Compare and contrast the poems 'Death of a Son', 'Mid-Term Break' and 'Remember' - What approaches do the writers take on the subject and what techniques do they use to convey their message?
Compare and contrast the poems 'Death of a Son', 'Mid-Term Break' and 'Remember'. What approaches do the writers take on the subject and what techniques do they use to convey their message? Think about * Structure * Narrator and their characters * Poetic techniques * Tone and mood * Setting in time Death of a Son by Jon Silkin This poem is a noting down, by Silkin, of his son's death, which comes from Silkin's own personal experience. Understandably, because of this, it is an extremely sad and distressing poem. It tells the reader of Silkin's struggle and his son's struggle, in what may have easily been the most difficult period of both their lives. Certainly for the son - although as a note at the start of the poem is tells the reader that the son was only one year old. Following the theme of sadness in this poem comes the awareness that fathers are not supposed to suffer the loss of a son, and for that reason there isn't a word to describe it - not as there is for widows or orphans. Silkin feels the injustice of this strongly. The first stanza starts off by saying that 'something' was no longer present; that something was missing. However it is unclear whether this 'something' was a burden. Whatever the something was to him, he does miss its presence. This can imply that Silkin, although his child was mentally ill, was a devoted father; there is also the
Compare the poems 'Mid-Term Break' by Seamus Heaney and ' 'Out Out- ' ' by Robert Frost
Compare the poems 'Mid-Term Break' by Seamus Heaney and ' 'Out Out- ' ' by Robert Frost After reading the poems 'Mid-Term Break' by Seamus Heaney and ' 'Out Out- ' ' by Robert Frost I am able to point out many similarities between the poems but also a number of differences. The first of these similarities is the theme. Both poems focus on the death of a young boy. However both offer very different treatments of that theme. 'Mid-Term Break' focuses on the aftermath of a terrible accident where Seamus Heaney chooses to focus his attention on the emotional responses of his friends and family while ' 'Out Out- ' ' shows the reader the accident as it happens in almost a running commentary style. 'Mid-Term Break' offers a much more emotional outlook on such a bleak subject, emphasising on the importance of life. ' 'Out Out- ' ' is hard-hitting in a different way. The lack of emotion in the poem is used effectively to help portray the much more negative message that Robert Frost is trying to express. In 'Mid-Term Break', Seamus Heaney tries to tell the reader about everybody's rite of passage, the importance and sanctity of life. Heaney emphasises throughout the poem that his brother's life was thrown away, he was cut off in his prime. The poem starts off by describing Heaney in his college sick-bay. At this point in the poem we don't know what has happened but it is clear that
Choose any two poems you feel have common theme (or themes). Write about them commenting fully on the ideas expressed and comparing and contrasting the poet's techniques.
Choose any two poems you feel have common theme (or themes). Write about them commenting fully on the ideas expressed and comparing and contrasting the poet's techniques. After reading and analysing numerous poems, I have chosen two examples of the famous Irish Poet, Seamus Heaney's work: 'Follower' and 'Mid-Term Break'. Both poems relate to the poet's past, and are certainly associated with a specific 'loss' of a loved one - one a literal loss, and the other a subconscious loss. 'Mid-Term Break', which I found to be a very touching and poignant poem, describes the loss of the poet's younger brother, Christopher when Heaney was a child, hence the poem is of a childhood tragedy as well as a loss. It's set in three places - the introduction is situated in the college sick bay; the main body of the poem is set in Heaney's brother's funeral, and the final setting is the small child's bedroom. The poet is awaiting his neighbours' car in the college sick bay, as they're going to escort him to the funeral. Evidence is given of 'death' in the second line: - "...Counting bells knelling classes to a close..." This metaphorical sentence creates a morbid atmosphere from the out-set, and the alliteration and hard consonants suggest that the 'wait' for his neighbours' car is excruciatingly long and daunting which underlines two things - childhood impatience and the fact that
"The Past is another country and they do things differently there" an essay on Seamus Heaney and his work.
"The Past is another country and they do things differently there" an essay on Seamus Heaney and his work. Heaney was born on April 13 1939. He was the eldest of nine children. In modern day society it is common to have 2 or 3 children, and to have eight or nine children is considered very unusual. Heaney lived on the family farm, Mossbawn, about thirty miles northwest of Belfast, in County Derry. The majority of UK residents live in urban areas, and a small minority live in rural areas. It used to be more popular in the past to live in a rural area. People in rural areas live, and have lived, in a totally different culture to that of the people in urban, industrialized areas. Heaney is Irish, which is also another culture to that of the English, today. The conflict in Northern Ireland is almost always a backdrop to his work, stated or implicit. Heaney's Poems are based on real life experiences, which can be related to in only so many ways, because of the differences in lifestyle, culture etc. For example in 'Blackberry Picking', he is talking of picking berries as a boy, and then hoarding them until they rot. This may imply that he went berry picking just for the fun of it, but today it is unusual for children to go berry picking, let alone without an adult. The adult would have known to store the berries properly, but in Heaney's day berry picking was a ritual
Seamus Heaney's Portrayal Of Pain and Suffering.
Seamus Heaney's Portrayal Of Pain an Suffering Poems I studied: - The Early Purges Mid-Term Break Limbo Bye Child Digging Seamus Heaney was born on April 13th 1939. He lived on a fifty-acre farm called Mossbawn where his father worked. His father's farm was in County Derry, Northern Ireland. Heaney was the eldest, he had two sisters and six brothers, when he was twelve he was awarded a scholarship at a catholic boarding school, Heaney left his farm and took up his post. The school was forty miles away from his home and subsequently saw very little of his family, despite his families absence Heaney claims that they were required for his poetry. In the poems that I have studied, Heaney's portrayal of his painful infant years and his dreadful recollections are showed in a variety of ways. Heaney's memories and feelings are always used as a background to his poems. As he wrote these when he was an adult, he adds a more mature, destructive attitude, showing the comparison between a child's innocent view and a more developed account. The first poem I studied was 'The Early Purges' which is a reflection of Heaney's disturbing past. Heaney was exposed to, too much way to soon, consequently forcing him to grow up prematurely. The title is very thought provoking by itself, 'The Early Purges' if something is 'early' it has no time to prove itself and is still young and free
GCSE English Seamus Heaney - 'At a Potato Digging', 'Follower', 'Death of a Naturalist', 'Mid-Term Break', 'Digging', And 'Storm on the Island' Poems
•? •? •? •? •? •? •? Seamus Heaney - 'At a Potato Digging' The poem deals with two different potato harvests. One is the harvest from the present day that goes successfully and which delivers a rich crop. The second potato harvest looks back to the famine of 1845 when the crop failed and many people starved. Whilst the famine is no longer a threat, its ongoing fear remains and this can be seen in the use of religious language throughout the poem. For example, the bowed heads of the potato pickers suggest the desire to respect the gods and show them respect. The poem begins with Heaney describing workers in a potato field in Ireland. They follow a machine that turns up the crop and they put these into a basket and then store them. The second section of the poem involves the healthy potatoes being described. The third section writes about the famine of the past. Fungus destroyed the entire crop of potatoes and this happened for three consecutive years. Ireland was devastated and there were many deaths with people being forced to flee Ireland. In the final section of the poem, Heaney returns to the first section of the poem - Ireland in the 1960s at lunchtime. The workers sit happily, with food to eat. The rhythm of the poem changes in the third section of the poem. This is well suited to the changing
Plath and Heaney - In this essay I will be looking at 3 poems, by two very different authors.
Charlotte Squires 11KBO 8th December 2002 Plath and Heaney In this essay I will be looking at 3 poems, by two very different authors. The first poem that I shall be studying is Blackberrying by Sylvia Plath. Plath was the ill-fated wife of the poet Ted Hughes, and committed suicide in 1963. A lot of her work has a dark side to it, and aside from poems, she also wrote an autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar. The Irish poet Seamus Heaney writes both the other poems that I shall be looking at, Blackberry Picking and An Advancement of Learning. Heaney won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995, and many of his works feature themes of how trivial experiences can change our lives. In the first line of Blackberrying, we are immediately overcome with a feeling of loneliness and isolation. 'Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries.' This is a very negative way in which to start the poem, but as you read on, something else becomes apparent - that the blackberries dominate everything, and shadow everything else into unimportance. At the moment, the lane seems quite innocent, but it also makes us wonder why she is being compelled to walk along it. The word Blackberries is mentioned three times in the first three lines, and they are so important to the woman picking them that we are even given totally insignificant details about
Compare the ways in which Pat Barker and Seamus Heaney use language as a central motif in 'Regeneration,' 'Death of a Naturalist' and 'North,' particularly focusing on their use of language to explore the past and memory.
Compare the ways in which Pat Barker and Seamus Heaney use language as a central motif in 'Regeneration,' 'Death of a Naturalist' and 'North,' particularly focusing on their use of language to explore the past and memory. The past and memory are important themes in both 'Regeneration' and Heaney's collection of poems. Barker and Heaney both use language as a central motif to explore the past and memory in their texts. Barker explores the past and memory in her poignant novel, 'Regeneration.' Through Dr. Rivers 'mental cases,' we learn of the horrors of World War One and the haunting memories the soldiers revive. In 'Digging,' 'Death of a Naturalist' and 'Blackberry-Picking' Heaney adopts a child's persona to explore the past and his childhood memories. Heaney explores the past and memory through Danish bog bodies, linking their violent deaths to the modern day violence in Ireland. Heaney also explores Irish history through the bog bodies. In 'Digging' Heaney uses metaphorical language to transport himself back to the past watching his father, 'Bends low, comes up twenty years away.' He uses sensory imagery to describe childhood memories of his father digging up potatoes, such as 'cool hardness,' 'cold smell' and 'soggy peat.' Heaney uses boastful language to describe his grandfather: "My grandfather cut more turf in a day Than any other man on Toner's bog."
How Seamus Heaney Evokes the Sensations and Emotions of Childhood by Comparing any Three of his Poems.
28 September 2003 How Seamus Heaney Evokes the Sensations and Emotions of Childhood by Comparing any Three of his Poems I am going to compare "Churning Day", "An Advancement of Learning" and Mid-Term Break". The topics I am going to cover are Heaney's use of senses, the changes of mood, how he conveys emotions, his subject matters and the structure of his poems. First I am going to look at Heaney's use of the senses, which he does with great effect making you feel as if you are in the poem. In "Churning Day", Heaney uses a lot of onomatopoeia, even the title is onomatopoeia, 'Churning'. 'Plumping' (Line 7) is also using onomatopoeia to give you a sort of snug feeling. 'The plash and gurgle' (Line 33) and 'pat and slap' (Line 34) is Heaney's other use of onomatopoeia in "Churning Day". These make you imagine more than the other two in my opinion that you are actually there while the churning is going on. It is obviously a very noisy business and I think Heaney conveys that fact to us well. In contrast, "Mid-Term Break" contains only one usage of onomatopoeia, 'the baby cooed and laughed', and this is to convey the baby's ignorance, the onomatopoeia makes it seem more immediate. It is a very emotional poem with a sombre mood, so there is unlikely to be much sound apart from the occasional cry. The baby is a slight relief in the sadness of the rest of the poem. In "An
The main theme for these two poems is death and how it effects Heaney in its different forms as a child.
Heaney Essay The main theme for these two poems is death and how it effects Heaney in its different forms as a child. Both poems discuss his emotions and how he reacts in each and every situation. Heaney was brought up in Ireland on a small farm so he had to deal with death on a day to day basis, whether it be newly born animals or loved ones; Heaney encountered it all. As the poems progress we begin to see more of Heaney's personality and how he deals with deaths not matter how small they are. Eventually, we begin to see changes in him, as the boy becomes a man and he starts to grow up. 'Midterm Break' begins with Heaney describing how bored he is and how slowly time is passing for him personally. He says, "I sat all morning in the college sick bay," this suggests that he feels like he has been waiting for ages. It is also ironic that he is sat in the college sick as he is not sick at all but his little brother is dead. "Counting bells knelling," really shows how bored he is, as you must be really stuck for something to do if you are counting the number of bells that ring. Within this line there is also evidence to show that death is at the forefront of Heaney's mind as he describes the bells as, "knelling." A knelling is what you would usually get at some ones funeral. Although it is not obvious, the thoughts of his brother's death are there they are just shown in very
