Wednesday, April 4, 2007
I found this poem rather thought-provoking, taught to us during literature lessons:
Mid-term Break
I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close,
At two o'clock our neighbors drove me home.
In the porch I met my father crying--
He had always taken funerals in his stride--
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand
And tell me they were "sorry for my trouble,
"Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand
In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.
Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,
Wearing a poppy bruise on the left temple,
He lay in the four foot box as in a cot.
No gaudy scars,
the bumper knocked him clear.
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
rather thought-provoking, ppl who like poems will like this.
we were asked to do a reflective essay on the poem and this was what i wrote:
Question 1:
Write close reference to the poet’s choice of words and the use of imagery, discuss the response of the people around the persona towards the death of his younger brother.
In the poem Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney, the ideas of death, trauma, grief and finality are explored. The poem itself is as haunting as it is brilliantly executed. The poem depicts a boy arriving home from boarding school, to where he is informed of the tragic death of his younger brother, whose doomed fate indelibly marks the narrator, whom is the boy’s older brother. The boy recounts the experience of losing a loved one. The author has incorporated many elements and style in a subtle and distinct manner. The poem depicts a boy arriving home from school, “moaning in the college sick bay” to hear the news that his four year old brother has been killed in an accident. Upon arriving home, “I met my father crying.” This shows how death can cause much grief and trauma, as well as confusion. Here we can see that the stereotypical roles of the parents have been reversed, with the father crying, and the boy’s mother, “Coughed out angry, tearless sighs.” It can be seen, that deaths were quite common, “He had always taken funerals in his stride.” But no-one expected the death to hit quite so close to home. And then we see the tables have turned; the parents no longer were the spectators of the funerals, now that their own flesh and blood had been taken away from them. The theme within the poem is subtly expressed, with an almost childlike innocence. The theme is set out in a simple manner, yet pays much attention to detail. The theme is one of “finality.” Hence the title playing a huge role in the revealing of the theme. “Mid-Term Break” suggests finality of one’s life. Along with death brings finality, and along with finality comes the repercussions of death, such as trauma and grief for all involved. The emotions of the poem are beautifully poignant, and this allows the reader to be transported to a world of different experience, such as the repression. The mood within the poem has a sombre touch with an eerie silence. The poem positions the reader to come away with mixed emotions- anger, grief, confusion… all of which the topic of death brings with it. This leaves the audience truly captivated with the simple text that represents so much emotion. There are many images depicted in the poem, which is what ultimately draws the audience into its grasps/ The impenetrable consequences of death and the secrets of adolescence bring the poem to life. “I was embarrassed by the old men standing to shake my hand.” There is also an ongoing contrast between the young and old; life and death. The structure of the poem is a blank/free verse, therefore the poem tells a story without rhyme, rhythm. This style suits the poem, as it has a sombre mood, with a delicate touch of silence. Each stanza says enough, in a simple text, and reveals much of the story; a reflection of life and death. The style and language are both simple, yet distinct and therefore this helps to reveal the theme. The simplicity of the poem’s content is what makes it so descriptive. Innocence is within the poem… a childlike sense of death. With the unembellished language, such as phrases like “Next morning I went into the room,” get to the point and are absolute in its meaning. The style of the poem uses a great amount of visual images, which are both detailed and stylistic, “Snow-drops and candles soothed the bedside,” contribute to the mood of the poem, the style, and most of all, the audiences perception and view. Onomatopoeia such as “cooed,” “whispers,” “coughed,” and “knocked” are used to express emotion within the poem. Heaney allows the reader to seem unlike a passive observer, but rather, a participant in his work. The use of onomatopoeia gives the poem a distinct and definite sound. The poem can basically be heard as well as read. At the end of the poem the boy expresses death’s finality, “A four foot box, a foot for every year.” This is a hauntingly, beautiful poem, in which Seamus Heaney articulates the past with his poetry and relates it to us, today, in the present.
posted @ 8:10 PM
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