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Exploring Seamus Heaney’s Mid-Term Break: A Literary Analysis

• Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney’s poem “Mid-Term Break” is a poignant reflection on the death of a young child. The poem explores themes of grief, loss, and the fragility of life. In this literary analysis, we will delve deeper into the poem’s language, structure, and imagery to understand how Heaney effectively conveys these themes and emotions to his readers.

The Poet: Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney is one of the most celebrated poets of the 20th century. Born in Northern Ireland in 1939, Heaney grew up in a rural farming community and was deeply influenced by the landscape and people of his homeland. Heaney’s poetry often explores themes of identity, memory, and the natural world, and his work has been praised for its lyrical beauty and emotional depth. Heaney was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995, and his legacy continues to inspire and influence writers around the world. In this article, we will explore one of Heaney’s most famous poems, “Mid-Term Break,” and analyze its themes, imagery, and language.

The Poem: Mid-Term Break

Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” is a poignant and emotional poem that explores the themes of death, loss, and grief. The poem is written in the first person, and the speaker is a young boy who has returned home from school to attend the funeral of his younger brother. The poem is divided into three stanzas, each of which explores a different aspect of the speaker’s experience. The first stanza describes the speaker’s journey home from school, while the second stanza focuses on the scene at the family home, where the speaker encounters his grieving parents and sees his brother’s body laid out in the room. The final stanza describes the funeral itself, and the speaker’s feelings of isolation and detachment from the other mourners. Throughout the poem, Heaney uses vivid imagery and powerful language to convey the speaker’s emotions and the sense of loss that permeates the poem. Overall, “Mid-Term Break” is a powerful and moving poem that explores the universal themes of death and grief in a deeply personal and affecting way.

The Theme: Death and Loss

Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” is a poignant poem that explores the theme of death and loss. The poem is based on the death of Heaney’s younger brother, Christopher, who died at the age of four. Heaney’s use of vivid imagery and powerful language creates a sense of sadness and grief that is palpable throughout the poem. The poem is divided into three stanzas, each of which explores a different aspect of death and loss. The first stanza describes the arrival of Heaney’s family members at the family home, where they are waiting for the arrival of the body. The second stanza describes Heaney’s encounter with his brother’s body in the coffin, and the third stanza describes the funeral and the aftermath of the death. Through his use of language and imagery, Heaney captures the sense of loss and grief that accompanies death, and he explores the ways in which people cope with the loss of a loved one. Overall, “Mid-Term Break” is a powerful and moving poem that offers a poignant reflection on the theme of death and loss.

The Tone: Grief and Sadness

The tone of Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” is one of grief and sadness. The poem is a reflection on the death of the speaker’s younger brother, and the emotions that come with such a loss are palpable throughout the piece. Heaney’s use of language and imagery creates a sense of heaviness and sorrow, as the speaker navigates the aftermath of the tragedy. The poem is a powerful exploration of grief, and the ways in which it can impact a person’s life.

The Structure: Free Verse

Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” is a poem written in free verse, which means that it does not follow a specific rhyme scheme or meter. Instead, the poem is structured through the use of enjambment, or the continuation of a sentence or phrase across multiple lines. This creates a sense of fluidity and naturalness in the poem, as if the words are flowing freely from the speaker’s thoughts and emotions. Additionally, the lack of a strict structure allows Heaney to experiment with the placement of words and phrases, emphasizing certain ideas or emotions through their placement on the page. Overall, the free verse structure of “Mid-Term Break” contributes to the poem’s emotional impact and allows Heaney to convey his grief and loss in a powerful and poignant way.

The Imagery: Visual and Sensory

Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” is a poem that is rich in visual and sensory imagery. The poet uses vivid descriptions to create a powerful and emotional impact on the reader. The imagery in the poem is not only visual but also sensory, as it appeals to the reader’s sense of touch, smell, and sound.

One of the most striking images in the poem is the description of the “poppy bruise” on the baby’s forehead. This image is not only visual but also tactile, as the reader can almost feel the softness of the baby’s skin and the tenderness of the bruise. The use of the word “poppy” also adds a sensory dimension to the image, as it evokes the smell and texture of the flower.

Another powerful image in the poem is the description of the “four foot box” that the speaker’s brother is laid in. This image is both visual and sensory, as the reader can imagine the size and shape of the box, as well as the weight and texture of the body inside. The use of the word “box” also adds a sense of confinement and finality to the image, emphasizing the finality of death.

Overall, the imagery in “Mid-Term Break” is a key element in creating the emotional impact of the poem. The visual and sensory descriptions help to bring the reader into the world of the poem and to experience the grief and loss of the speaker.

The Language: Symbolism and Metaphor

In Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break,” the language used is rich in symbolism and metaphor, adding depth and complexity to the poem’s themes. The title itself is a metaphor, referring to the break from school that the speaker is experiencing, but also hinting at the idea of a break in the speaker’s life. The use of the word “break” suggests something that is shattered or broken, which foreshadows the devastating news that the speaker receives later in the poem.

Throughout the poem, Heaney uses vivid imagery to convey the speaker’s emotions and experiences. For example, the image of the “poppy bruise” on the baby’s forehead is a powerful symbol of the fragility of life and the violence that can disrupt it. The use of the word “bruise” suggests something that is painful and temporary, but also hints at the idea of something that is damaged or broken.

Another important symbol in the poem is the image of the “snowdrops” that the speaker’s mother has arranged on the baby’s cot. Snowdrops are often associated with death and mourning, and their presence in the poem adds to the sense of sadness and loss that permeates the speaker’s experience.

Overall, the language in “Mid-Term Break” is carefully crafted to convey the complex emotions and themes of the poem. Through the use of symbolism and metaphor, Heaney creates a powerful and moving portrait of grief and loss.

The Setting: A Family Home

The setting of Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” is a family home, specifically the home of the narrator’s parents. The poem begins with the narrator being brought home from school by his neighbors, and he enters the house to find his father crying. The details of the home are sparse, but the emotions and actions of the family members within it are vividly portrayed. The home becomes a symbol of the family’s grief and the disruption of their normal routine. The setting of the family home is crucial to the poem’s exploration of loss and mourning, as it is the place where the narrator must confront the reality of his brother’s death.

The Characters: The Family Members

The family members in Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” play a crucial role in the poem’s emotional impact. The speaker’s parents are described as being “stricken” and “embarrassed” by the death of their son, while his younger brothers are “crying” and “sniffling” in the background. The speaker himself is detached and numb, unable to fully process the tragedy that has befallen his family. Through their reactions and interactions, Heaney paints a vivid portrait of a family in mourning, struggling to come to terms with their loss.

The Emotions: Shock and Disbelief

The emotions of shock and disbelief are prevalent throughout Seamus Heaney’s poem “Mid-Term Break.” The speaker, who is a young boy, is forced to confront the death of his younger brother. The poem begins with the speaker being taken out of school and brought home, where he is met with the sight of his brother’s body. The shock of this event is evident in the speaker’s inability to comprehend what has happened. He describes his brother’s body as “a poppy bruise” and notes that he “lay in the four-foot box as in his cot.” The use of the word “cot” suggests that the speaker is struggling to accept that his brother is truly gone. The disbelief is further emphasized when the speaker notes that his father is crying, which is something he has never seen before. The shock and disbelief that the speaker experiences are universal emotions that anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one can relate to. Heaney’s use of language and imagery effectively conveys the overwhelming emotions that come with such a tragic event.

The Impact: Cultural and Historical Context

Seamus Heaney’s poem “Mid-Term Break” is a poignant reflection on the death of his younger brother. The poem is set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a period of political and social unrest that lasted from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. Heaney’s work is deeply rooted in the cultural and historical context of Northern Ireland, and his poetry often explores the themes of violence, loss, and identity in the face of conflict.

Heaney was born in 1939 in County Derry, Northern Ireland, and grew up in a rural farming community. He was deeply influenced by the landscape and language of his childhood, and his poetry often reflects his connection to the natural world. However, Heaney’s work is also shaped by the political and social context of Northern Ireland, particularly the Troubles.

The Troubles were a period of intense violence and political conflict in Northern Ireland, characterized by bombings, shootings, and other acts of terrorism. The conflict was rooted in the division between the Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland, and it had a profound impact on the lives of those who lived through it. Heaney’s poetry often reflects the trauma and loss experienced by individuals and communities during this period.

In “Mid-Term Break,” Heaney explores the impact of his brother’s death on his family and community. The poem is a powerful reflection on grief, loss, and the fragility of life. Heaney’s use of language and imagery is both subtle and powerful, and the poem has become one of his most famous works.

Overall, Heaney’s poetry is deeply rooted in the cultural and historical context of Northern Ireland. His work explores the themes of violence, loss, and identity in the face of conflict, and it has had a profound impact on the literary world. “Mid-Term Break” is a powerful reflection on grief and loss, and it remains a testament to the enduring power of poetry to capture the human experience.

The Literary Devices: Alliteration and Enjambment

Alliteration and enjambment are two literary devices that Seamus Heaney employs in his poem “Mid-Term Break” to create a sense of rhythm and flow. Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words, while enjambment is the continuation of a sentence or phrase onto the next line without a pause. In the first stanza, Heaney uses alliteration to emphasize the silence and stillness of the room: “I sat all morning in the college sick bay / Counting bells knelling classes to a close.” The repetition of the “s” sound in “sat,” “sick,” and “classes” creates a sense of hushed quietness. Heaney also uses enjambment throughout the poem to create a sense of movement and progression. For example, in the second stanza, the sentence “At ten o’clock the ambulance arrived” continues onto the next line, emphasizing the suddenness and urgency of the situation. These literary devices not only add to the overall effect of the poem, but also showcase Heaney’s skill as a poet.

The Poetic Techniques: Repetition and Irony

Repetition and irony are two of the most prominent poetic techniques used by Seamus Heaney in his poem “Mid-Term Break.” Repetition is used to emphasize the emotional impact of the events that take place in the poem. For example, the repetition of the word “knelling” in the first stanza creates a sense of foreboding and sets the tone for the rest of the poem. Similarly, the repetition of the phrase “a four foot box” in the final stanza emphasizes the finality of death and the sense of loss that the speaker feels.

Irony is also used throughout the poem to create a sense of tension and to highlight the contrast between the speaker’s emotions and the actions of those around him. For example, the fact that the speaker’s father is “crying” and “whispering” in the second stanza is ironic because it is not the speaker’s father who has died, but rather his younger brother. Similarly, the fact that the “old men” in the fourth stanza shake the speaker’s hand and tell him that they are “sorry for his trouble” is ironic because they do not truly understand the depth of his grief.

Overall, the use of repetition and irony in “Mid-Term Break” serves to enhance the emotional impact of the poem and to highlight the complex emotions that the speaker experiences in the wake of his brother’s death.

The Analysis: Line by Line

The opening line of Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” sets the tone for the entire poem: “I sat all morning in the college sick bay.” The use of the word “sick bay” immediately creates a sense of unease and suggests that something is not quite right. The fact that the speaker has been there all morning also implies that this is not a minor illness or injury. As the poem progresses, we learn that the speaker’s younger brother has died, and the use of the word “sick bay” takes on a new meaning. It becomes a place of waiting and mourning, a liminal space between life and death. The line also establishes the speaker’s detachment from the events that are about to unfold. He is physically present, but emotionally removed, a theme that is echoed throughout the poem.

The Interpretation: Multiple Meanings

One of the most intriguing aspects of Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” is its ability to be interpreted in multiple ways. On the surface, the poem appears to be a straightforward account of a young boy’s experience of his brother’s death. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that there are deeper layers of meaning at play. Some readers interpret the poem as a commentary on the fragility of life, while others see it as a meditation on the complexities of grief. Still others view it as a critique of societal expectations surrounding death and mourning. Ultimately, the beauty of “Mid-Term Break” lies in its ability to speak to readers on a variety of levels, inviting us to engage with its themes and ideas in our own unique ways.

The Significance: Heaney’s Legacy

Seamus Heaney’s legacy is one that continues to inspire and influence writers and readers alike. His ability to capture the essence of Irish culture and history through his poetry has earned him a place among the greatest poets of the 20th century. Heaney’s work is characterized by its vivid imagery, lyrical language, and deep sense of humanity. His poems often explore themes of identity, memory, and the natural world, and his unique perspective on these subjects has made him a beloved figure in the literary world. Heaney’s legacy is one that will continue to be celebrated for generations to come, as his poetry remains a testament to the power of language and the enduring human spirit.

The Criticism: Alternative Perspectives

While Seamus Heaney’s “Mid-Term Break” has been widely praised for its poignant portrayal of grief and loss, there are also alternative perspectives that offer criticism of the poem. One such perspective is that the poem is too detached and emotionless, failing to fully capture the depth of the speaker’s feelings. Critics argue that the poem’s sparse language and lack of overt emotionality create a distance between the reader and the speaker, making it difficult to fully empathize with the speaker’s experience.

Another criticism of the poem is that it perpetuates traditional gender roles and stereotypes. The poem’s portrayal of the mother as a stoic figure who is unable to express her emotions is seen by some as a reinforcement of the idea that women are expected to be passive and emotionally restrained. Additionally, the poem’s focus on the father’s reaction to the death of his son, while largely ignoring the mother’s grief, has been criticized as a perpetuation of the idea that men are expected to be strong and unemotional in the face of tragedy.

Despite these criticisms, “Mid-Term Break” remains a powerful and widely studied poem, offering a complex and nuanced exploration of grief and loss. While some may find fault with the poem’s emotional distance or gendered portrayals, others may see these elements as integral to the poem’s larger themes and messages. Ultimately, the poem’s enduring popularity and critical acclaim speak to its ability to provoke thought and inspire discussion, even in the face of alternative perspectives and criticisms.

Mid-Term Break Summary & Analysis by Seamus Heaney

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

“Mid-Term Break” was published by Irish poet Seamus Heaney in his 1966 book Death of a Naturalist. The poem is about Heaney’s brother, who was killed by a car in 1953 when he was only 4 years old, and Heaney only 14. Personal and direct, the poem describes the unexpected ways his family’s grieves as they confront this tragedy. It also notes the way that grief may upset traditional social roles.

• Read the full text of “Mid-Term Break”

The Full Text of “Mid-Term Break”

“mid-term break” summary, “mid-term break” themes.

The Nature of Grief

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “mid-term break”.

I sat all ... ... drove me home.

In the porch ... ... a hard blow.

The baby cooed ... ... for my trouble'.

Lines 11-13

Whispers informed strangers ... ... angry tearless sighs.

Lines 14-15

At ten o'clock ... ... by the nurses.

Lines 16-18

Next morning I ... ... in six weeks.

Lines 18-22

Paler now, ... ... for every year.

“Mid-Term Break” Symbols

• Line 2: “bells”

• Line 16: “Snowdrops”

• Line 17: “candles”

“Mid-Term Break” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

End-stopped line.

• Line 2: “close.”
• Line 3: “home.”
• Line 4: “crying—”
• Line 5: “stride—”
• Line 6: “blow.”
• Line 10: “trouble'.”
• Line 11: “eldest,”
• Line 13: “sighs.”
• Line 15: “nurses.”
• Line 18: “now,”
• Line 19: “temple,”
• Line 20: “cot.”
• Line 21: “clear.”
• Line 22: “year.”
• Lines 1-2: “bay / Counting”
• Lines 7-8: “pram / When”
• Lines 8-9: “embarrassed / By”
• Lines 9-10: “hand / And”
• Lines 12-13: “hand / In”
• Lines 14-15: “arrived / With”
• Lines 16-17: “Snowdrops / And”
• Lines 17-18: “him / For”
• Line 8: “in, and”
• Line 12: “school, as”
• Line 15: “corpse, stanched”
• Line 16: “room. Snowdrops”
• Line 17: “bedside; I”
• Line 18: “weeks. Paler”
• Line 21: “scars, the”
• Line 22: “box, a”

Alliteration

• Line 1: “c,” “b”
• Line 2: “C,” “b,” “c,” “l,” “c,” “l”
• Line 3: “cl”
• Line 4: “m,” “m”
• Line 5: “H,” “h”
• Line 12: “A,” “a,” “a,” “m,” “m,” “h,” “m,” “h”
• Line 13: “h,” “a”
• Line 14: “A,” “a,” “a”
• Line 15: “b,” “b”
• Line 16: “S”
• Line 17: “s,” “s”
• Line 18: “F,” “f,” “s,” “P”
• Line 19: “p,” “b,” “h,” “l”
• Line 20: “H,” “l,” “f,” “f”
• Line 22: “f,” “f,” “f,” “f”
• Line 2: “e,” “e,” “o”
• Line 3: “o,” “o,” “o”
• Line 4: “I,” “y,” “y”
• Line 5: “a,” “a,” “i,” “i”
• Line 6: “i,” “i,” “i,” “i,” “a,” “a”
• Line 7: “a,” “au,” “a,” “a”
• Line 8: “I,” “a,” “I,” “a”
• Line 9: “a,” “a”
• Line 11: “i,” “i”
• Line 12: “a,” “a,” “a”
• Line 13: “a,” “a,” “i”
• Line 14: “A,” “a,” “i”
• Line 15: “a,” “a,” “a”
• Line 16: “o,” “oo”
• Line 17: “A,” “a,” “oo,” “i,” “I”
• Line 18: “i,” “i”
• Line 19: “o,” “o,” “e,” “e”
• Line 20: “o,” “i,” “i,” “o”
• Line 21: “au,” “o”
• Line 22: “ou,” “oo,” “oo,” “o,” “y,” “ea”
• Line 1: “s,” “ll,” “n,” “n,” “c,” “ll,” “s,” “ck,” “b”
• Line 2: “C,” “n,” “b,” “ll,” “s,” “kn,” “ll,” “cl,” “ss,” “s,” “cl,” “s”
• Line 3: “t,” “t,” “cl,” “r,” “r,” “r,” “m,” “m”
• Line 4: “m,” “m,” “th,” “r,” “r”
• Line 5: “H,” “h,” “n,” “n,” “r,” “n,” “h,” “s,” “r,” “d”
• Line 6: “d,” “b,” “w”
• Line 7: “b,” “b,” “c,” “d,” “nd,” “d,” “nd,” “r,” “ck,” “d,” “r,” “m”
• Line 8: “c,” “m,” “n,” “n,” “m”
• Line 9: “d,” “m,” “n,” “nd,” “m,” “nd”
• Line 10: “t,” “rr,” “t,” “r”
• Line 11: “rs,” “r,” “s,” “t,” “r,” “rs,” “s,” “s,” “t”
• Line 12: “m,” “m,” “h,” “d,” “m,” “h,” “d”
• Line 13: “h,” “r,” “s,” “t,” “r,” “t,” “r,” “ss,” “s,” “s”
• Line 14: “t,” “t,” “rr”
• Line 15: “r,” “s,” “s,” “n,” “d,” “nd,” “b,” “nd,” “d,” “b”
• Line 16: “S,” “d,” “s”
• Line 17: “nd,” “nd,” “s,” “s,” “d,” “e,” “s,” “d,” “s”
• Line 18: “F,” “r,” “f,” “r,” “st,” “t,” “s,” “x,” “s,” “P”
• Line 19: “p,” “pp,” “l,” “t,” “p,” “l”
• Line 20: “l,” “f,” “r,” “f,” “b,” “x,” “c”
• Line 21: “c,” “r,” “m,” “r,” “ck,” “m,” “c”
• Line 22: “f,” “r,” “f,” “t,” “f,” “t,” “f,” “r,” “r,” “y,” “y,” “r”
• Line 20: “He lay in the four-foot box as in his cot.”
• Line 19: “Wearing a poppy bruise”

Polysyndeton

• Line 7: “The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram”
• Line 20: “four-foot box”
• Line 22: “A four-foot box, a foot for every year.”

“Mid-Term Break” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• In His Stride
• Four-foot box
• (Location in poem: Line 1: “college”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Mid-Term Break”

Rhyme scheme, “mid-term break” speaker, “mid-term break” setting, literary and historical context of “mid-term break”, more “mid-term break” resources, external resources.

Seamus Heaney's 10 Best Poems — A list of Heaney's 10 Best Poems from the Telegraph—offering a good introduction to his broader work.

Heaney Restrospective — A critical appraisal of the poet's life and work, from Naomi Schalit.

Seamus Heaney's Life — A detailed biography from the Poetry Foundation.

Seamus Heaney Reads "Mid-Term Break" — The poet reads his own poem aloud for the Poetry Ireland Lunchtime Reading Series.

Heaney's Family on Life with the Poet — In an article for the Guardian Newspaper, Seamus Heaney's family reflect on life with Heaney.

LitCharts on Other Poems by Seamus Heaney

Blackberry-Picking

Death of a Naturalist

Out of the Bag

Personal Helicon

Requiem for the Croppies

Storm on the Island

The Tollund Man

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Poetry Prof

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Mid-Term Break

Seamus Heaney shares with us a sad memory from his childhood.

“… the most skilful and profound poet writing in English today.” Edward Mendelson (NYT Review of Opened Ground)

Seamus Heaney is one of  the most recognisable names in English-language poetry . It’s quite possible that you could hear his writerly voice as a child, study him as you get older (his poems are often anthologised or selected for GCSE and A Level study) and come to regard him as an old familiar friend through your adult life. Heaney won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1995 and turned down the position of Poet Laureate when it was offered to him,  possibly because he regards himself as Irish, not British : after lunching with the Queen he said, “I have nothing against the Queen personally”; but in 1982 he published the lines, “My passport’s green/ No glass of ours was ever raised/ To toast the Queen.” Before  his death in 2013 he wrote about Irish community life, people’s connection with the land ( Storm on the Island; Bogland ), politics and history (particularly The Troubles), his own rural upbringing and journey to becoming a writer ( Follower; Digging; Personal Helicon ). A recognisable Heaney trait is filtering subject matter through a child’s looking-glass lens. His most famous poems ( Death of a Naturalist  and  Blackberry Picking) are directly concerned with childhood, in particular the loss of childhood innocence as one grows older.  Mid-Term Break (from the collection  Death of a Naturalist , written in 1966) shares this theme, which it explores through recounting an experience from the poet’s own history; when Seamus Heaney was still a child, his younger brother Christopher was hit and killed by a car:

On first reading, apart from obviously being written in stanzaic form (which we’ll get to later) the poem is actually quite, well… unpoetic! In some respects, it’s more like a narrative in the way it tells the story of Heaney’s discovery of his brother’s death. The poem contains clear narrative features such as the building of suspense (see how the poem counts down time for us:  two o’clock, ten o’clock, next morning ), direct speech (‘sorry for my trouble’ ) and even brief  characterisation : I met my father crying – he had always taken funerals in his stride –  In a way,  Mid-Term Break is a narrative: it follows a well-worn narrative pattern called the ‘rites of passage’ by which a young person must leave the safety (and ignorance) of childhood and undergo a journey of discovery. Along the way, the child acquires special knowledge and undergoes a transformation, shedding the childish self like a snake sheds a skin and emerging as a new, older and wiser person. That’s why the poem begins in the  college sick bay , which represents the safe world of a child; soon the boy is taken home , where he must pass through various adult hands, all ushering him towards the place where he will discover the truth hiding at the heart of the poem. The  room in which he encounters his brother – and has his first experience of the reality of death – is the place where this awful knowledge is contained and it is no accident that he is left alone to experience his first taste of the adult world all by himself.

At the start of the story, though, the boy is unaware of what lies in store; both he and we, the readers, wonder what is happening to take him out of class and home from school early. There are a couple of clues:  knelling is a word used only to describe the sound of a bell; it is especially associated with bells that ring to proclaim somebody’s death. In a ‘rites of passage’ story, in order for a person to grow and change their childish self must symbolically die. As well as  foreshadowing  the death of the speaker’s younger brother, the bells he hears  c ounting down  c lasses to a  c lose also signify the death of his childhood and induction into the adult world.  Alliteration  plays a part here. Look at all those hard C sounds in the line above, and add  c ollege si ck bay and  two o’ c lo ck .  This kind of alliteration is known as guttural. Guttural is good at exposing negative emotions, and also resembles the ticking of a clock, counting down the time until the boy must experience the truth that is waiting for him.

When the boy arrives home he meets his father standing on the  porch . Here is an example of a ‘threshold’: a boundary between two ‘worlds.’ If the school represented a ‘safe’ place where he was sheltered and protected from hard truth, his house is the site of his revelation and the place where he will be exposed to the truth about how things are in the ‘real’ world. The  porch is the dividing line between these two ‘worlds.’ His father (and  Big Jim Evans ) function as symbolic gatekeepers. They know the truth, but do not reveal it to the boy, except through cryptic clues such as  it had been a hard blow, language that suggests concealed emotion and also echoes the accident that killed his younger brother. Instead they usher him inside, where he will be passed from hand to hand, until he reaches his brother’s bedside . At this point, he will be by himself and have to face the reality of the world alone. 

Just as in a good narrative,  perspective is a crucial reason why the poem works so well. The speaker’s youth and naïvete brings a touch of  irony into the poem. Each stanza gives more little clues, information hiding in plain sight, that the boy’s youth prevents him from fully understanding. But as readers looking in from outside, it’s relatively easy for us to piece together the puzzle at the heart of the story. The first puzzle-piece is probably the word knelling  in stanza 1. It’s the kind of word a young boy wouldn’t know (the adult writer uses it as he looks back on his childhood experience). In stanza 2 – embedded inside two  hyphens  as an extra detail – is the admission that the speaker’s father  had always taken funerals in his stride . In the third stanza old men stand up in formal way to  shake my hand , and in the fourth we can infer from the  whispers that  informed strangers I was the eldest  that something has happened to a member of the boy’s family. By the time the  ambulance arrived with the corpse most readers will be prepared for the awful knowledge of the boy’s younger brother’s tragic accident. 

Written about a childhood time when nothing in the adult world makes sense (you can almost hear the boy thinking, ‘Why are they whispering? Why are these old men standing up to shake my hand?’) the  voice of the speaker conveys Heaney’s thoughts and curiously detached feelings through this bewildering day. Interestingly, most of the  diction in the poem is cool, calm and collected, and the young speaker comes across as matter-of-fact above anything else. Read the poem again to try and find examples of emotive language – it’s tough, right? That’s not to say the poem isn’t emotional, but emotion comes more from the reader’s grasping of the situation than from the poem itself. The boy himself reports everything with simplicity:  stanched and bandaged is quite clinical;  I saw him for the first time in six weeks a simple matter-of-fact statement. The clinical, detached  tone aptly conveys the way a young boy might approach his first encounter with death. Too young to really grasp the significance of events, he reacts in a way that might even be construed as indifferent. 

Something the poem explores wonderfully well is the stoic, masculine way that men deal with their emotions, particularly grief. The speaker’s father had been crying, but the poem is quick to point out that normally he takes things in their stride.  Big Jim Evans is unable to use straightforward language when talking to the young boy and euphemises his feelings as  a hard blow .  Euphemism is language that is uses to disguise, or avoid, speaking hard truths and it’s again ironic that somebody  big, when faced with a harsh reality, finds it difficult to confront.  Old men stand up to shake my hand reveals how formality and custom are used (again by men) to manage difficult emotions. Whispers is an onomatopoeia that conjures the sound of people talking around him, even behind his back, but hesitant when it comes to admitting the truth. The mother, true to type, is permitted to cough out her angry tearless sighs . She has been exhausted by her outpouring of emotion: by contrast, the men keep theirs firmly shut away inside. A detail that throws the men’s stoicism into sharp relief is the mention of the baby who cooed and laughed in the pram. The contrast of such unknowing, innocent behaviour with the reserved and awkward behaviour of the adults only reinforces the formality of their actions.

According to the poetic tradition of the  turn , or  volta , at a certain point in a poem the focus shifts, the tone changes or a counterpoint is presented.  Mid-Term Break’s turn is disguised by form, hidden inside the fifth stanza. After the description of mother’s  sighs  our attention is taken away from the reactions of those gathered in the house and placed onto the ambulance, there to deliver the body of the speaker’s younger brother.  At ten o’clock is the subtle marker used to make this change. After this point, the poem homes in on the boy’s experience only and we are with him through the terrible walk up the stairs, into the room where his brother’s body is laid in state  stanched (like the more common ‘staunch,’ this word means to restrict the flow of blood; you can read it to mean ‘cleaned’)  and bandaged by nurses .  Assonance plays a part in this stanza: the letter A flows through the lines in all kinds of words such as a ngry , a mbul a nce a rrived , st a nched a nd b a nd a ged . Assonance helps manage the tension in the poem at this crucial moment – the boy is only steps away from entering the room himself and coming face to face with his brother after his awful accident.

Once he enters the site of revelation, the poem intensifies its use of imagery.  The evidence of his brother’s wound is described as a poppy bruise , the vivid red colour that flashes into our minds when we read poppy contrasts with the white images suggested by paler now ,   stanched and bandaged and  snowdrops (white flowers)  and candles soothed the bedside . Like the  knelling bells , this use of language comes from the older writer looking back on his childish persona. Look again at the word ‘soothed.’ Flowers and candles are  personified to have a calming effect on the scene, and we are invited to compare the ritual trappings of funerals with the formality of behaviour displayed by the men earlier in the poem. The votive candles have a particularly calming effect, bathing the scene in warmth despite the ‘cold’ setting and tone. Perhaps Heaney wants us to think that the objects in the room, the ritual ‘embalming’ of the corpse – like the words and behaviour of the people downstairs – are all bent to the same purpose: the dulling of grief in order to allow men to cope with, and display stoicism in the face of, this ‘unmanly’ emotion.

The importance of ritual is echoed in the poem’s form.  Heaney is a traditional poet, and his poetry gestures towards pre-modern times .  Mid-Term Break is written in unrhymed  tercets  (a tercet is a group of three lines) and Heaney employs  stanzaic form to echo both the rituals surrounding death and funerals, and to frame the procession by which the boy is brought from his school to the bedside. Try breaking the journey into stages, imagining him passing various thresholds along the way: he leaves the  college sick bay , passes through the  porch into the main house, and goes up to  the room . Each stanza narrows and focuses the boy’s journey until he reaches the  bedside , at which point the poem is at its most intimate: just the boy, his brother and us watching from the outside. The  repetition of  hands is a nice detail helping us to see that he is quite literally passed from hand-to-hand by various adults. He is taken by his neighbour, to his father, through a roomful of relatives and strangers (who  shake his hand ) to his mother (who  held my hand ). Finally, he visits the bedside where he is alone. The structure of this journey is like a mini ‘rites of passage’ story, taking a child from a safe, protected world and exposing him to the truth and danger of the adult world.   

Suggested Poems for Comparison

• Death of a Naturalist by Seamus Heaney

If you liked Mid-Term Break , you’ll love Death of a Naturalist . The title poem from his 1966 collection (from which Mid-Term Break is taken), the poem’s speaker – Heaney as a child – witnesses an invasion of angry frogs who he describes as ‘the great slime kings.’

• Hide and Seek by Vernon Scannell

If you’ve ever played this childhood game, you might recognise what happens to the small boy in this poem – abandoned in the dark by those he thought were his friends. It’s a little taste of how things really work out in the real world, represented by the eerie way the empty garden seems to look back at him at the end of the poem.

• Little Red Cap by Carol Ann Duffy

It’s not only boys who go on rites of passage adventures. In this reworking of the classic fairytale ( Little Red Riding Hood ), Duffy imagines herself as the titular heroine, a person with whom it is not wise to mess!

Additional Resources

If you are teaching or studying  Mid-Term Break  at school or college, or if you simply enjoyed this analysis of the poem and would like to discover more, you might like to purchase our bespoke study bundle for this poem. It’s only £2 and includes: 

• 4 pages of activities that can be printed and folded into a booklet for use in class, at home, for self-study or revision.
• Study Questions with guidance for how to answer in full paragraphs.
• A sample Point, Evidence, Explanation paragraph for essay writing. 
• An interactive and editable powerpoint, giving line-by-line analysis of all the poetic and technical features of the poem. 
• An in-depth worksheet with a focus on   explaining stanzaic form .
• A fun crossword-quiz, perfect for a recap lesson or for revision.
• 4 practice Essay Questions – and one complete model Essay Plan.

And… discuss! 

What did you think of Seamus Heaney’s poem? Have you read any of his other works that you could recommend to people who enjoyed Mid-Term Break? How did you feel at the end of this poem – was the revelation a shock to you? Why not leave a comment, start a discussion or share your ideas in the comment section below. And, for daily nuggets of analysis and all-new illustrations, don’t forget to find and follow Poetry Prof on Instagram.

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Mid-Term Break

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Analysis: “Mid-Term Break”

The poem opens with a line that immediately establishes the speaker as a young college student, but creates a sense of foreboding at odds with the familiar environment of school: “I sat all morning in the college sick bay / counting bells knelling classes to a close” (Lines 1-2). The word “knelling” with its connotations of death is strange and unsettling in the context of a school, though the regular rhythm indicates something of the repetitiveness of college life. Line 3, “At two o’clock our neighbors drove me home,” emphasizes the breaking of this routine, and generates the movement of the poem into its next stanza.

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Mid-term break.

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Other works by Seamus Heaney...

Perch on their water perch hung in… Near the clay bank in alder dapple… Perch they called ‘grunts’, little… I saw and I see in the river’s gl… That is passable through, but they…

“We were killing pigs when the Yanks arrived. A Tuesday morning, sunlight and gutter-blood Outside the slaughter house.

There was a sunlit absence. The helmeted pump in the yard heated its iron, water honeyed in the slung bucket

He would drink by himself And raise a weathered thumb Towards the high shelf, Calling another rum And blackcurrant, without

I can feel the tug of the halter at the nape of her neck, the wind on her naked front. It blows her nipples

My “place of clear water”, the first hill in the world where springs washed into the shiny grass and darkened cobbles

I loved to carry Her violin case, its nose In air, its back end Nice and heavy, the balance Factored in and factored out.

Late August, given heavy rain and… For a full week, the blackberries… At first, just one, a glossy purpl… Among others, red, green, hard as… You ate that first one and its fle…

The timeless waves, bright, siftin… Came dazzling around, into the roc… Came glinting, sifting from the A… To posess Aran. Or did Aran rush to throw wide arms of rock around…

As a child, they could not keep me… And old pumps with buckets and win… I loved the dark drop, the trapped… Of waterweed, fungus and dank moss… One, in a brickyard, with a rotted…

I was six when I first saw kitten… Dan Taggart pitched them, 'the sc… Into a bucket; a frail metal sound… Soft paws scraping like mad. But… Was soon soused. They were slung…

Shifting brilliancies. Then winte… In a doorway, and on the stone doo… A beggar shivering in silhouette. So the particular judgement might… Bare wallstead and a cold hearth r…

All I know is a door into the dar… Outside, old axles and iron hoops… Inside, the hammered anvil’s short… The unpredictable fantail of spark… Or hiss when a new shoe toughens i…

We have no prairies To slice a big sun at evening— Everywhere the eye concedes to Encrouching horizon, Is wooed into the cyclops’ eye

This poem deals with the death of a young child, who is only 4 years old and how Heaney, as a child, reacts to this event.

 In the opening stanza Heaney, as a child, is waiting in the sick bay at school to be taken home. There is a sense of boredom as he counts the bells waiting for classes to end. It is as if he doesn’t really understand what is going on and would rather be in class.

The second stanza finds Heaney back at home, seeing his father crying, which is surprising as ‘he had always taken funerals in his stride’.

‘The baby cooed and laughed’ shows the lack of understanding, it seems it is the adults who are most upset and the baby, innocent of all knowledge, reacts normally, life goes on.

 Heaney, too, is embarrassed by the way ‘old men’ come to shake his hand and say they are ‘sorry for my trouble’ showing his lack of comprehension .

There is a sense of quiet throughout, with ‘whispers’ ‘tearless sighs’ as a reverence for the dead. At this point it is still unclear who has died.

In the fifth stanza the corpse arrives in an ambulance. It all seems quite clinical and emotionless here with the line ‘stanched and bandaged by nurses’ reflecting Heaney’s lack of emotion or understanding as a boy.

In the sixth stanza he goes up to the room full of flowers and candles ‘snowdrops’ a white flower representing purity , which is appropriate given the age of the dead boy.

We are finally given a sense of identity here with ‘him’ mentioned. Heaney describes him as ‘paler now’ than when he last saw him, six weeks previously.

The penultimate stanza describes him in more detail with a ‘poppy bruise on his left temple’ poppy a flower associated with the dead and the red colour accurately reflecting the colour of blood and a bruise. His bed is described using a simile ‘as in is cot’ to describe the bed like a child’s cot as it is so small and he is so young.

It is likely that the boy is a young relative of Heaney’s, although this is not clarified. It could be a younger brother. We learn the cause of death is a road accident as ‘the bumper knocked him clear’.

The final line emphasises how tragic the event is as the coffin is so small, showing the youth of the victim. The stanza is only one line and nine words long to place a clear emphasis on how tragic and shocking the event is

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Poem Mid Term Break by Seamus Heaney: Analysis, Q&A

You are reading Mid Term Break by Seamus Heaney Poem on wheniamanoldwoman blog!

Seamus Heaney’s poignant poem, ‘Mid-Term Break,’ holds a unique place in the world of literature. It’s an exploration of loss, grief, and the transformation of family dynamics following a tragic event.

Seamus Heaney’s poignant poem, ‘Mid-Term Break,’ holds a unique place in the world of literature. It’s an exploration of loss, grief, and the transformation of family dynamics following a tragic event. Let’s delve into the depths of this powerful poem and understand its themes, figurative language, and what makes it so unusual.

‘Mid-Term Break’ was published in Heaney’s famous 1966 volume, ‘Death of a Naturalist.’ The poem is deeply personal, dedicated to Heaney’s brother, who tragically passed away in a car accident when Heaney was just 14. It offers a glimpse into Heaney’s emotional journey as he tries to comprehend the societal roles imposed by such an event.

Poem Mid-Term Break

By Seamus Heaney I sat all morning in the college sick bay Counting bells knelling classes to a close. At two o’clock our neighbours 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 pram When I came in, and I was embarrassed By old men standing up to shake my hand And tell me they were ‘sorry for my trouble’. Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest, Away at school, as my mother held my hand …

Seamus Heaney and ‘Mid-Term Break’

Before we dive into the poem, it’s essential to understand Seamus Heaney. Heaney was an acclaimed Irish poet, known for his ability to capture the essence of human experiences. In ‘Mid-Term Break,’ he applies his poetic prowess to unravel the emotional complexities that arise in the aftermath of a family tragedy.

The poem describes the speaker’s experience when he’s called home from college after the accident. He encounters a world filled with sorrow, awkwardness, and heartache. The emotions depicted in the poem are raw and authentic.

Analysis of ‘Mid-Term Break’

Lines 1-3: isolation and unsettling news.

The poem opens with the speaker in the college sick bay, isolated from friends and colleagues. While one might think he’s ill, the truth is more profound. He’s there because he’s about to learn of a tragic loss in his family. The sick bay represents the isolation of grief.

The school day continues outside, with the speaker aware of the bells ringing until “two o’clock” when neighbors arrive to take him home. This choice is significant as it’s not a family member who collects him.

Lines 4-6: A Departure from Stoicism

Returning home, the speaker is shocked to find his father openly crying on the porch. Unlike previous funerals where his father remained stoic, something about this loss has deeply affected him. A neighbor, “Big Jim Evans,” describes it as a “hard blow” to the father, emphasizing the emotional wound.

Lines 7-9: Contrasting Innocence and Grief

Inside the house, a baby in a pram coos and laughs, providing a stark contrast to the mourning in the room. Friends of the family greet the speaker with condolences, causing his embarrassment. The disparity between societal norms and the speaker’s internal turmoil is evident.

The reader is still unaware of the deceased’s identity.

Lines 10-12: Trivializing Grief

The mother, holding the speaker’s hand, is unable to express her grief, emitting “angry tearless sighs.” Mourners use the term “trouble” rather than acknowledging the death, revealing society’s discomfort with mortality.

Strangers discuss the speaker being the “eldest child” who was “away at school” during the tragedy, further distancing him from the core of the family’s grief.

Lines 13-15: The Arrival of the Ambulance

The mother continues holding the speaker’s hand but cannot articulate her sorrow. An ambulance arrives, symbolizing the passage of time. The body has been prepared by nurses.

Lines 16-18: Confronting the Body

In the penultimate stanza, the speaker faces the body for the first time. Snowdrops and candles by the bedside create a serene atmosphere for contemplation. It’s been “six weeks” since he last saw the deceased.

Lines 19-22: The Profound Revelation

The body’s condition is described, with a “poppy bruise” on the left temple. The absence of “gaudy scars” suggests that the fatal blow was not externally visible. The ultimate revelation is that the deceased is the speaker’s four-year-old brother, resting in a small box, a foot for each year of his short life.

Themes Explored

Loss and grief.

At its core, ‘Mid-Term Break’ is a meditation on loss and grief. The death of the brother profoundly affects every member of the family and prompts them to question their roles and emotions. It’s a journey of understanding the depth of sorrow and how it can reshape lives.

Family Dynamics

The death disrupts the family’s dynamics, as observed in the changed behavior of the father, mother, and even the baby. This shift illustrates how a single event can alter the dynamics within a family, forcing them to adapt to a new reality.

The Ironic Title

The title ‘Mid-Term Break’ is laden with irony. It suggests a time of relaxation and respite from school, but the reality is a tragic and traumatic event that shatters the speaker’s life. The contrast between the title and the poem’s somber tone creates a sense of surprise for the reader.

Figurative Language

The pun in “and big jim evans saying it was a hard blow”.

The pun on “hard blow” in the poem carries a dual meaning. It references both the physical impact of the car accident that caused the death and the emotional shock experienced by the family. This pun underscores how people cope with death differently, and how words can inadequately express grief.

The Meaning of “wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple”

This metaphor compares the brother’s injury to a red poppy. The poppy symbolizes both life and death, and the phrase highlights the sudden and violent nature of the brother’s demise. It also contrasts the natural and artificial elements of the scene, creating a poignant contrast.

The Unusual Elements of ‘Mid-Term Break’

What sets ‘Mid-Term Break’ apart is its unusual elements:

The poem does not adhere to a regular rhyme scheme or meter. Instead, it employs free verse, giving it a conversational, natural tone. It feels as if the speaker is confiding in the reader, making the emotions even more palpable.

Mystery and Suspense

The poem does not reveal the cause of death or the brother’s identity until the end. This creates suspense, engaging the reader’s curiosity and making the revelation even more impactful.

Understatement and Imagery

Rather than relying on explicit or sentimental language, the poem conveys emotions through subtle details and imagery. This restraint makes the poem’s impact more profound, as it invites the reader to actively engage with the narrative.

1. What is the poem ‘Mid-Term Break’ about?

‘Mid-Term Break’ is a poem by Seamus Heaney that explores the aftermath of a tragic car accident resulting in the death of the speaker’s brother. It delves into the emotional impact on the family and how it alters their dynamics.

2. What is the effect of the pun “And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow” in ‘Mid-Term Break’?

The pun on “hard blow” has a double meaning, referring to both the physical impact of the car accident and the emotional shock experienced by the family. It highlights how people cope with death differently and the inadequacy of words in expressing grief.

3. What is ironic about the title of the poem ‘Mid-Term Break’?

The title is ironic because it suggests a positive and relaxing time away from school, while the poem is about a tragic and traumatic event that disrupts the speaker’s life. This contrast creates surprise for the reader.

4. What is the meaning of the phrase “wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple” from ‘Mid-Term Break’?

The phrase uses a metaphor comparing the brother’s injury to a red poppy. It signifies the sudden and violent nature of the brother’s death and symbolizes both life and death, creating a poignant contrast in the poem.

5. What is unusual about the poem ‘Mid-Term Break’?

‘Mid-Term Break’ is unusual in its use of free verse, its creation of mystery and suspense by withholding information until the end, and its reliance on understatement and imagery to convey emotion, rather than explicit or sentimental language.

Seamus Heaney’s ‘Mid-Term Break’ is a remarkable poem that delves into the depths of human emotion, family dynamics, and societal expectations in the face of loss. Its irony, figurative language, and unusual elements make it a powerful literary piece that continues to touch the hearts of readers.

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An Analysis of Seamus Heaney’s ‘Mid-term Break’

‘Miditerm Break’ is a deeply melancholic poem written by the Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, as a way of coping with the grief and pain associated with losing a loved one. Thus, ‘Midterm Break’ is a personal poem. A work of art is said to be personal when it is based on the personal experiences of its author. Heaney lost his younger brother Christopher during childhood in a road accident. ‘Mid-term Break’ is a narrative poem that recreates the sad moments following this loss based on the poet’s recollection or re/memory.

‘Mid-term Break’ is organised in eight stanzas. All the stanzas except the final one are rendered in tercets. The final stanza is just one line. A one-line stanza is called monostich. The poem is written in run-on-line or enjambment. It is also written in free verse. The first stanza goes thus: ‘I sat all morning in the college sick bay/Counting bells knelling classes to a close./At two o’clock our neighbours drove me home.’

 In the poem, the persona recounts finding himself in the sick bay of his school. It is obvious that the narrator is the poet himself. He must have learnt of the sad news and fallen sick with grief, hence his being taken to the sick bay. It might also be a practical routine to relieve him of school work and set him apart from the rest of the students for care and attention. The second line of the first stanza contains alliteration with the repetition of the voiceless velar plosive in ‘counting’, ‘classes’ and ‘close’. The word ‘knelling’ has an onomatopoeic texture and constitutes a pun as well. The bells do not only announce the end of classes in the school, it, by metaphoric extension, also announces the end of a life; in this case, the life of young Christopher. The stanza ends with the neighbours coming to collect the persona. This is one of the instances of abnormality in the poem. It should have been the parents coming for the boy.

In the second stanza, the persona has got home and seen the father crying. The assertion that the father has always taken funeral at his strides is ironic when paired with the first expression which depicts the man in tears. This contrast serves to highlight how painful this particular loss is to the man, so that he cannot help but cry. No wonder another character in the poem by name Big Jim Evans refers to the loss as ‘a hard blow’, an expression that constitutes metaphor in the poem.

The third stanza reads: ‘The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram/When I came in, and I was embarrassed/By old men standing up to shake my hand’. The first line of this stanza is a loose sentence and the entire stanza is presented in paratactic style. The description of the baby’s innocence deepens the mood of tragedy in the poem. The word ‘cooed’ is onomatopoeic as it describes the sound made by a baby. Together with ‘laugh’, it constitutes auditory imagery which is very rich in the poem, as can be seen in words like ‘crying’ and ‘knelling’ in the first stanza. The word ‘rocked’ is a movement word and constitutes kinesthetic imagery, as well as ‘standing’ and ‘shake’. The act of old men standing up to greet the young persona is used to suggest the abnormality of the situation at hand. It is not an every-other-day situation. It is not normal for old people to courtesy a young person; neither is it normal for a boy to die while old people mourn him. It should be the other way round.

The fourth stanza of the poem continues from the third and recounts how the elderly mourners attempt to console the poor young persona. The occasion also provides an avenue for the family information or history/gossip to be passed round by the mourners: ‘Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest/Away at school’. This is an example of personification as ‘Whispers’ is imbued with a human attribute. The mother holding the persona’s hand denotes an attempt at either consoling him or comforting herself that she still has a child left in the world, or both.

The fifth stanza is equally a continuation from the fourth stanza. It presents a paradoxical situation as it indicates that the mother’s reaction to the loss is that of anger, tearlessness and sighs compared to the outright crying earlier reported about the father. The words ‘coughed’ and ‘sighs’ exemplify auditory imagery in the poem. The stanza uses visual imagery in reporting the arrival of the ambulance, which is a symbol of death and tragedy in the poem. The presence of words like ‘ambulance’, ‘corpse’, ‘stanched’, ‘bandaged’ and ‘nurses’ constitutes visual imagery which are drawn from medical or hospital register. The arrival of the corpse authenticates the story that the poem narrates. It is like the presentation of evidence to prove one’s account of an event. The word ‘stanched’, in the poem’s context, denotes the use of cotton to stop the flow of blood or the insertion of cotton in the nostrils of a corpse.

In the sixth stanza, the persona recounts going upstairs to the room where the remains of the younger brother are laid. The expression ‘Snowdrops/And candles soothed the bedside’ is an example of personification. ‘Snowdrops’ is a type of flower; in this case, it is a symbol of grief and mourning, as well as a celebration of the dead. It is used to pay tribute to the departed. The same interpretation goes for the candles. The persona states: ‘I saw him/For the first time in six weeks. Paler now’. The third person pronoun ‘him’ as used in the expression refers to the deceased. By this statement, it is clear that the brother has been away at school for six weeks during which time he was apart from his brother. Conventionally, midterm break takes place within the sixth and the seventh week of the term. It would appear that his has come a week too soon. It could also be that that the persona is going to use his midterm break to mourn his brother. The title of the poem could also refer to the temporality that signals the demise of the poet’s beloved brother. The idea of midterm break might suggest an abrupt interruption of the persona’s studies to mourn his deceased brother. The expression ‘Paler now’ is a sad euphemism because it describes the deceased’s complexion. Pale is the complexion of death and the dead.

The penultimate stanza is a continuation from the sixth stanza. It continues the description of the corpse. The expression ‘poppy bruise’ is another euphemism which describes the wound incurred by the late brother when the accident occurred. The word ‘poppy’ is an adjective and constitutes a visual imagery in the poem. The expression in the second line, ‘He lay in the four-foot box as in his cot’, is another tragic euphemism, as the phrase ‘four-foot box’ refers to a child’s coffin, which is compared to a cot, a child’s sleeping space. Thus, death is compared to the act of sleeping in this poem. The simile should not be lost on any reader of the poem. The last line of the stanza also uses euphemism to represent the brutal way the brother died: ‘No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear’. ‘The bumper’ is an instance of synecdoche as it represents the car that hit the deceased. The final monostich presents the numeric significance of the deceased’s coffin: ‘A four-foot box, a foot for every year’. Christopher was only four years old when he died. ‘Mid-term Break’ can thus be read as an elegy or a threnody.

Seamus Heaney won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995. He was born in 1939, the year World War II started. He died in 2013.

How does Seamus Heaney represent death and grief in ‘Mid-term Break’?

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Mid-Term Break

By seamus heaney, mid-term break literary elements, speaker or narrator, and point of view.

The poem's speaker is a boarding-school student whose younger brother has recently died.

Form and Meter

The poem consists of seven tercets and a final one-line stanza, with inconsistent iambic pentameter.

Metaphors and Similes

The phrase “Wearing a poppy bruise” uses metaphor to compare the red of a poppy to that of a bloody bruise, while simultaneously evoking the tradition of using poppies to express mourning. The simile “He lay in the foot-four box as in a cot” links the brother's coffin to his bed, evoking a contrast between his appearance in life and in death.

Alliteration and Assonance

The speaker waits at school and hears “Counting bells knelling classes to a close.” The line contains both alliteration and assonance: alliterative "C" and "Cl" sounds, and assonant "E" sounds. The poem's final line, "A four-foot box, a foot for every year," contains alliterative "F" sounds.

The title of the poem is ironic since "mid-term break" implies a scheduled, routine, and relaxing experience rather than the tragic one the speaker encounters. The laughter of the baby is ironic as well, unexpectedly juxtaposed with the mournful scene.

The poem is set in Northern Ireland during the 1950s. In the opening lines, it is set in the sick bay of a boarding school and later in a family house.

Somber; Nostalgic; Reflective

Protagonist and Antagonist

The speaker is the protagonist. The antagonist is not a person but a situation: the death of the speaker's brother.

Major Conflict

The poem's major conflict is the death in the speaker's family and the subsequent disruption of family life.

The climax comes in the poem's final line, when the speaker reveals the age of his deceased family member.

Foreshadowing

The poem foreshadows themes of death and dysfunction with its early mention of a school sick bay and knelling bells.

Understatement

The speaker hardly uses emotional language to describe the tragedy in the home. To describe the cause of death he understates by saying: “no gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear," and to hint at the tragically young age of the dead, he simply says "A four-foot box, a foot for every year." Even the poem's title is understated, avoiding mention of the tragedy at hand.

The poem alludes loosely to Irish funeral traditions, especially the wake. It also alludes to details from the author's life, namely the death of his own younger brother.

Metonymy and Synecdoche

"Bumper" is used as a synecdoche to refer to a car: the use of synecdoche contributes to the poem's understated tone in this moment.

Personification

Snowdrops and candles are personified as "soothing" the bedside of the dead.

The speaker, somewhat hyperbolically, says that his father has "always taken funerals in his stride."

Onomatopoeia

The word "coo" is onomatopoetic.

Mid-Term Break Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Mid-Term Break is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Contrast the readers reaction of the two parents

Are you referring to the book Mid-Term Break?

Why was the boy embarrassed?

From the text:

I was embarrassed because the old men who'd come over to the house kept standing up to shake my hand.

What does the child learn in the poem?

I think the child learns a few things. He discovers the impermanence of life: his young brother tragically killed by a car. He also discovers how mourning is handled in different ways. Heaney’s poem is a portrait of the reality that there is no “...

Study Guide for Mid-Term Break

Mid-Term Break study guide contains a biography of Seamus Heaney, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Mid-Term Break
• Mid-Term Break Summary
• Character List

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Intruder Who Bludgeoned Pelosi’s Husband Gets 30-Year Sentence

David DePape, convicted in November on federal charges, also faces a state trial that is set to begin this month.

By Tim Arango and Jonathan Wolfe

The man who broke into the San Francisco home of Nancy Pelosi two years ago and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer was sentenced on Friday to 30 years in federal prison, with credit for time already served.

Ms. Pelosi was the speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency at the time of the attack, which raised fears of politically motivated violence in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections.

The assailant, David DePape, was convicted in November 2023 on federal charges. He admitted on the witness stand during the trial that he had carried out the attack, as he had done before in interviews with the police and media outlets. But he said that he never intended to hurt Ms. Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi.

Mr. DePape said his intrusion into the couple’s home in the affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood was part of a plot to kidnap Ms. Pelosi and interrogate her about a supposed corrupt conspiracy led by Ms. Pelosi and other prominent liberal figures.

He was convicted of two federal crimes: attempted kidnapping of a federal officer and assault on an immediate family member of a federal official.

Prosecutors asked the court to impose the statutory maximum sentences for each offense — 20 years for the kidnapping charge and 30 years for the assault charge. The court did so, but it denied the prosecutors’ request that ten years of those sentences be served consecutively, meaning Mr. DePape would have been imprisoned for a total of 40 years. Instead, the judge, Jacqueline Scott Corley, said the sentences would run concurrently.

The federal public defenders representing Mr. DePape had asked for a total sentence of 14 years.

Judge Corley said in court that she had taken into account Mr. DePape’s lack of a previous criminal record and his vulnerability to conspiracy theories. But she said the violence he committed was “completely gratuitous,” and she expressed concern that his violent invasion of a sitting lawmaker’s home, which she called unprecedented, might frighten people away from serving in public office.

Mr. DePape also faces separate state charges stemming from the attack, including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse. Jury selection for his state trial is scheduled to begin on May 22.

Before the sentence was announced, Christine Pelosi, a daughter of Nancy and Paul Pelosi, read statements to the court from her parents about the impact of the attack. Mr. Pelosi’s statement described the persistent physical effects of his injuries, the emotional trauma of the attack and the continuing threats to the couple, and said that his life “has been irrevocably changed.”

Nancy Pelosi’s statement noted that “our home remains a heartbreaking crime scene,” and Mr. Pelosi said they had not yet been able to fully remove the stains of his blood from the floor.

The defendant did not speak at the hearing.

Mr. DePape reflects the underbelly of American politics: a man driven by online conspiracy theories who seemed to embrace the rhetoric of many right-wing figures, who have used dehumanizing language for years to describe Ms. Pelosi and call her an enemy of the United States.

His lawyers mounted a narrow defense in the federal trial, arguing that Mr. DePape had targeted Ms. Pelosi not because she was a United States government official — a required element of the federal charges — but because he saw her as part of an elite Democratic cabal that was bent on destroying American freedom. Mr. DePape had a list of other targets who were not federal officials, including Hunter Biden, the president’s son; the actor Tom Hanks; George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist; and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California.

A Canadian citizen who moved to San Francisco in his 20s, Mr. DePape was a solitary figure who worked odd jobs and lived for a time under a tree in a park in Berkeley, Calif. At times he seemed immersed in the liberal counterculture scene of the Bay Area, experimenting with psychedelics and protesting against the war in Iraq.

His partner during that time was a locally known activist named Oxane Taub, with whom Mr. DePape had two children. Ms. Taub, known as Gypsy, served time in prison for the attempted abduction of a 14-year-old boy, among other crimes.

After their relationship dissolved, he became estranged from his children and fell deeper into isolation, immersing himself in conspiracy theories like Pizzagate and QAnon and becoming a supporter of Donald J. Trump.

Mr. DePape’s lawyers told the court that he had taken responsibility for his actions and that he had been manipulated both by Ms. Taub, who was often in the courtroom during the trial, and by the online world of conspiracy theories.

“His entire adult life was indelibly shaped and distorted by an abusive long-term relationship who exploited his innate vulnerabilities and immersed him in a world of extreme beliefs where reality is not reality,” the lawyers wrote in their memorandum requesting a lenient sentence. “He was further radicalized through his obsessive consumption of media amplifying extreme beliefs.”

Ms. Taub, who attended the sentencing on Friday, said she had sometimes been abusive to partners in the past, but never to Mr. DePape.

“It’s interesting how they use that word ‘radicalize’ as an insult,” said Ms. Taub, who described herself as a “professional conspiracy theorist.”

Prosecutors, by contrast, urged the judge to impose a “terrorism enhancement” to his sentence, saying his “actions were an attack themselves on democracy and our institutions.” “The defendant intended to make a statement,” they wrote. “He came prepared with the tools he needed to broadcast his hostage-taking to the world.”

In a statement read outside the courtroom by a spokesman after the hearing, Ismail Ramsey, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, said that “today’s sentence is a stern reminder that political discourse must never transform into violence.”

Mr. DePape was 42 when he broke into the Pelosis’ house in the early hours of Oct. 28, 2022. Ms. Pelosi was in Washington at the time, but her husband, then 82, was asleep in their bedroom.

Mr. DePape told the police that he was on a mission to capture Ms. Pelosi, interrogate her and “break her kneecaps” if she lied to him. He said he planned to wear a unicorn costume while questioning Ms. Pelosi, and to broadcast video of the interrogation online.

Bursting into the couple’s bedroom, he said repeatedly, “Where’s Nancy?”

At the trial, Mr. Pelosi explained how he was able to surreptitiously call 911 from his bathroom. When the police arrived, Mr. Pelosi opened the door for them while he and Mr. DePape each had a hand on a large hammer that Mr. DePape had brought with him.

At that moment, Mr. DePape wrested the weapon free and struck Mr. Pelosi repeatedly in the head, knocking him to the floor in a pool of his own blood. Mr. Pelosi suffered two skull fractures and underwent surgery, spending six days in the hospital.

Tim Arango is a correspondent covering national news. He is based in Los Angeles. More about Tim Arango

Jonathan Wolfe is a senior staff editor on the newsletters team at The Times. More about Jonathan Wolfe