Mid-term Break

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Mid-term Break

• by Seamus Heaney

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Mid-term Break
Think about what the title implies. What will
this poem be about?

• by Seamus Heaney

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Context

• In 1951, Seamus Heaney was 12 years of age and he
  went to St. Columbs College in Derry where he
  was a boarding pupil.
• Whilst attending the college, Heaneys younger
  brother Christopher was killed in a road accident
  and this poem involves the poet recalling the
  events that happened to him after this.

In what sense is the title misleading?
What effect does this have on the reader when
they realise what the subject really is?
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The poem begins with the narrator recalling being
a child in the college sick bay he was not ill
and had been taken there as something had
happened.
I sat all morning in the college sick
bayCounting 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 pramWhen I came
in, and I was embarrassedBy old men standing up
to shake my handAnd tell me they were "sorry
for my trouble,"Whispers informed strangers I
was the eldest,Away at school, as my mother held
my handIn hers and coughed out angry tearless
sighs.At ten o'clock the ambulance arrivedWith
the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the
nurses.Next morning I went up into the room.
SnowdropsAnd candles soothed the bedside I saw
himFor the first time in six weeks. Paler
now,Wearing a poppy bruise on the left
temple,He lay in the four foot box as in a
cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him
clear.A four foot box, a foot for every year.
A neighbour then arrived and took the poet home,
where it becomes clear that something terrible
has happened. His father was crying and this was
entirely out of character and the family friend
Jim Evans was there. Old men greet the child and
shake his hand. Then the body arrives.
The poem ends with a change of scene and time, as
the child enters the room of his dead brother the
next morning and he attempts to make sense of
what has happened.
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knelling suggests funereal bells rather than a
change of lessons. Fore-shadowing events to come
Why is he in sick bay?
I sat all morning in the college sick
bayCounting 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 pramWhen I came
in, and I was embarrassedBy old men standing up
to shake my handAnd tell me they were "sorry
for my trouble,"Whispers informed strangers I
was the eldest,Away at school, as my mother held
my handIn hers and coughed out angry tearless
sighs.At ten o'clock the ambulance arrivedWith
the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the
nurses.Next morning I went up into the room.
SnowdropsAnd candles soothed the bedside I saw
himFor the first time in six weeks. Paler
now,Wearing a poppy bruise on the left
temple,He lay in the four foot box as in a
cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him
clear.A four foot box, a foot for every year.
Suggests the boredom of waiting, the confused
calm before the storm
Stark image of a distraught parent. Hes unable
to cope as at other funerals. Why?
hard blow has a double meaning and emphasises
the nature of the scene. What are the two
meanings?
Alliteration stresses the feeling of something
ending
Emphasises the passage of time and contrasts with
the slowness with which the poet experienced it
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The baby doesnt know whats happening and this
is in contrast to Heaneys reactions
Heaney draws the reader through this unusual
scene. Heaney himself is embarrassed by the
attention of the old men What reaction would
he have to his mothers angry tearless sighs
I sat all morning in the college sick
bayCounting 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 pramWhen I came
in, and I was embarrassedBy old men standing up
to shake my handAnd tell me they were "sorry
for my trouble,"Whispers informed strangers I
was the eldest,Away at school, as my mother held
my handIn hers and coughed out angry tearless
sighs.At ten o'clock the ambulance arrivedWith
the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the
nurses.Next morning I went up into the room.
SnowdropsAnd candles soothed the bedside I saw
himFor the first time in six weeks. Paler
now,Wearing a poppy bruise on the left
temple,He lay in the four foot box as in a
cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him
clear.A four foot box, a foot for every year.
Assonance used by Heaney. The short a sounds
could suggest the abrupt end to his brothers
life.
Heaney doesnt seem to see his brother he sees a
corpse wrapped in the failed attempts to save him.
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I sat all morning in the college sick
bayCounting 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 pramWhen I came
in, and I was embarrassedBy old men standing up
to shake my handAnd tell me they were "sorry
for my trouble,"Whispers informed strangers I
was the eldest,Away at school, as my mother held
my handIn hers and coughed out angry tearless
sighs.At ten o'clock the ambulance arrivedWith
the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the
nurses.Next morning I went up into the room.
SnowdropsAnd candles soothed the bedside I saw
himFor the first time in six weeks. Paler
now,Wearing a poppy bruise on the left
temple,He lay in the four foot box as in a
cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him
clear.A four foot box, a foot for every year.
They literally sooth Heaney and allow him to
start the grieving process. These images are
symbolic, both for the family and the reader, of
new-life and
Change of scene from the hectic, embarrassing
business of Heaneys return home.
Heaney comes to terms with the loss and accepts
the corpse as his brother.
Stark image is left hanging at the end of the
stanza
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I sat all morning in the college sick
bayCounting 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 pramWhen I came
in, and I was embarrassedBy old men standing up
to shake my handAnd tell me they were "sorry
for my trouble,"Whispers informed strangers I
was the eldest,Away at school, as my mother held
my handIn hers and coughed out angry tearless
sighs.At ten o'clock the ambulance arrivedWith
the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the
nurses.Next morning I went up into the room.
SnowdropsAnd candles soothed the bedside I saw
himFor the first time in six weeks. Paler
now,Wearing a poppy bruise on the left
temple,He lay in the four foot box as in a
cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him
clear.A four foot box, a foot for every year.
The bruise is not a part of his brother. Heaney
sees him as metaphorically wearing it, as if it
could be removed
Why has Heaney chosen a poppy? Think about the
symbolism associated with poppies and think of it
as a visual image as well
Contrast between the peaceful, clean image with
that of earlier
As a baby might, sleeping. Again the contrast
between the hectic start and calm end is obvious
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For the first time we learn the childs age as
Heaney bitterly jokes that the coffin is a
measure for his life
I sat all morning in the college sick
bayCounting 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 pramWhen I came
in, and I was embarrassedBy old men standing up
to shake my handAnd tell me they were "sorry
for my trouble,"Whispers informed strangers I
was the eldest,Away at school, as my mother held
my handIn hers and coughed out angry tearless
sighs.At ten o'clock the ambulance arrivedWith
the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the
nurses.Next morning I went up into the room.
SnowdropsAnd candles soothed the bedside I saw
himFor the first time in six weeks. Paler
now,Wearing a poppy bruise on the left
temple,He lay in the four foot box as in a
cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him
clear.A four foot box, a foot for every year.
Clear factual understanding of what has happened
and Heaney doesnt shy away from that
Final line stands alone and draws the readers
full attention. Again the poignantly humorous
reference to the coffin as a box stresses
Heaneys childlike bitterness
The rhyming couplet serves to stress the tragedy
in the readers mind
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I sat all morning in the college sick
bayCounting 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 pramWhen I came
in, and I was embarrassedBy old men standing up
to shake my handAnd tell me they were "sorry
for my trouble,"Whispers informed strangers I
was the eldest,Away at school, as my mother held
my handIn hers and coughed out angry tearless
sighs.At ten o'clock the ambulance arrivedWith
the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the
nurses.Next morning I went up into the room.
SnowdropsAnd candles soothed the bedside I saw
himFor the first time in six weeks. Paler
now,Wearing a poppy bruise on the left
temple,He lay in the four foot box as in a
cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him
clear.A four foot box, a foot for every year.
This is an incredibly personal piece of poetry.
As a reader, what is your reaction to reading
this poem?
End-stopping of the final stanza stresses the
calm, contemplative nature of the young Heaneys
private grieving
Heaney uses contrasting images and emotions
throughout this poem. Why might this be?
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Themes

• Childhood The poem involves the poet recalling
  an event from his own childhood.
• It involves the narrator growing up due to the
  terrible nature of the experience.
• Death / Loss The fact that the poem deals with
  the death of a child, encourages the reader and
  narrator to question the pointlessness of death.
• Focus of the poem is on the reactions of people
  to death and the way people attempt to make sense
  of the loss.
• Memory Poem recalls an event from the past and
  this links it to other poems in the collection
  that involve looking back in order to see the
  present and future clearly.

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Review

• Note the reactions of the two parents - how does
  the reader react to this?
• With whom, do you think, is the mother angry?
• How does the poem contrast the fuss of the
  homecoming with the calmness of the scene when
  Seamus sees his brother's body?
• What do you think is the meaning of the poem's
  last line?
• What is your reaction to this poem?