Writing a poetry
essay.
MID-TERM BREAK –Seamus Heaney
Created by: D. Troskie
STEP 1
READ YOUR QUESTION
• Make sure that you know what you are asked to write
about.
• Highlight your instructions to insure that you stay on topic.
QUESTION 1:
In a perfectly planned essay, critically discuss how
the poet uses the title and imagery to convey the
message of the poem. Your essay must be 200250 words (about ONE page) in length.
STEP 2
START YOUR PLANNING
WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF THIS POEM?
• Death changes everything.
• Death changes relationships.
HOW DID THE POET USE THE TITLE TO
CONVEY THE MESSAGE OF THE POEM?
What is the title? - Mid-term break
• Irony
 Mid-term break - Something joyful
- Something learners are excited about.
 Within the poem - It is not a time filled with joy as the
speaker’s younger sibling passed away.
- The speaker is not excited about going
home as despair and heartbreak will be
welcoming him home.
HOW DID THE POET USE IMAGERY TO CONVEY
THE MESSAGE OF THE POEM?
Find Imagery in the poem.
An
1.
2.
ominous
indication
ofcollege
something
unpleasant.
I sat all morning
in the
sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At two o'clock our neighbours drove me home.
Unusual
sight or funeral.
ring solemnly, especially
for a death
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
In the porch I met my father crying –
He had always taken funerals in his stride –
First confirmation of sad family gathering.
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.
Old
to greet
a school
boypram
–
The men
baby standing
cooed andup
laughed
and
rocked the
Family sadness causes people to treat him
When I came in, and
I was embarrassed
differently.
By old men standing up to shake my hand
Discuss how the
poet uses imagery
to convey the
message of the
poem.
MESSAGE:
Death changes
things.
10.
And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble'.
11.
Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
He
witnesses
anguish
Away
at school,his
asmother’s
my mother
held my hand
(mental suffering)
12.
Discuss how the
poet uses imagery
to convey the
message of the
poem.
13.
In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
14.
At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
15.
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.
16.
Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
17.
And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him
18.
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,
MESSAGE:
Death changes
things.
He witnesses the reason for his brother’s death
The speaker is very specific about the size of the
coffin.
19.
Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,
20.
He lay in the four-foot box as in his cot.
21.
No room
gaudy
scars, the
bumper
knocked
himand
clear.
Repetition
of ‘four-foot’
underlines
the
tragedy
of
A child’s
should
be
filled with
laughter
alife,
child’s
death
but this
room is filled with sadness and
death.
22.
A four-foot box, a foot for every year.
The speaker attempts to come to terms with this
untimely death.
MESSAGE:
Death changes
things.
Discuss how the
poet uses imagery
to convey the
message of the
poem.
Your written planning should look like this
STEP 3
Write your essay
Your essay MUST have
- an introduction
- a body
- a conclusion
Paragraph 1 - Introduction
Heaney used both the title and imagery to convey the
message of the poem. The message of this poem is
that death changes things: How people act towards
those in morning, how people in morning will
experience everyday situations differently, and how
life changes because of loss.
Paragraph 2 - Body
The title’s ironic as a mid-term break usually refers to
a time that learners are excited about, a jubilant time.
The break that the speaker’s taking from school, is
filled with sorrow and pain, it’s a somber time that the
speaker isn’t looking forward to. The death of his
sibling changed the excitement of going back home,
into a dreadful experience.
Paragraph 3 - Body
The poem starts with bells that’s knelling. The word
knelling means ‘ring solemnly’. Sitting in the sick
bay, even the bells foreshadows the sorrow that will
be experienced. A bell ringing to signal the end of a
period or day, is a jubilant time for learners, but for
the speaker, this bell is counting off the time he has
left before experiencing great sorrow.
Paragraph 4 - Body
Entering his home, he experiences the gathering of
family and friends. Such a gathering’s usually filled
with laughter and entertainment, but all he’s
experiencing is sorrow: His dad’s crying, older men
are standing up to shake his hand to give
condolence, even his mother is bereaved. Everything
changed following death.
Paragraph 5 - Conclusion
Death doesn’t only remove a loved one, it changes
how those close to the deceased experience life
without him, and how others act during the time of
mourning.
[250 Words]
NOTES
• Use your own words when you write the essay.
• If you lift from the poem, you have to explain the
part that you lifted, in your own words.
• DO NOT retell the poem, you have to EXPLAINE
the poem
• You do not have to mention everything in the
poem, mention a few points and explain them well.
• DO NOT indicate the introduction, body and
conclusion in your essay.
YOU ONLY WRITE YOUR DIFFERENT PARAGRAPHS
AS IT IS AN ESSAY.
DO NOT WRITE THIS IN YOUR FINAL. THIS IS ONLY
ADDED IN THE PRESENTATION TO GIVE YOU AN
IDEA OF HOW TO STRUCTURE YOUR PARAGRAPHS.
STEP 4
Make sure you followed
all your instructions.
In a perfectly planned essay, critically discuss how
the poet uses the title and imagery to convey the
message of the poem. Your essay must be 200250 words (about ONE page) in length.