The word `Trouble` in the first line of stanza four, which comes across a minor word, but as we’ve been getting the feeling there’s something quite seriously wrong-death? death is something major. Third line- “Always at school my mother held my hand”, he is
now being comforted by his mother as she’s holding his hand, he is also comforting his mother at the same time.
Stanza five, commences, “In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs”, the word tearless suggests to me that she’s cried too much and the death has exhausted her, just before that he mentions about the mother also being angry, probably because her young son has been hit. On the next line it say’s, “At ten o’clock the ambulance arrived”, the ambulance arrived is an obvious sign of trouble, injury. Final line, “with the corpse stanched and bandaged by the nurses”, the harsh sounding noun `corpse` in that line conveys the harshness of death.
In the sixth stanza, the first line-“Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops”, on that line the word `snowdrops`, suggests delicate, innocent. The next line mentions the word `candles`, which is renowned for life/Death qualities. The final line, “For the first time in six weeks. Paler now”. His older brother feels guilty and thinks he should have been there. Also it mentions the word `paler`, so he’s obviously pale-white as he’s been dead a while now.
The penultimate stanza, the first line, “Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple”, uses the word poppy to describe the dead child, which is normally associated with remembrance. Next line, “He lay in a four foot box as in his cot”, the word `cot` suggests two things, and one that’s he’s sleeping and two it tells us how young he is, which together portrays innocence and vulnerability. That gives the reader information on his death. Last line, “No `gaudy` scars, the bumper knocked him clear”, the adjective gaudy was mentioned, which means, overly bright/big, also the word `bumper` and knocked tells us how he died-killed by a car.
On the final line at the end of the poem, “A four foot box, a foot for every year, on this line there is some alliteration-`four foot` and `foot for`, which enhances the impact of the death on the reader and also the age of him-four.
The layout of this poem is very straightforward, with there being three lines to every stanza excluding the last stanza where there is just one line to it. At the end of each stanza there is falling rhythm, which adds to the feeling of sorrow. The overall mood of this poem is sad, as the writer uses words such as: `funerals`, `tearless`, `crying`, `ambulance`, even though the title of the poem may have suggested it was going to be a happy poem. On the last line its especially sad, as he writes, “A four foot box, a foot for every year”, which is quite upsetting, telling us that his brother was only four years of age.
Overall I think the poem is good as it’s very serious, but very sad at the same time, talking about his brother and his family’s emotions throughout the poem the shock and grief, which they suffered.
The second poem I analysed was `Digging`. The title `Digging` is a verb and you would associate digging with; dirt, the past, family and far facts.
The commencing stanza, first line, “Between my finger and my thumb” and the second line, “the squat pen rests; snug as a pen”. The first line builds up a rhythm like a movement of a spade. Second line, when he mentions the word `rests` makes the reader rest as well. In the second half of that line `snug as a gun`, uses the word `snug` as a simile, but more importantly the word `gun` suggests the pen is like an instrument of destruction, as he compares it to a brutal weapon.
The second stanza, on the first line reads, “under my window, a clean rasping sound”, the word `rasping` is onomatopoeic and includes the reader, enhances there ability to imagine the scene. The next line, “When the spade sinks into gravely ground”, the words, `sound` and `ground` on those two lines rhyme which gives the poem rhythm.
The third stanza, Heaney writes on the first line, “Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds”, where the word `straining` suggests that he is old and hard at work. Line two say’s, “Bends low, comes up twenty years away”, on the end of that line it tells the reader that digging has been his life, and that he has been doing it for twenty years. Third line reads, “stooping in rhythm through potato drills”, the word `stooping` suggests that he’s quite old. Final line, “Where he was digging”, he mentions the word was is written in the past tense, which tells me he’s completed his action.
The next stanza, first line, “The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft”, the word `nestled` shows us how easily digging was for his father and the next few lines read, “Against the inside knee was levered firmly. He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep, to scatter potatoes that we picked, loving their hardness in our hands”. That whole stanza enables the reader to imagine the scene more vividly, due to the detailed step-by-step instructions.
Stanza five has just two lines to it, “By god the old man could handle a spade. Just like his old man”, he sounds very surprised at the start of that stanza, when he say’s, `by god`, also it shows the inheritance of digging, for his family exclaims, which perhaps shows he was unaware at how complex the process of digging was.
Next stanza, first two lines, “My grandfather cut more in a turf in a day, than any other man on Toner’s bog”, those first couple of lines have a definite change of tone, which suggests to me that now he’s proud and sees digging as impressive-family tradition. The final three lines of that stanza say, “Once I carried him milk in a bottle, corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up, to drink it, then fell to right away”, show the skill and admiration for the grandfather, also he never stopping and always digging, which is very important to him.
Stanza seven, begins, “Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods”, which contains an abundance of verbs there, which that give depth to his work and show how busy he was. The next two lines-“Over his shoulder, going down and down, for the good turf. Digging”. Again that underlines the fact that digging is his life.
In stanza eight, the first line, “The cold smell of potato mould, the squelch and slap”, that opening lines contains onomatopoeic words; squelch and slap. Second line, “Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge”, continues with onomatopoeias the word `soggy`, so there you had; `squelch`, `slap` and `soggy` and together with those words the reader can imagine what’s going. The final two lines say, “Through living roots awaken in my head. But I’ve no spade to follow men like them”, shows how he feels that he cannot dig and does not feel he can follow in their footsteps. Does he not have the ability and strength of his father and grandfather?
The final stanza, “Between my finger and my thumb, the squat pen rests. I’ll dig with it”. There he compares his to a pen however now its compared to a spade. So the reader gains insight into his thoughts and feelings and how they have changed
The layout of this poem is quite uneven, starting off with two lines, then three lines in the next stanza, then four, five and then it goes back to two lines again, then it shoots back up to fives lines again, and this could affect the persons unstable attitude towards digging. Which I personally think is a unusual way to set out a poem. The poets language in this poem is good, as he uses lots of; alliteration, verbs, similes, and onomatopoeia. When he uses this language it makes the poem very interesting to read and becomes very effective, drawing you in, wanting you to read more.
The mood of the poem based on his family, the title `Digging` suggests that it might have something to do with family, as you would associate digging with facts, family and the past. Although the mood is based on his family, it’s mainly based on his grandfather and it’s quite sad, as it’s talking about his grandfather getting old and finding work more difficult.
Overall, I think the poem is good, as he varies the language, which makes the poem interesting. Also I like the way in which they talk about the pen first comparing it to a gun and then to his fathers tool for digging, spade.
The two poems `Mid-Term Break` and `Digging` are both good poems, which are both about families. `Mid-Term Break` is about when he leaves college and returns home to find out the news about his little brother. `Digging` is about his grandfather and how he’s getting old and finding work difficult, so both poems are about family, but quite different circumstances. The layout of the two poems is very different. `Mid-Term Break` being very straight forward, just having three lines to each stanza and `Digging` being completely opposite and following no strategic pattern.
Overall I think that `Mid-Term Break` is a better poem, as I find it more serious and was personally more effective by this poem due to it being quite sad talking about his brother and that last line, “A four foot box, a foot for every year”, which is a very emotional last line to finish a poem.
