Mid Term Break
by
Seamus Heaney
Structure Of The Poem
• The poem is told from the poet’s (young Heaney’s) point of
view, about the death of his 4 year old brother, Christopher,
and how people (including himself) reacted to the situation.
• The poem successfully conveys Heaney’s sense of grief
through various poetic techniques such as metaphor, simile
and alliteration.
• Has no specific rhythm, but full rhyme is found in the final two
lines in the poem.
• Has 7 stanzas and 3 lines per stanza
Meaning : First Stanza
• The first stanza does not explain what is the reason for
the break was, but Heaney's wait in the sick bay sets up
a feeling that something is wrong.
• The use of the word 'knelling' rather than 'tolling' for the
school bell has connotations of death.
Meaning : Second Stanza
• Second stanza shows how devastating this tragic
accident was for Heaney's family.
• Heaney remembers that he met his father crying
“In the porch I met my father crying
He had always taken funeral in his strides”
Meaning : Third Stanza
• The third stanza, in contrast, opens with a
description of the baby of the family that 'cooed and
laughed and rocked the pram', showing that in
some aspects family life went on as usual amid the
grief.
Meaning : Fourth Stanza
• The fourth stanza show how different Heaney's
mother's reaction to the event was from his father's.
• As she held his hand she 'coughed out angry
tearless sighs', conveying the sense that she was
too upset to cry but sensitive to the need of her
eldest child for comfort.
Meaning : Fifth Stanza
• In the fifth stanza Heaney describes in a matter-offact way that the ambulance brought the corpse,
giving a sense that at first Heaney could perhaps
not think of the body was his late brother’s.
• In stanza 5 there are instances of half rhyme
(sigh/arrived) (corpse/nurses)
Meaning : Sixth Stanza
• He describes the presence of snowdrops and candles as
soothing the bedside; this is a transferred epithet, as they
actually soothed his feelings.
• Heaney mentioning that his brother now looked paler than
the last time he had seen him six weeks previously.
Meaning : Seventh Stanza
• The final line of the seventh stanza tells us that the little boy
had no 'gaudy scars' as the car knocked him to one side
rather than running over him.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
• It is in the final two lines of this stanza that the poet uses the
only full rhyme found in the poem.
• This helps bring closure to the poem and gives the ending a
sense of finality, emphasising the theme of death.
• The last sentence of the poem :
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
• Heaney describes strongly how young his brother was and
how tiny his coffin.
Literally and Figurative Side
Literally Side
Figurative Side
“sick bay”
• Sense of isolation
• Immediate suggestion of sickness
and death
“had always taken funerals in his
stride”
• Death had been experienced
before, although not in this way
“cooed and laughed and rocked the
pram”
• Baby is an innocent, unaware of
the events that are taking place.
“sorry for my trouble”
• Condolence (feeling affected on
someone’s death)
Literary Devices
Repetition
the word
“foot”
Alliteration (f)
“A four foot
box, a foot for
every year”
Onomatopoeia
“bells knelling”
– the sound of
funeral bells
Literary
Devices
Assonance (o)
“A four foot
box, a foot for
every year”
Euphemism
“sorry for my
trouble”
Themes Of The Poem
Death
• ‘Mid-Term Break’ is a first-person account of the experience
of facing death for the first time.
• This poem takes the audience along on the poet’s journey to
accepting his beloved little brother’s death.
• As he confronts death for the first time he sees how it affects
those he loves. In the porch he saw his father “crying”, and
later his mother holds his hand. She is too upset to cry,
instead she “coughed out angry, tearless sighs”.
Mourning
• He shows how death affects neighbours and the local
community. The poet’s neighbours, old men like “Big Jim
Evans” use phrases like “it was a hard blow” and “sorry for my
trouble”
• The neighbours show respect for the grieving family by
standing up and shake the poet’s hand. These are
conventions that people use in the situation of a death.
• Then the poet focuses in on his parents. The poet is shocked
that his father is crying. Because the father is showing his
emotions, it shows that the death has affected him deeply.
Moral Values
1. Accept the death of our beloved as a part of life journey
There are times when unexpected and sudden death occurs,
and in those times it is the deceased’s family that suffers the
most. This poem takes the audience along on the poet’s
journey (when he was still young) to accepting his beloved little
brother’s death and how he accepted the reality.
2. Love your family
One cannot build a family without the existence of love. The
feeling of love is always flowing in a family, even after some
members had passed away. True love between family
members can be seen in the poem, when Heaney was
returning home for the funeral of his younger brother who had
been killed in a road accident. It shows how devastating this
tragic accident was for Heaney's family, and because he loves
his family, he is willing to face all the situations during the
funeral.
Lesson Learnt From The Poem
We must be tough and
emotionally strong when facing
obstacles and tragedies in our
life. We must know how to handle
difficult situations.
Life must go on, even
without the ones we
loved.
We must learn to accept that
death is a part of life. Death
sometimes, happens without
expectation, or warning.
What The Poet Tried To Convey
• The title ‘Mid-Term Break’ suggests a holiday of sorts, a time
of enjoyment, but the poem deals with a time of grief and
emotional upheaval.
• A man’s broken heart. His (Heaney’s) father is not his
practical self, exhibiting emotion upon the death of his child.
Usually he took ‘funerals in his stride’, suggesting that he was
already used to death.
• The roles of the parents seem to have been reversed with
Heaney’s father taking on the more ‘feminine’ emotional role.
His mother could be angry with any number of people
because she was too tired of crying over the lost.
• The last line of the poem gives the idea of the brevity of life.
• The use of ‘box’ rather than coffin suggests that Heaney is
separated from the reality of what has happened.
• The phrase “sorry for my trouble”, suggests that people are
almost afraid to mention the real truth to Heaney. At that time,
the poet was still a young boy.
Relation With Real Life
Situation
• The poem relates with real life situation about the
need of love, care and support among family
members towards each other in emotionally
depressed situations.
• The poem also gives a hint of the feeling of gratitude
towards what we were granted in life. In reality, we
have to face death and we cannot escape from it
because nothing is eternal, so be thankful for what
was given.
End Of Slide
Thank You For Your
Attention 