Poem Analysis: Mid-term Break
Poem Analysis: Mid-term Break Seamus Heaney himself is the narrator in the poem, Mid-term Break, a sad story from his childhood. It depicts the reactions of everyone around him and of himself to a death in the family. It does this through the poem's three parts: the waiting at school, the behaviour of everyone at home, and his solitary viewing of the body. This poem is unsentimental but full of emotions. The first stanza introduces Seamus sitting alone at school, in the "sick bay". He is waiting, and time passes slowly as he counts "bells knelling classes to a close". This tells the reader that the mid-term break is not a school holiday, as classes are still taking place. The boy is eventually picked up by his neighbours, which shows the reader that his parents are too busy to pick up their son, so it must be an important occasion. The next stanza starts with Seamus arriving home, and in the porch meeting his father, who is crying. This stanza tells us that we are witnessing a funeral. The reader still does not know who has died, but we know that it is a family member, perhaps a sibling or even the boy's mother. In the third stanza, the baby "cooed and laughed"; this shows the baby's innocence and lack of awareness of what is happening. At this point the only emotion that the narrator expresses is embarrassment by the way older men are treating him; like an adult.
Art and Madness
This document was downloaded from Coursework.Info - The UK's Coursework Database - http://www.coursework.info/ Final Paper Art and Madness The suicides of literary geniuses Sylvia Plath and Sarah Kane have sparked debate and intrigue over the relationship between art and madness. Their connection is complex and unresolved. However, through historical and scientific evidence, greater insight can be gained into Plath and Kane’s suicides. The literary debate over the connection between creativity and insanity is rooted in anecdotes about eccentricities and peculiarities of behavior, found in biographical and historical records. The traditional view comes from ancient Greece, where Socrates and Plato stated that poetic genius was inseparable from madness. Socrates believed the poet has “no invention in him until he has been inspired and is out of his senses,” and Plato said that the poetry of the sane “is beaten all hollow by the poetry of madmen” (Hershman and Lieb, Manic Depression and Creativity, 8). Even eighteenth-century rationalists, who honored sanity and intelligence, continued to credit the latter to temporary insanity. The poet Diderot claimed that “These reserved and melancholy men owe their extraordinary, almost godlike acuteness of insight to a temporary disturbance of their whole mechanism. One may notice how it brings them now to sublime and
Digging’ and ‘Early Purges’
Diverse cultures and Traditions in 20th Century poetry Introduction For the Diverse Cultures assignment, I have studied pieces by Seamus Heaney. These include 'Digging' and 'Early Purges'. All the poems relate back to his young life in Limavady in the County of Derry, Northern Ireland. When Heaney was young, he wanted to follow in his fathers and grandfathers footsteps of being farmers. Not just that, but being the eldest child in his family, he was expected to. Instead however, he turned his back on his family's great tradition, and decided to become a writer instead. As said, Heaney did want to become a farmer, this was expressed in the poem 'Follower', where he describes the way his father used to plough fields. The title itself shows there was once an ambition to follow. Furthermore, the pride that Heaney expresses in his family's age-old tradition is articulated in the poem 'Digging': "By God, the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man". He goes on to describe that his grandfather was the finest turf-cutter on 'Toner's bog'. His chosen option not to follow 'rural convention' created an entirely diverse world for Heaney. The fact that he went to a boarding school in a city (St. Columb's college) would be enough of a culture shock. There were no kittens being drowned, as described in 'Early Purges', here. That type of thing was seen as inhumane, but to him,
The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
Rhodri Fussell 11S English Coursework The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson The Charge of the Light brigade was a tragic battle, four hundred people died from one small mistake of picking the wrong valley to go down. The six hundred and seventy three soldiers got out numbered, caught by surprise in Balaclava. There were " Canons to the right of them, Canons to the left of them and cannons behind them," They knew they were going to die but their hopes did not die they were stuck in there and the only thing to do was fight with pride and honour. The first stanza starts of by saying " Half a league, Half a league, Half a league onwards." This means the distance is decreasing as they are going along the mountains. "All in they valley of death" this tells me they were doomed as soon as they went into Death Valley in the mid 1800's. Tennyson does not identify the officers' names; he does not mention his name, as he would not be able to put the blame on one man. "Rode the six hundred " this tells me that they rode with six hundred soldiers and returned with an estimate of four hundred this emphasises the tragedy of loosing so may good and heroic soldiers. "Was there a man dismayed."? The men did not question any order, they did not mind dying for their country but what they were to face was too much, it was a slaughter. "Some one had blundered." It
Comparison of two love poems 'The Voice' by Thomas Hardy and 'Twelve Songs' by W.H.Auden.
Comparison of two love poems 'The Voice' by Thomas Hardy. 'Twelve Songs' by W.H.Auden Both poems are written with the same theme in mind, 'Love lost and love remembered'; although they are quite different in the way the author has put across his ideas, feelings and emotions. 'The Voice', I would say is the more complex of the two poems and is about a man pining after a lost love, hallucinating that she has come back to him. He dwells on his memories of her and their relationship and believes that he can hear the sound of her voice calling to him. Even when he returns to reality, realising that he cannot regain her love for him, and that he must begin to emotionally move forward, he still believes she is there, calling to him. 'Twelve songs' describes a woman who is mourning over the death of someone she loved greatly. It has no real storyline, and is just a description of how immense her love was for this lost love and how much grief the death of him has left her in. The title that Hardy has given to his poem gives it a slight mysterious edge. With no adjectives to describe what kind of voice it is, we let our imaginations run lose and so do not have a clear understanding of what the poem is going to be about. Auden's title, you may first believe is more self explanatory, although when you read further into the poem you will realise that the title does not have much
Compare The Barn and An Advancement of Learning - How does Heaney present childhood fears and imagination?
Compare The Barn and An Advancement of Learning. How does Heaney present childhood fears and imagination? In the two Seamus Heaney poems', "The Barn," and "An Advancement of Learning," there are a number of similarities and differences between them. One key similarity is the theme of rats. In, "The Barn," the boy explores around and once he walks into a cobweb, he gets a fright and tries to get away into the sunlit yard. The boy has nightmares in the poem and the large, heavy corn sacks are described as, "great blind rats," whereas in, "An Advancement of Learning," the rats are actually real and they scuttle past in front of his eyes. They are portrayed as arrogant and disgusting. Heaney says, "The rats slobbered out of the water, smudging the silence." We begin to imagine revolting beasts all wet and disgusting scurrying about the riverbanks. What is very similar about the two poems is that they are both very autobiographical and recall childhood memories. "The Barn," is about Heaney's past experience of the barn and he tells us of all the feelings he felt at the time. In, "An Advancement of Learning," Heaney refers to how he used to panic when his grey brothers scraped and fed behind the hencoop in his yard and on ceiling boards above his bed. Both poems link to the childhood phobia, which in this case happens to be rats. Both poems are narrated in the first person. This
Both 'Lamb to the Slaughter' and 'The Speckled Band' share some of the characteristics of murder mysteries. Explain the similarities and differences between the two stories and say which one you think is more compelling to read.
Both 'Lamb to the Slaughter' and 'The Speckled Band' share some of the characteristics of murder mysteries. Explain the similarities and differences between the two stories and say which one you think is more compelling to read. The authors of the two books are Conan Doyle and Roald Dahl. The speckled band was written by Conan Doyle in 1892, but Doyle started writing Sherlock Holmes stories in 1887. The Sherlock Holmes stories followed a 'who done it' theme, and were published in a weekly magazine, which gave a new clue, to the story it followed, the following week. Roald Dahl write Lamb to the Slaughter in 1954, a more up to date story as it may be. Dahl started writing war theme stories at the beginning of his career, then he moved onto writing adult stories in the 1950's. Some of these later were turned into screenplays. Lamb to the Slaughter is written in third person, where The Speckled Band is written in first person. Speckled band starts off with Sherlock Holmes' side-kick telling us about previous cases. Then moving on to the case, the story is based on. This case was the ' Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran'. The mood set out at the beginning of the story is tense, this is because the way in which new clues are given out to us after a few paragraphs. This makes us want to now what comes next and carry on with the story. We also get a tense mood at
Poetry Essay on Funeral Blues & The Triumph of Death
Poetry Essay on Funeral Blues & The Triumph of Death The title of the poem 'Funeral Blues' tells me that it has something to do with death straight away because of the word Funeral. As everyone knows this is associated with death. The word 'Blues' reminds me of death because I remember the sad kind of tune that Blues music conveys and it reminds me of a loss of something. 'Funeral Blues' is a negative sort of atmosphere. I feel this by the tone of voice the narrator uses and you can almost see the anger building up inside of her. The poem, 'The Triumph of Death' reminds me of death because of the actual word death. The actual meaning of the 'Triumph of Death' means that death wins over life. This is a very positive attitude. The narrator of 'Funeral Blues' is a female whom has lost someone she treasures and loves a lot. I know this because she says, 'Stop all the clocks' which to me means she is trying to stop time so that she can have some time to herself, to think things through about what she is going to do now her loved one has gone. The narrator of the 'Triumph of death' is most probably Shakespeare but no one really knows. From reading his poem I can see that he doesn't want his loved one to cry or be upset about his death. I know this as soon as I read the first line because it says 'No longer mourn for me when I am dead'. The tone for 'Funeral Blues' is solemn. I
'First Love' & 'Long Distance'.
English Essay on 'First Love' & 'Long Distance' After having read through a selection of poems from 'Best Words', I am going to discuss and compare two very effective and powerful poems. They are called 'First Love' by John Clare, and 'Long Distance' by Tony Harrison. Both of the poems are based on the central theme of love, but of different kinds. When John met his 'sweet flower ', he knows that nothing is going to happen between him and her, because both of them have a different class in society. Tony's love is for his parents, and how he can't let go off them. John's health began to fail around middle age. He suffered from delusions and ended his life in an asylum in Northampton, were he was both physical and mentally damaged. Clare wrote an emotional and influential poem, to express his feelings about his love experience. Clare uses the word 'struck' because it's a powerful word, and it emphasises the first verse to drag the reader's attention. ' I ne'er was struck before that hour With love so sudden and so sweet.' The 1st verse and 3rd verse, they contain the alliterations 'so sudden and so sweet.' and 'I never saw so sweet a face'. Clare brings similes and metaphors into the poem, to make the meaning of the poem noticeable. In the 1st stanza he uses similes such as 'bloomed like a sweet flower' and 'deadly pale'. Metaphors have been used in most parts
In "Lamb to the Slaughter," Roald Dahl effectively develops the protagonist, MaryMaloney both directly and indirectly.
*Character Sketch Essay Character Essay Characterization is a method an author chooses to develop his/her character, is a very important element in a story. In "Lamb to the Slaughter," Roald Dahl effectively develops the protagonist, Mary Maloney both directly and indirectly; however, the use of indirect characterization is more dominant because it reveals her actions and how she deals with her conflict, her words, and creating a dynamic character with her words and personality, such as her calmness and serenity, her self-consciousness and lastly her deceitfulness. In the beginning of the short story "Lamb to the slaughter," the main character Mary Maloney, portrays her calm and serene character trait in various different scenes. As a role throughout her daily life routine, Mary is a perfect and devoted house wife, "there was a slow smiling air about her, and about everything she did... was curiously tranquil." (Dahl 10) The following quote expresses her as a calm and serene person by how tranquil her actions was, and how she was physically and mentally through her day-to-day life. Mary Maloney awaits happily each night for the arrival of her husband, Patrick home from work, now and then she would she would glance at the clock, without anxiety merely to please herself with the thought that each minute gone by made it nearer to the time he would come.
