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Mid-Term - Break Powerpoint

The document analyzes Seamus Heaney's poem "Mid Term Break." It begins by noting that the title is misleading as it suggests a school break, but the poem is actually about a family break due to the death of the poet's young brother. The summary then analyzes each stanza of the poem in detail, describing the events and the poet's recollection of discovering his brother had died. It discusses poetic techniques used and themes of childhood, family, death, and memory in the poem. Imagery of the poppy bruise, small coffin, and mother's angry tears are also examined.

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256 views

Mid-Term - Break Powerpoint

The document analyzes Seamus Heaney's poem "Mid Term Break." It begins by noting that the title is misleading as it suggests a school break, but the poem is actually about a family break due to the death of the poet's young brother. The summary then analyzes each stanza of the poem in detail, describing the events and the poet's recollection of discovering his brother had died. It discusses poetic techniques used and themes of childhood, family, death, and memory in the poem. Imagery of the poppy bruise, small coffin, and mother's angry tears are also examined.

Uploaded by

iffinichonchubhair
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Ka#e

 Farrell  ,Dearbhla  Brennan  and  


Chloe  Smith.  
•  h7ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XyZ63_9WzWg  
•  In  our  opinion  the  #tle  of  this  poem  is  misleading.  
•  We  think  this  because  when  people  see  the  
words  “mid  term  break”  they  automa#cally  think  
of  a  break  from  school  work  and  #me  with  family  
and  friends.  
•  But  in  Heaney’s  poem  this  was  not  the  case  and  
the  poem  is  about  a  broken  family  (  hence  the  
#tle  mid  term  BREAK)  as  his  small  brother  passed  
away  in  an  accident.  
•  I  sat  all  morning  in  the  college  sick  bay   The poem begins with the
Coun#ng  bells  knelling  classes  to  a  close.  
At  two  o'clock  our  neighbors  drove  me  home.  
narrator recalling being a child in
  the college sick bay – he was not
In  the  porch  I  met  my  father  crying-­‐-­‐  
He  had  always  taken  funerals  in  his  stride-­‐-­‐  
ill and had been taken there as
And  Big  Jim  Evans  saying  it  was  a  hard  blow.   something had happened.
 
The  baby  cooed  and  laughed  and  rocked  the  pram   A  neighbour  then  arrived  and  took  the  poet  
When  I  came  in,  and  I  was  embarrassed   home,  where  it  becomes  clear  that  
By  old  men  standing  up  to  shake  my  hand  
  something  terrible  has  happened.  His  
And  tell  me  they  were  "sorry  for  my  trouble,"   father  was  crying  and  this  was  en#rely  out  
Whispers  informed  strangers  I  was  the  eldest,  
Away  at  school,  as  my  mother  held  my  hand   of  character  and  the  family  friend  Jim  Evans  
  was  there.  Old  men  greet  the  child  and  
In  hers  and  coughed  out  angry  tearless  sighs.  
At  ten  o'clock  the  ambulance  arrived   shake  his  hand.  Then  the  body  arrives.  
With  the  corpse,  stanched  and  bandaged  by  the  
nurses.  
 
Next  morning  I  went  up  into  the  room.  Snowdrops  
And  candles  soothed  the  bedside;  I  saw  him   The  poem  ends  with  a  change  of  scene  and  
For  the  first  #me  in  six  weeks.  Paler  now,  
 
#me,  as  the  child  enters  the  room  of  his  
Wearing  a  poppy  bruise  on  his  lea  temple,   dead  brother  the  next  morning  and  he  
He  lay  in  the  four  foot  box  as  in  his  cot.  
No  gaudy  scars,  the  bumper  knocked  him  clear.  
a7empts  to  make  sense  of  what  has  
  happened.  
A  four  foot  box,  a  foot  for  every  year.  
•  In  stanza  5  there  are  instances  of  half  rhyme  
(sigh/arrived)  (corpse/nurses)  however  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.  
This  poppy  represents  the  poppy  bruise  
on  the  boys  lea  temple.  Heaney  describes  
this  poppy  how  it  looks  on  his  brothers  
temple.  

This  small  coffin  represents  the  


young  boys  age.  “A  four  foot  box  
a  foot  for  every  year”.  
This  tells  the  readers  the  age  of  
his  brother.  

This  shows  the  theme  of  the  


poem.  “She  cried  out  angry  
tearless  sighs”  .  The  mother  is  so  
upset  she  cant  produce  a  tear.  
•  Poe$c  Techniques:  Onomatopoeia,  Allitera#on,  
Simile,  Metaphor,  Repe##on.  
•  Repe##on  the  word  “foot”  –  emphasis  on  size  
•   Onomatopoeia  “bells  knelling”  –  the  sound  of  
funeral  bells.  –  Knelling  is  how  we  describe  a  bell  
ringing  for  a  funeral  
•  Allitera#on  “  a  Four  Foot”  –  emphases  the  small  
coffin  
•  Simile–  “  He  lay  in  the  foot  four  box  as  in  a  cot”  –  
creates  vivid  imagery  of  a  child  asleep  
•  Childhood  /  Family–  The  poem  involves  the  poet  
recalling  an  event  from  his  own  childhood.  
•  It  involves  Heaney’s  family  and  the  tremendous  
loss  his  family  deals  with.  
•  Death  /  Loss  –  The  fact  that  the  poem  deals  with  
the  death  of  a  child,  encourages  the  reader  and  
narrator  to  ques#on  the  pointlessness  of  death.    
•  Memory  –  Poem  recalls  an  event  from  the  past  
and  this  links  it  to  other  poems  in  the  collec#on  
that  involve  looking  back  in  order  to  see  the  
present  and  future  clearly.  
•   The  mood/tone  of  sorrow  or  sadness.  
•  The  poem  has  a  very  sorrowful  mood  which  is  
created  by  using  a  number  of  poe#c  
techniques.  "Mid  Term  Break"  is  about  the  
death  of  his  younger  brother  Christopher  at  
which  he  was  four  years  old  when  he  was  
killed  in  a  car  accident.  “  He  lay  in  the  foot  four  
box  as  in  a  cot”    

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