is a child, as children are usually pure and innocent. The reader should have worked out that the semi-colon after the word 'beside' is used so that the reader pauses before reading the next part, and so that the reader is also prepared for the following,
“I saw him”
This is a contrast to when Heaney first saw his little brother and described him as 'corpse'. Now that Heaney is using the word 'him' to describe his younger brother, it shows that he now understands all that has happened, and he has taken everything in. The quote also shows that Heaney just needed a little time to adjust to the situation.
The way Heaney writes the poem reflects on the situation he is in. He writes the poem in an awkward way,
Wearing a poppy bruise...”
- “...my mother held my hand
In hers...”
These quotes mirrors the state Heaney is in.
The words 'Wearing a poppy bruise' suggest that the bruise looks nice on his little brother. The bruise is seen as not really part of the boy – he is 'wearing' it, as if it could come off. Heaney compares the bruise to a poppy, a flower linked with death and soothing the pain.
The next part of information Heaney gives us about the day is the following,
“the bumper knocked him clear.”
This quote reveals that the death of his brother was caused by a car accident. The child appears as if sleeping 'in a cot'. We contrast the ugly 'corpse, stanched and bandaged', which becomes a sleeping child with 'no gaudy scars' - dead, but, ironically, not disfigured.
The final stanza of 'Mid-term Break' is only one line long and the last word of it rhymes with the last word on the line above.
“A four foot box, a foot for every year”
This last line has a big impact on the reader, as it reveals that the child was only four years old. This makes the reader feel sorry for Heaney. This line is the most effective line in the whole poem. The fact that this line contains the only rhyme in the poem,
“...clear
...year”,
it has a huge effect on the reader. It is a very dramatic way to end the poem and it also sticks in the readers mind.
The only rhyme in the poem gives a finality of three things; the end of the poem, the end of the child's life, and the end of Heaney grieving. Through writing the poem Heaney resigns to the fact that his brother died.