The fourth verse describes the harness of farming. He describes items used in farming with words such as “coarse” and “hardness”. He also describes the skill of his father “nestled”. This statement may help in his decision because he knows he does not have the same skill as his father. He also comments on his childhood and how “we picked” potatoes with his father and liked the feeling of “cool hardness in our hands.” This shows the difficultly of his decision because he likes farming.
In the fifth verse Heaney comments on how “the old man could handle a spade.” This again shows how highly Heaney respected his fathers trade and highlights his skill. The next line portrays the tradition in the family of the men farming for a living. The words that describe this are “Just like his old man.”
The sixth verse comments on the tradition of skill in farming in his family and also that his grandfather was good at his job. “ He cut more turf in a day.” Says that he was best where he worked. He also describes how hard his Grandfather worked. “To drink, then fell to right away.” This shows that his grand never slackened or took a long break.
The seventh verse concentrates on the jobs that his father and grandfather do in farming. These include “Nicking and slicing neatly.” At the end of the verse he links the poem back to the title with “Digging.” He does this emphasises his decision.
In the eighth verse Heaney describes the smells and noises that are common in Ireland. He uses onomatopoeia to describe the sound and involve the reader in the poem. At the end of the verse Heaney decides which career path he will follow. “But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.” This is Heaney’s way of saying he is not up to the job of farming.
The final verse starts the same as the first verse but the last line is the most important because “I’ll dig with it.” This line says he will make his family proud because he will write poems that will make a difference. Also by this line will know that Heaney will try to put his poetry to good use by helping in his own way to highlight problems in Ireland around this time.
The poem “Mid-Term Break” is an incredibly sad poem. Mid-Term Break was written By Seamus Heaney to help himself over come his grieving he felt when his brother died it is also could have been written to commemorate his brother’s memory.
The poem begins with the word "morning" in the first line, but it is two o'clock by the end of the verse, showing that hours have passed in waiting with Heaney not knowing what happened and being left by himself in the sick bay. “Morning” could have meant for the word mourning which was to happen later in the poem. The mood is set in the second line by the line “Counting bells knelling classes to a close”. He does this to put across the idea of sounds from a funeral. He also uses alliteration of “c” to make his message more potent.
The second verse begins with the image of Heaney's father "crying". Heaney’s father in the eyes of Heaney himself is of a strong man so having him crying causes a powerful image to the reader. Heaney describes his father as a man who “had always taken funerals in his stride.”
In the third and fourth verses Heaney gives a vivid description of his house on the day of his brother’s death. "Big Jim Evans", he tells of the way the baby “cooed” in its pram unaware of what had happened, the old men gathered in the room. He also said he was “embarrassed” because he did not know how he was to react and what to say. He vividly describes his house so the reader can imagine what he was feeling and seeing to help the reader become emotional involved.
In the fifth verse the image of Heaney’s mother coughing out "angry tearless sighs", is an image that will catch the reader’s attention and again this will get them emotionally involved. This also shows that Heaney’s mother was so distraught with the death of her son she could not cry or release her emotions in a true way. This also shows she was angry with the person driving the car. “as my mother held my hand” Shows that Heaney’s mother was trying to be strong for Seamus Heaney and may have been holding her emotions from him to try and protect him. The word “corpse” which he uses to describe his brothers body is a very blunt word that will shock the reader and may also have been trying to show that he was so upset at the time he was tried to not think of the body as his brothers.
The little brother of Seamus Heaney was hit on his head, as it says the ambulance arrived at 10 o'clock, with the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.
We learn in the sixth verse Heaney creates a very idyllic and reflective mood with the description of his little brother. We also learn that Heaney hadn't seen his brother for six weeks having been "away at school", which suggests he went to a boarding school. The words "paler now", hang at the end of the stanza on line 18, causing a sad pause before the sentence continues and describes how little changed in appearance from when the boy was alive and dead, the big difference is his paler colour and his "poppy bruise".
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 discover who has died and that he was only four years old. The Heaney’s four-year-old brother who suffered a hard hit to the head from a speeding car was well written in the poem. He uses a very emotive last line “A four foot box, a foot for every year.” This quotation is describing the coffin that his brother was laying in. this is a very blunt and hard-hitting message. Also because this is the last line it is the line that will stick with them.
These have many differences but also have many similarities. Both the poems tell a story that will dramatically change Heaney’s life and they also both describe events or problems that happened in his childhood. Both the poems also include vivid descriptions of his family and in particular vividly describe his father.
The contrasts between the two poems is that ii “Mid term break” it is a very sad real life event where as “Digging” is an experience that only he experienced where as “Mid-Term Break” affected many other people.
