Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney - review
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
Mid-Term Break
Mid-Term Break is an incredibly sad poem. Mid term break is basically about a little boy, who was actually Seamus Heaney's brother, who was sadly killed by a speeding car. 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 hours 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. Heaney skilfully takes the reader with him as he enters the house (showing he was scared) 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. 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 stanza 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
Mid Term Break
Thomas Brown 10R2 Mid Term Break 'Blah' 'Blah' 'Blah' was all I could understand as I gazed out of the open class window. I was in a total state of lapsed concentration as my physics teacher, Mr. Ripley, chattered on about the electromagnetic spectrum. Even the attraction of a couple of minutes out of class to see the headmaster didn't disrupt my thoughts. When, after the fourth attempt of trying to catch my attention, a senior teacher tapped me with his distinguished finger on my alarmed shoulder and I finally sat up and took notice. The classroom went silent and I sensed everybody's eyes turning to me. I turned bright red and my hand trembled as the teacher handed me a note informing me I was to see the headmaster. I wondered what I had done and so did most of the class I realized as the whispering and sniggering started. I went down the corridor sheepishly to the head's office. He was waiting at the door for me. By the expression on his face he didn't seem angry, more worried and I was soon to understand why. In the next few minutes my whole world fell apart. In as gentle a way as possible, he broke the terrible, devastating news that my younger, much loved brother had died in tragic circumstances. Oh! No it can't be true! They've made a mistake surely! I cried. I couldn't believe that I would never see my brother again. Never kick a ball about with him again. Never
English essay
A comparison of 'mid term break' by Shamus Hearney and 'do not go gentle into that good night' by Dylan Thomas' examining the different attitudes to death. The two poems being examined in this essay are 'mid term break' and 'do not go gentle'. Dylan Thomas was born in 1914. He had a 1st class degree in literature. Shamus Hearney was born in Ireland, 1939. He was the eldest of 9 children. He was the oxford professor of poetry. He is alive to the present day. Both of the poems relate to death although attitudes vary between the two poems. Mid term break describes the death of a younger brother affecting an older, but still relatively young child. It shows he is quite young in the ' I sat all morning in the college sick bay' This shows he is quite young as he is still in school/college. The poem ' do not go gentle' describes a person asking their father not to give up and fight against death. This is shown in the quote 'Do not go gentle' The quote is saying to fight against death and not to give up against death gently. Mid term break is structured with seven stanzas and a one line irregular stanza. There is also no rhyme scheme apart from a rhyming couplet at the end. Do not go gentle is structured in a strict villanelle format with an ABAABAABAACAACACAA rhyme scheme written in turcets with the exception of the last stanza which is 4 lines with the last two lines as a
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney Seamus Heaney was born in 1939 in Northern Ireland into a rural farming family. The family where Catholic, living in a predominantly Protestant area of the country. I can relate to this as I come from South Africa where the tension between the black and white people is high, this has helped me to choose my first poem "Docker". The second poem I am going to analyse is "Follower" which tells the story of a young boy who grows up admiring his dad but as time ticks by, things change and people age. The third and final poem I will analyse is "Digging" which also is about a young lad who admires his dad for his skill, but feels bad because he isn't as skilled as his father is and therefore chooses to dig with his pen in the form of poetry. The poem Docker starts off with "there, in the corner" from this it can be seen that the man is a lonely man who does not want to be bothered, all he is doing is staring at his drink. "Speech clamped in the lips, vice" this use of metaphor indicates that he is a anti social person with the word "vice" once again describing the mans power and strength. The Docker is then described as a hard and tough man, "Cowling plated forehead and sledge head jaw" because he is compared with very hard objects, such as a sledge head which is made out of steel. "That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic" this verse is of a violent nature
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney Heaney grew up in the countryside with a boy called Dan Taggart. "I was six when I first saw the kittens drown. Dan Taggart pitched them, 'the scraggy wee shits'. Dan and Seamus grew up in the Irish countryside. Dan liked to kill the animals and said that it was because they were pests and had to be dealt with accordingly. " 'Prevention of cruelty' talk cuts ice in a town where they consider death unnatural, but on well-run farms pests have to be kept down. He is saying that it's all well and good the towns people saying that killing is wrong but they are pests that kill their animals and so have to be stopped from doing so, meaning that they have to be killed to stop them from eating their livestock. Seamus was not a killer as he thought it wrong of Dan to kill the animals, "Suddenly frightened, for days I sadly hung round the yard, watching the three sogged remains turn mealy and crisp as old summer dung". Where Seamus lived there were many wells as he describes in his poem 'Personal Helicon'. " As a child, they could not keep me from wells and old pumps with buckets and windlasses. I loved the dark drop, the trapped sky, the smells of waterweed, fungus and dank moss. One in a brickyard, with a rotted board top. I savored the rich crash when a bucket plummeted down at the end of the rope. So deep you saw no reflection in it. In this he is showing how
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is one of today's greatest living poets. His poems have the ability to reflect complex issues and themes, like politics, heritage, and conflict. The poems in Death of a Naturalist are centred on his personal search for his identity, and his feelings towards his family. While looking at these poems it becomes clear to the reader that Heaney's Irish heritage, are entwined with his identity, his views, and his family. These issues are fused together with the personal acceptance of becoming a poet and his experience of growing up. I will be looking at the first four poems in the Death of a Naturalist collection in particular the techniques that Heaney uses to present himself and his family, in order to create poignancy and engage those who are reading his work. In the poem "Digging" Heaney describes the deftness and dexterity in which his father performs his job as a farmer. Heaney's family profession has always been farming "the old man could handle a spade Just like his old man". Heaney starts the poem off by saying "The squat pen rests; snug as a gun". This simile draws parallels with the phrase "The pen is mightier than the sword", which indicates that Heaney feels as though writing is an effective weapon, and gives the impression of power at Heaney's fingertips. To me this poem seems to be a Heaney writing a justification for not joining the family profession,
Seamus Heaney
Katie E Payne English Language Seamus Heaney Compare Heaney's feelings towards growth and development from childhood to adulthood, using the literary and linguistic devices in 'Blackberry-Picking' and 'Death of A Naturalist' By Seamus Heaney. Blackberry Picking gives a lucid description of basically, picking blackberries. However it is really about hope and disappointment and how things never quite live up to expectations. 'Blackberry picking' becomes a metaphor for other experiences such as the lack of optimism already being realised at an early age and the sense of naivety looked upon from an adult analysing his childhood; "Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not", consequently a sense of regret. Death of A Naturalist is similar to Blackberry Picking in its subject and structure. Here, too Heaney explains a change in his attitude to the natural world, in a poem that falls also into two parts, a somewhat idyllic past and present torn by various conflicts. The experience is almost like a nightmare, as Heaney witnesses a plague of frogs comparable to something from the Old Testament. In the first section of Blackberry Picking, Heaney presents the tasting of the blackberries as a sensual pleasure - referring to sweet "flesh", to "summer's blood" and to "lust". He uses many adjectives of colour and suggests the enthusiasm of the collectors, using every
Seamus Heaney: Digging
Seamus Heaney: Digging On the surface level of this poem, Heaney is writing about his life on the farm and describing the scene where his father was digging potatoes. The title 'Digging' is ambiguous and vague. You have to read the poem carefully to realise that all three generations are involved in digging. Heaney's grandfather digs turf, his father digs potatoes, and Heaney himself is digging up memories with his pen. The poem has a powerful opening similie. "The squat pen rests', snug as a gun". It shows how perfectly the pen fits in his hand, and also how powerful the pen is to him, like how a gun is powerful to man. Also it is suggesting that the pen is like a weapon for writing. Enjambment is used between the second and third stanza. He uses it to indicate the shift in time back into the past. It was clear that Heaney's father was skilled at his work - "stooping in rhythm through potato drills". Also the word "straining rump" indicates how old his father has become. He was also proud of his grandfather, "my grandfather cut more turf in a day than any other man on Toner's bog". Heaney boasts about his grandfathers skills. He was also very hardworking. Even when Heaney brought him a bottle of milk, he drank it very quickly so he that could go back to digging - " straightened up to drink it, then fell to right away". His work was precise and was also
With reference to any three poems from "Death of a Naturalist" discuss Heaney's treatment of the theme of death.
With reference to any three poems from "Death of a Naturalist" discuss Heaney's treatment of the theme of death. Heaney's first volume of poetry, "Death of a Naturalist" deals with the young poet growing up on a farm and encountering for the first time the bitter realities of life. "The Early Purges" focuses on this particular point in his life. At this time Heaney is only six and coming to terms with what he is introduced to is by no means easy. At this age he is confronted with the sight of drowning kittens. Dan Taggart, a rough and arrid farm-hand, holds the responsibility for this harsh job. Yet he shows neither compassion nor sympathy and brushes off the guilt for his deed by referring to them as 'scraggy wee shits', as if they were of no meaning. 'Dan Taggart pitched them into them, into a bucket.' He does this without feeling or any slight indication of emotion. As the kittens drown, Heaney describes them as making a 'tiny din'. This is an oxymoron, because although the noise is muffled and hence quiet, this is so shocking to the ears of the young Heaney that it seems loud and clouds out all other sounds. Heaney uses this oxymoron to draw the reader's attention to the situation; he encourages the reader to look twice as dins are usually thought of as being very loud, so describing it as tiny seems 'incorrect' and compels the reader to look over it once more so that
