Heaney uses a bit of the sense of smell in “Churning Day” but not in the other poems because there is no need for it. ‘The house would stink acrid as a sulphur mine’ (Line 27) describes the aftermath of “Churning Day”, how it would stink. Heaney’s other use of the sense of smell is ‘sour-breathed milk’ (Line 33) as one of his main memories of “Churning Day” when the day had finished.
Heaney uses the sense of sight in all three poems quite a lot to create an image in our minds of how these things looked. In “Churning Day”, ‘Their white insides’ (Line 11), ‘gold flecks’ (Line 18) and ‘a yellow curd’ (Line 23) are where Heaney uses colour to describe how these things looked. These phrases really do bring the poem to life. My favourite is ‘gold flecks’ as it seems to emanate the satisfaction of all their hard work bringing a wholesome result. ‘Gold’ seems to suggest that it is a very elaborate finish to all their hard work throughout the day. Heaney uses the colours to describe how things looked in “Churning Day”. In “An Advancement of Learning”, Heaney talks about the river being ‘oil-skinned, wearing a transfer of gables’ (Line 4) to describe how polluted it is, yet there is still a grimy reflection in the river. He is obviously not far from civilization as he can see the reflections of the tops of buildings in the river. Heaney goes onto describe how the rat looked: ‘back bunched’ (Line 22) like a cat trying to unnerve its prey before attacking it. ‘Raindrop eye, old snout’ (Line 26) Heaney is looking very closely at the rat. Heaney uses personification to describe how things looked: ‘The river nosed past, pliable, oil skinned, wearing a transfer of gables and sky.’ (Lines 3-5) This sentence sets the scene for the rest of the poem very well. Heaney uses the sense of sight a lot in this poem because it is all about imagery. In “Mid-Term Break”, Heaney uses the sense of sight much less than in the other two poems, because it is a very emotional poem. He observes how his brother has changed since he last saw him (six weeks ago as he has gone to boarding school): ‘Paler now’ and ‘He lay in a four foot box as his cot.’ The rest of the poem is really all emotions.
Heaney uses the senses the most in “Churning Day” because it is a very materialistic poem where a lot is happening. Heaney also uses the senses a lot in “An Advancement of Learning” because it is the easiest way to describe the rat. Heaney hardly uses the senses at all in “Mid-Term Break because it is an emotional poem rather than a sensual poem.
As in almost all poems, the mood changes (turning points) a few times in all of Heaney’s poems. I am going to compare the mood changes in the three poems I am studying.
In “Churning Day” the poem is divided into 4 stanzas and Heaney generally covers a different aspect of the day in each stanza. The first stanza is quiet with ‘churning day’ bringing the first change – broken by the cleaning process. In the second stanza, Heaney changes the mood with ‘out came the four crocks, spilled their heavy lip of cream.’ Heaney slows the rhythm down again to change the mood. The whole second stanza is slow, ‘slugged’ is a slow tired, word.
In the third stanza the results of the process start to appear ‘gold flecks’, ‘butter spades’, ‘birchwood-bowl’, the mood itself changes with ‘Where gold flecks began to dance’. The final stanza is a bit like an epilogue, when everything is over. They seem tired, yet satisfied ‘we moved with gravid ease,’ and ‘the butter in soft printed slabs was piled on the pantry shelves’. In the final stanza the rhythm slows with the use of phrases like ‘gravid ease’ until it finishes with ‘plash and gurgle’, ‘pat and slap’, ‘small spades’ and ‘wet lumps’. To conclude it is a slow rhythmic poem reflecting the slowness of the butter making process, the much slower pace of life in general. Heaney is harking back in this poem to how things used to be. The care and work that went into making butter for the family and the sounds, smells and feelings this evoked. He is looking back to a happier time with his family and a sense of regret over how the pace of life has changed.
In “An Advancement of Learning”, Heaney changes the mood quite a lot as it is a fast moving incident, unlike the other two poems. The first two stanzas are a bit of an introduction to Heaney’s daily routine at this time – we know it is his daily routine as he tells us in an aside ‘(As always deferring the bridge)’. He considers his surroundings in detail: ‘I considered the dirty-keeled swans’. The first major mood change comes at the start of the third stanza, Heaney picks up the rhythm with frequent comma use to change the mood: ‘Something slobbered curtly, close, smudging the silence’. We now know that Heaney has started the main topic of the poem, this thing that is ‘smudging the silence’, Heaney uses synaesthesia to make it sound pretty vile. The next mood change is at the end of this very long sentence. Heaney incredibly turns to face the rat at the start of this battle between him and the rat. We know that it is a battle because Heaney starts using military terms like ‘Bridgehead’ (Line 18), ‘trained’ (Line 28) and finally ‘retreated’ (Line 34). Heaney marks the mood changes with these military terms: ‘He trained on me. I stared him out’ is the next major mood change where Heaney finally gains the upper hand. And the final mood change in the poem is where the rat ‘retreated up a pipe for sewage’. To conclude, Heaney changes the mood in “An Advancement of Learning by changing the rhythm and by using military terms (like turning points in a battle).
In “Mid-Term Break”, Heaney changes the mood frequently as if he wanted to get the poem over with as it must be very hard for him writing about the death of his younger brother. The poem is written chronologically, so the first mood change comes at ‘two o’clock our neighbours drove me home.’ All through the poem, something seems to be wrong, first Heaney is in the sick bay, when he is not ill, and then he talks about knells (a funeral bell), and now the neighbours are driving him home, rather than his parents. The next mood change comes at the start of the second stanza with his father crying, whereas in many other Heaney poems, he is depicted as a hero. The third stanza is a sort of relief from the clear sadness of the rest of the poem. The next major mood change comes with a time again ‘at ten o’clock the ambulance arrived’. He has already been told by his mother most probably that his brother is dead at this point. But this ambulance must confirm his fears. Yet he still does not seem to accept it, the corpse has been stanched and bandaged, maybe to try and make him better, Heaney seems to think. The next mood change comes with time again at next morning. The last line is merely reflection. In “Mid-Term Break”, Heaney changes the mood with time.
In “Churning Day” and “An Advancement of Learning”, Heaney changes the mood mainly by rhythm change. In “Mid-Term Break”, Heaney changes the mood by telling us when different events occurred.
In all three poems, Heaney uses mainly metaphors, but a few similes to help clarify the image he is trying to convey to the reader.
In “Churning Day”, Heaney describes the potter jars as ‘pottery bombs’ (Line 4) because they have a lot of potential for an explosion of activity as we soon find out, they are also shaped a bit like bombs. Heaney describes the milk as ‘flabby’ (Line 17) because it is probably very thick at this moment and you could probably see the fat in it. One of my favourite metaphors which Heaney uses is ‘gold flecks’ (Line 19) to describe how the butter is starting to appear. It makes this point in time seem like payment for all the hard work Heaney and his family have put in. On line 24, Heaney describes how the milk has lost its fluidity and turned into butter, with ‘coagulated sunlight’. ‘Gilded gravel’ (Line 26) tells us how the butter is now very hard, yet golden. My final two favourite metaphors from “Churning Day” are ‘sulphur mine’ (Line 28) which really does describe how it must have smelt in terms we all can relate to. And ‘gravid ease’ (Line 31) to describe how although they felt tired, they also felt easy. The only simile in the poem is ‘like a great whisky muddler’, to describe what the churn looked like. Not many of us would be able to relate to what a whisky muddler looks like, but the ‘great’ gives you some impression that it must be a large implement.
In “Mid-Term Break”, Heaney starts by saying that the bells ‘knelled’ (Line 2) classes to a close. A ‘knell’ is a bell rang by churches to mark a funeral, I think this is an effective way for Heaney to convey to the reader early on in the poem that something is wrong. The only other metaphor in the whole poem is ‘poppy bruise’ (Line 19) to describe how it looked red coloured with black in the middle.
In “An Advancement of Learning”, Heaney personifies the river (Lines 3-5) to describe how it looked like using metaphors. He uses synaesthesia – ‘smudging the silence’ (Line 10) to describe how the rat was dirty and noisy. When his battle with the rat begins, Heaney uses military metaphors: ‘Bridgehead’ (Line 18), ‘trained’ (Line 28) and ‘retreated’ (Line 34) to try to show us that this is a battle in a metaphorical sense. ‘The raindrop eye’ (Line 26) describes that the rat’s eye was glistening like a raindrop and mono-coloured. Heaney finishes by being ironic, almost laughing at how he used to be scared of this little, and harmless creature.
Heaney uses metaphors mainly in “Churning Day” because there is a lot for him to describe. He uses almost as many metaphors in “An Advancement of Learning” to describe the rat, although there is less for him to describe in this poem. He uses very few metaphors in “Mid-Term Break because he prefers to concentrate more on emotions than what things looked like.
Heaney conveys his emotions in all three of his poems to help us to realise what these experiences felt like for him.
In “Churning Day”, Heaney uses adjectives to convey his emotions. ‘Arms ached. Hands blistered.’ (Lines 15-16) shows us that it was hard and tiring for Heaney. In the third stanza, Heaney conveys his emotions by using livelier words such as ‘gold’ (Line 18), ‘dance’ (Line 19) and ‘coagulated sunlight’ (Line 24). In the final stanza, Heaney conveys his emotions by verbs such as ‘ease’ (Line 31) and ‘stink’ (Line 27).
In “Mid-Term Break”, Heaney conveys his emotions by verbs such as ‘knelling’ (Line 2), ‘crying’ (Line 4) and ‘soothed’ (Line 17). Heaney also conveys his emotions by adjectives such as ‘hard’ (Line 6), ‘angry’ (Line 13) and ‘tearless’ (Line 13). The final way in which Heaney conveys his emotions is by making phrases 3 syllables long. It makes them sound like his heartbeat or another death knell. Some examples of this are ‘ambulance’ (Line 14), ‘with the corpse’ (Line 15), ‘Next morning’ (Line 16), ‘Paler now’ (Line 18), ‘poppy bruise’ (Line 19), ‘gaudy scars’ (Line 21) and ‘four foot box’ (Lines 20 and 22). Mid-Term Break is a very cold poem and in places, Heaney shows his emotions by stating cold, hard fact.
In “An Advancement of Learning”, Heaney conveys his emotions by adjectives such as ‘pliable’ (Line 4), ‘oil-skinned’ (Line 4), ‘dreaded’ (Line 17), ‘thrilled’ (Line 19) and ‘terror’ (Line 33). Heaney also conveys his emotions by verbs such as ‘slobbered’ (Line 9), ‘smudging’ (Line 10), ‘slimed’ (Line 11) and ‘sickened’ (Line 12). This third paragraph is an example of sibilants (‘s’ sounding words) which Heaney uses to convey his emotions. Finally, Heaney conveys his emotions by exclamations such as ‘But God’ (Line 14).
Heaney uses adjectives, verbs, sibilants, hard fact and rhythm to convey his emotions in the three poems.
Heaney is changing in his subject matter throughout the poem form childhood thinking to adulthood remembering.
In “Churning Day”, Heaney looks at the poem as an adult remembering because all his verbs are in the past tense. The poem is all fact, so we cannot see any of his views on what was happening.
In “Mid-Term Break”, Heaney writes as if he were still a child, he spends most of the poem confused like a child as to what is happening. Only in the last line is he really looking back as an adult at how terrible a thing it was to have happened.
In “An Advancement of Learning”, Heaney jumps between the two a lot more. In stanza 1, he writes as if he were a child. But in stanza 8, he is a child remembering how things were when he was an even younger child. In stanza 9, he first puts himself in the position of the rat, and then he suddenly seems to leap to adulthood.
Heaney seems mainly to be a child in the three poems.
For structure, in “Churning Day”, Heaney splits the poem up into 4 different stanzas, with each stanza describing a different aspect of the day. Generally he uses around ten syllables per line.
In “Mid-Term Break”, Heaney has eight stanzas of three lines each. His lines are of ten, eleven or twelve syllables each. He tends to use about five strong stresses per line.
In “An Advancement of Learning”, Heaney has nine stanzas of four lines each, using seven, eight or nine syllables in a line.
There does not seem to be much of a pattern to Heaney’s structure in the poems.
To conclude, Heaney evokes the sensations of childhood by using senses to help us clarify what is happening. He uses emotional vocabulary and exclamations to evoke the emotions of childhood. Heaney writes the poems as if he were a child. “Mid-Term Break” was very different from the other two poems because it is written mainly with cold, hard fact and emotional vocabulary rather than using the senses, similes or metaphors excessively. Heaney achieves the aim in his poetry of giving the reader a clearer idea of what is happening by using the senses, rhythm, emotional vocabulary and looking at his childhood through a child’s eyes.