Writing Assignment On Poem Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney (Essay Sample)

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‘Mid-term Break’ Poem Analysis
The poem ‘Mid-term Break’ by Seamus Heaney talks about the poet’s brother who was knocked dead by a car at the tender age of four. It is immensely moving because the speaker opts to focus on the reactions of his parents. This conveys how shocking it was for the small boy’s family. Although in most cases, it is not advisable to equate the persona to the poet, in this case, both are one and the same person as Heaney indeed suffered from losing his little four-year-old brother. In this poetry analysis, I seek to determine how the reader is affected by order details in the ‘Mid-term Break,’ the significance of imagery in the poem to the reader, and ascertain the reason why the speaker’s emotion and matter of fact tone is an important aspect of the poem.
The poem starts with statements devoid of emotions, stating facts. The persona then goes on to describe the general sense of emotional discomfort in the presence of strangers. At this point, the sentences become more complex. As the poet reaches the point where he is alone with his dead brother, there is a general feeling of calm, serenity even. This calmness is, however, poignant in nature. The manner in which the poet arranges details within the day is worth noting. The poet delays articulating his brother’s death, and at the beginning, the reader cannot pinpoint what has gone wrong. Moreover, the brother arrives as an unidentified corpse. This arrangement of detail presents the poet’s state of mind upon receiving the tragic news. Right from the point when we meet him, waiting in the sick bay, the speaker is in strong denial, even when he arrives home, he’s yet to embrace the death of his younger brother. It is only upon spending some time with the body of his brother that he seemingly accepts the inevitable.
The poem is profoundly poignant because of its controlled tone and restraint of emotions. The speaker opts to focus on observed details which accumulate thus making the poem quite memorable. The poem begins with a line which could easily be used to describe the day of any boy. The second line, however, presents an atmosphere which is downright foreboding: “. . . Counting bells knelling classes to a close,” (Heaney 985, LL 2). The word ‘knell’ has been used instead of the tolling of a bell. This deliberate usage forebodes something sinister happening because it is mostly associated with the sound made by a funeral bell. Usually, the noise of a school bell is not associated with death, but this was different for the poet on this tragic day. Alliteration and rhyme are also used to lay emphasis on the poem’s sad tone. The ‘C’ and ‘I’ sounds together with the internal rhyme in ‘bells’ and ‘knelling’ aid in conveying the idea of time slowing down in grief. The poet is driven home by a neighbor; this could either express their poor economic status or the circumstantial inability of the parent to be present.
The second stanza focuses on the emotional response of the poet’s father who we are told is crying. This being despite the fact that his father has always been stoic during funerals. The loss of his four-year-old son is unbearable to the father who would usually offer consolation not unlike “Big Jim Evans” (Heaney 985, LL 6) who offers solace to the bereaved family by saying that it was “A hard blow” (Heaney 985, LL 6). There is a probable pun in this statement because, on the one hand, it refers to the emotional impact dealt on the family, on the other hand, it relates to the actual impact from the car.
There is yet another contrast in stanza three; the baby is joyful on seeing his older brother after so long. The child’s innocence in the wake of grief is presented in the line: “. . . The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram,” (Heaney 985, LL 7). The powerful rhythm in the line directly contrasts the measured pace in the opening stanza. The oddity of the situation in the following lines: “By old men standing up to shake my hand, . . .” (Heaney 985, LL 9-10). The poet is mortified by this unwitting role reversal where old men treat him with respect. They awkwardly tell him how sorry they are for his trouble. The alliteration in the line “Whispers informed strangers I Was the eldest” (Heaney 985, LL 11) accurately presents the muted atmosphere within the house.
The poet then presents his mother grieving in lines 12-13 (Heaney 986). This implies that his mother has shed enough tears but is still incensed by the loss of her son. There is a present time reference in line 14 showing h...