Mid Term Break By Seamus Heaney example essay topic
489 words
"Mid Term Break" by Seamus Heaney is set in Ulster during the 1950's. This is a poem which catches the reader's attention by using language in unusual ways. The poem is about the lying to rest of a 4 year old boy, told from his brother's perspective which is the poet. Time is a central point through-out the poem. In stanza two, Heaney says: "I sat all morning... ". This makes you, the reader, think how long and boring that morning must have been. The before you know it, it's two o'clock and this is still in the first stanza. In the third stanza time is yet again mentioned but this time resembled metaphorically: "The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram". Then by the time you know it, in stanza four, it's ten o'clock. This makes the reader think that the time has flown by, but in actual fact the time is dragging by.
This is ironic though, as the poets brother's time is over. Starting off with the title, Heaney uses dramatic irony. 'Mid term break' leads the reader to think the poem is about a school holiday. But it resembles the four year olds position in life was broken short. It had not been completed. The mood is set almost immediately in the second line: "Counting bells knelling classes to a close".
Assonance and alliteration is used here to emphasise a funeral sound of the bells and the feeling of time dragging. The second stanza begins with an image of Heaney's father "crying". This is unusual for Heaney as he has never saw his own father cry before: "He had always taken funerals in his stride". But obviously his father is going to be very distraught as it is his own child that has died, when it's usually the older people which pass away first. In stanza's two, three, and four enjambment is used to cover the whole experience. This gives you, the reader, the senses, thoughts and feelings of Heaney.
Thus creating a sense of movement through-out the house. The final line of the whole poem is separated and stands out on it's own to give the reader an impact. Nearly every word in that line seems emphasised by the use of alliteration: "A four foot box, a foot for every year". This makes the reader Take in the message of the shocking reality the family has had to face. Through-out 'Mid term break', Heaney takes the reader with him, from when he first enters the house through the porch until the point where he actually gets to see his dead brother for the first time in about 6 weeks. about a boy who realises, during school, that his younger brother has died in a terrifying accident.
