The poet took a great deal of time to write about her grandmother’s death, although the poem is about the grandmother it is also about the girls emotions. The poet does not feel grief but feels guilt for not loving her grandmother and for not treating her right. In the second stanza it says “she wished not to be used like an antique object”, the poet felt like her grandmother just wanted to show her off and that she paid more attention to her shop then her. It says “thought she never said that she was hurt, I still feel guilt of that refusal”. In the grandmothers mind she felt disappointed and rejected, and now the poet feels guilty for rejecting her.
In the third stanza it says “She put all her best things in one long narrow room. The part where it says “one long marrow room” reminds us of death. The part in the poem where it is written she had no reflection back means, all she had interest in life had gone, and that she has lost the will to live.
In the fourth and final stanza it says “only the new dust falling through the air”. Dust suggests that no one came in the room and that “in dust we come in dust we go”.
The second poem I am examining is “the lesson”. This poem is structured into two stanzas which are eight lines each. Many of the rhymes are Para-rhymes or half-rhymes. It also tells us
The title of the poem is called “the lesson” the meaning of this could be because it may be a lesson in life that everyone dies and maybe he did not cherish the moments with his father. The first stanza of the poem shows that the boy was being bullied at boarding school and that his fathers death could stop the bullies from bullying him for a week or two, as it is stated in the poem “my fathers death could bind the bullies fist for a week or two”, the boy now felt ashamed for thinking of the advantages of his fathers death. The second stanza is about the boy’s emotions, it also shows that the boy found out about the death in assembly in front of everyone, which is stated in the poem also “the noise was stilled in school assembly when my grief came in” the poets techniques are excellent it leaves us feeling sorry for the boy.
The third and final poem is called “mid-term break” it is structured into eight stanzas which are three lines each, except the last line. There are Para rhymes and half rhyme. Also the poem is set in Ireland, because he uses Irish dialogue.
In this third poem there is a lot of hidden meaning for example the titles it self has two meanings, midterm break means holiday in between the terms also it refers to the accident and the boy who died broke some bones. The first stanza of the poem tells us were the boy was at the time and that the neighbours took him home because the parent was turmoil. The poet Heaney at that time would have been in a private secondary school. In the second stanza it describes the poet seeing his father cry for the first time. In the third stanza it Heaney feels embarrassed and all grown up because people are shaking his hand. In the fourth stanza it tells us like the third that the boy feels grown because of the way people are treating him. Also rather than leaning on his parents his parent are relying on him as it explains in the poem “as my mother held my hand”. It also explains that Heaney is the eldest because it says “whispers informed stranger that he was the eldest”. In the fifth stanza it explains that the baby’s corpse arrives at ten o’clock. In the sixth stanza explains that the boy saw his brother for the first time in six weeks and that candle and snowflakes eased the pain. Also he is paler now because he is dead. In the seventh stanza it tells us that the baby has a poppy bruise on the left temple. It also says “he lay in his four foot box as in his cot”. The poet describes the coffin the baby laid in like the baby sleeping in his cot. It also says the baby had no gaudy scar because the bumper knocked him clear. The eighth and final stanza sums up all the emotions and feelings. It is very effective because it makes it bitter just to read the line because it saddens you up because if you go up to a small grave with a very tiny coffin you would feel sad, but if it were a person who died at eighty you would say he lived a long life.
I thing all the poems were excellent and all achieved there goal, all the poems had similarities like all the poems were themed on death, but also has differences “my grandmother” is about guilt and regret and in “the lesson” the boy felt ashamed and in “mid-term break” the boy felt grown up. The poem I preferred the best was mid-term break because it had a powerful and great effect it made feel sad and sorry for the family. My second favourite was “the lesson” because it made us feel sorry for the boy and it made me appreciate what you have. The least favourite was “my grandmother” which teaches us to not do something we may later regret.