Mid-term Break
by Seamus Heaney
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Mid-term Break
by Seamus Heaney
Think about what the title implies. What will this
poem be about? And don’t say potatoes!
F
Context
• In 1951, Seamus Heaney was 12 years of age
and he went to St. Columb’s College in Derry
where he was a boarding pupil.
• Whilst attending the college, Heaney’s younger
brother Christopher was killed in a road accident
and this poem involves the poet recalling the
events that happened to him after this.
In what sense is the title misleading?
What effect does this have on the reader when they realise
what the subject
really is?
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A neighbour then
arrived and took the
poet home, where it
becomes clear that
something
terrible has
happened. His father
was crying and this
was entirely out of
character and
the family friend Jim
Evans was there.
Old men greet the
child and shake his
hand.
Then the body
arrives.
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
The poem begins
with the narrator
recalling being a child
in the college sick
bay – he was not ill
and had been taken
there as something
had happened.
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 forF every year.
The poem ends
with a change of
scene and time,
as the child enters
the room of his
dead
brother the next
morning and he
attempts to make
sense of what has
happened.
Why is he in sick
bay?
Suggests the
boredom of
waiting, the
confused calm
before the storm
‘hard blow’ has a
double meaning
and emphasises
the nature of the
scene.
What are the two
meanings?
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.
‘knelling’ suggests funereal
bells rather than a change
of lessons. Fore-shadowing
events to come
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
Stark image of a
distraught parent.
He’s unable to cope
as at other funerals.
Why?
Alliteration stresses the
feeling of something
ending
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,
Emphasises
the passage
of time and contrasts with
Wearing a poppy bruise on the left temple,
the slowness with which
He lay in the four foot box as in a cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.the poet experienced it
A four foot box, a foot forF every year.
The baby doesn’t know
what’s happening and
this is in contrast to
Heaney’s reactions
Assonance used by
Heaney. The short ‘a’
sounds could suggest
the abrupt end to his
brother’s life.
Heaney doesn’t seem
to see his brother; he
sees a corpse wrapped
in the failed attempts to
save him.
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 forF every year.
Heaney draws the
reader through this
unusual scene.
Heaney himself is
‘embarrassed’ by
the attention of the
‘old men’
What reaction
would he have to
his mother’s ‘angry
tearless sighs’
Change of scene
from the hectic,
embarrassing
business of
Heaney’s return
home.
Heaney comes to
terms with the loss
and accepts ‘the
corpse’ as his
brother.
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.
They literally sooth
Heaney and allow
him to start the
grieving process.
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pramThese images are
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
symbolic, both for
By old men standing up to shake my hand
the family and the
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
reader, of new-life
and
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 forF every year.
Stark image is left
hanging at the end of
the stanza
The bruise is not a
part of his brother.
Heaney sees him as
metaphorically
‘wearing’ it, as if it
could be removed
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.
Why has Heaney
chosen a poppy?
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.
Think about the
symbolism associated
with poppies and think
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
of it as a visual image
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
as well
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
Contrast between the
peaceful, clean image
with that of earlier
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 forF every year.
As a baby might,
sleeping. Again
the contrast
between the hectic
start and calm end
is obvious
Clear factual
understanding of what
has happened and
Heaney doesn’t shy
away from that
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.
For the first time we
learn the child’s age as
Heaney bitterly jokes
that the coffin is a
measure for his life
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
Final line stands
alone and draws the
readers full
attention.
Again the poignantly
humorous reference
to the coffin as a
box stresses
Heaney’s childlike
bitterness
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 forF every year.
The rhyming couplet
serves to stress the
tragedy in the reader’s
mind
Enjambment and
caesura used
until the the final
two stanzas. This
could suggest the
confusion of the
events
surrounding the
death and
Heaney’s arrival
home
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.
This is an incredibly
personal piece of
poetry.
As a reader, what is
your reaction to
The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pramreading this poem?
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.
Heaney uses
contrasting images
and emotions
throughout this poem.
Why might this be?
Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
End-stopping
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 forF every year.
of the final
stanza stresses the
calm, contemplative
nature of the young
Heaney’s private
grieving
Comparisons
• Cold Knap Lake / On the Train – Both of these poems
deal with the idea of loss and the way death or the
prospect of death can affect people.
• • The Field-Mouse / The Man He Killed – These poems
deal with loss and also question the suffering that has
taken place and its pointlessness.
• • On My First Sonne – This poem concerns the loss of a
child and has been written to make sense of what has
happened – more positive than ‘Mid-Term Break’.
Are there any other comparisons you can think of?
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Themes
• Childhood – The poem involves the poet recalling an
event from his own childhood.
• It involves the narrator ‘growing up’ due to the terrible
nature of the experience.
• Death / Loss – The fact that the poem deals with the
death of a child, encourages the reader and narrator to
question the pointlessness of death.
• Focus of the poem is on the reactions of people to death
and the way people attempt to make sense of the loss.
• Memory – Poem recalls an event from the past and this
links it to other poems in the collection that involve
looking back in order to see the present and future
clearly.
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Review
• Note the reactions of the two parents - how does
the reader react to this?
• With whom, do you think, is the mother angry?
• How does the poem contrast the fuss of the
homecoming with the calmness of the scene
when Seamus sees his brother's body?
• What do you think is the meaning of the poem's
last line?
• What is your reaction to this poem?
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