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Mayra Munoz
Teacher Vogt
AP English Lit.
September 2010
“Mid-Term Break Essay”
The poem Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney is about how
people deal with grief and how it’s impact affects the
individual and families as a whole. Heaney uses catchy words
that hold the reader’s attention.
Seamus Heaney was born in 1939; the poem takes place during
the 1950s when he is at boarding school. I get a vibe of boredom
from his part as he counts the bells waiting for classes to end.
But Heaney’s use of the word “knelling” creates a connection
with death from the start of the poem. “Knelling” is a word
usually used to describe bells rung at a funeral not bells for
lessons at school. The neighbors driving him home suggest his
parents were too busy at home and relied on the neighbors taking
him home.
This poem is extremely moving especially as Heaney enters
the porch and sees his father crying. The father figure is
always seen as the controlled and strong leader of the family.
Seeing his father in tears is a new shocking experience for
Heaney. He is bewildered to why his father is in that condition
and to the grieving adults who are at his home. The family
friend “Big Jim” says it was a hard blow, of course he uses an
ambiguous meaning and is speaking of a metaphorical blow.
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“The baby cooed and laughed” unlike the adults who are
upset of this horrible loss. The baby does not have knowledge of
what is going on and is acting as it normally would not grieving
like the adults are. “By old men standing up to shake my hand,”
that’s how people usually react toward those who have lost a
loved one. But this embarrassed Heaney because he was being
treated as an adult.
The people saw that the mother was holding his hand and
started informing each other through whispers that he was the
eldest away at school. So the adults now know he is part of the
family that shows him sympathy and respect by standing to shake
his hand and saying “sorry for my trouble.” Through all this
there appears a sense of quiet with tearless sighs that showed
reverence for the dead, but Heaney is still unclear of who has
died.
Any death is sad, but it’s even more upsetting when it’s
someone young who has not lived life as long as an older person.
In this circumstance, a four year old boy is killed in a road
accident. This makes it even more tragic that such a small child
who has yet to experience life has died.
“In hers and coughed
out angry tearless sighs” his mother is hiding how she really
feels and is acting more angry than sad. She might be hiding her
feelings for her son’s sake. “With the corpse, stanched and
bandaged by the nurses” Heaney refers to the cadaver as a corpse
not a person. The line seems emotionless which shows that Heaney
is still a boy because he lacks the understanding of a loss of a
loved one.
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We see the shift in the tone on stanza six because Heaney
sees his brother for the first time in six weeks. He describes
the scene by saying “snowdrops and candles soothes the bedside.”
“Snowdrops,” a white flower that represents purity and candles
that will soothe the young Heaney. While the flower are symbolic
of new life after death, and that life must go on without this
loved one. This is also the first time Heaney refers to his
brother using words like “him” instead of “corpse” which shows
that its sinking in to Heaney that his brother is no longer with
them, and he can show his true feelings about the the death for
the first time.
The bruise isn’t seen as part of the boy, Heaney uses the
metaphor wearing as it could come off that easily. The reference
to the “poppy bruise” his brother has on his head connotes
remembrance because poppies are the flowers traditionally used
to commemorate the dead. This makes us feel sorry for the
brother because he is growing and learning what death and pain
is because of the death of one of them. “He lay in the four foot
box as in his cot” Heaney makes this simile appear as if his
dead brother were sleeping not dead. This penultimate line “no
gaudy scars” increases my sadness because Heaney says that his
brother is dead but ironically not disfigured.
The first time reading of this poem one might feel the
heart tremble because he or she does not know how people can
deal with death and keep going on with their life, especially of
a little child’s life, they hardly have lived and experienced
the real world, that’s so tragic. “A four foot box, a foot for
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every year.” The length of the poem along with the alliteration
makes the last line more impacting and ties into the subject,
mood of the poem perfectly at the end.
Heaney’s last line has a dramatic effect and summarizes the
grief of losing a child. Heaney’s poem has a powerful effect
because the emotions are understated. Although Heaney does
describe what he sees, he has emotions restrained and they never
truly hit the surface. His technique is one of a kind.