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 his left temple,
He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
Seamus Heany
TPCASTT
Title
Ponder the title before reading the
poem. Make up questions about the
title. There are two kinds of titles:
interactive titles and naming titles.
Interactive titles are have some sort of
interplay with poem itself and can affect
its meaning. Naming titles may give
less crucial information. If a poem lacks
a title, you can do this step with the first
line of the poem or skip it.
-The title appears to be a naming title
- could be about March break or any break
from school
-The speaker of the poem might be a
student or a teacher
Paraphrase
Translate the poem into your own
words. And I mean translate! Word for
word! Find synonyms for every
possible word. Summarizing is NOT
paraphrasing!
Connotation
Contemplate the poem for meaning
beyond the literal. Identify and figure
out the figurative language.
Foreshadowing: bells knelling
Pun: blow
Personification: Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside
Symbol: Poppy
Simile: four foot box as in his cot
Alliteration: A four foot box, a foot
for every year.
Attitude
After identifying a subject/topic of the
poem, figure out how the speaker
(and/or the poet) feels about it.
-He is feeling a little embarrassed because
all of a sudden he is the centre of attention
-sadness
-uncomfortable
Shifts
Note transitions in the poem. Shifts in
subject, attitude, mood.
There 3 clear shifts in this poem
Stanza 2
Stanza 6
Stanza 7
-
Title
Examine the title again, this time on an
interpretive level. Answer your
questions. Figure out how the title
illuminates the poem. Remember a
"naming title" may not mean much.
Remember you can do this with the
first line of a poem if it lacks a title or
you can skip this step altogether.
Theme
After identifying a subject/topic of the
poem, determine what the poet thinks
about the subject. What is his/her
opinion?
The poem becomes sadder as you
read on
-We see now that the title is more than a
naming title
-
-
-
-
We as the reader associate a break
from school as a good thing;
however, in this poem the break is
not a happy experience for the
speaker
It is ironic
Death
The loss of innocence
How sad it is when children die
(they really don’t get to experience
life)
Randomness of life and death