Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney

Mid-Term Break

by Seamus Heaney

By Jeremy R

He was Irishman from Ireland. He, being an Irishman, lived in Ireland. He wrote poems. Some of them were about Ireland.

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Also...

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He was a Nationalist and a Catholic.​

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​A little bit about the Poet...

So our poet Seamus Heaney was and still is widely recognized as one of the major poets of the 20th century​. Throughout his life he wrote several anthologies. (an anthology is a collection of poems)

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When he first began to publish poems, Seamus Heaney’s chosen pseudonym was “Incertus,” meaning “not sure of himself.” 

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His poems are known for discussing the deeper or often sidelined topics surrounding life. His political poems about Northern Ireland and England are particularly famous.

< This is a painting of Seamus Heaney by Edward McGuire

Here is a little bit more about the Poet​

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​- Seamus Heaney

" I’ve nothing against the Queen personally: I had lunch at the palace once upon a time . . ." 

​Seamus moved to Southern Ireland and turned down the opportunity to become THE Poet Laureate. The Laureate of the UK was expected to pen poetry for royal events and national occasions. It was seen as a huge honour to be selected.

< This is another painting of Seamus Heaney

Multiple Choice

What was Seamus Heaney's chosen pseudonym?

• Incertus

• Mr Uncertain

• Invictus

• Poet Laureate

Mid-Term Break

Now we are going to read the poem Mid-term Break.​ Before we begin it is important to note that the poem is autobiographical which means it is based on a real incident in Seamus Heaney’s life.

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Based on this the speaker is Seamus himself, although he never mentions it in the poem. However you should make a habit of never just assuming that the speaker is the poet.​

Midterm Break - 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.

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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.

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Midterm Break - Seamus Heaney

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

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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

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Midterm Break - Seamus Heaney

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.

At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived

With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.

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Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops

And candles soothed the bedside; I saw him

For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,

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Midterm Break - Seamus Heaney

Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,

He lay in the four-foot box as in his cot.

No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

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A four-foot box, a foot for every year.

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What is Mid-Term Break About?

The poem Mid-team Break is about Heaney’s brother, who was killed by a car in 1953 when he was only 4 years old, and Heaney only 14.

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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.

Multiple Choice

How many siblings(including the speaker) are mentioned in the poem?

• 2

• 5

• 3

• 4

We know that there were at least three children in this family.

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The speaker - the oldest and away at boarding school

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The 4 year old who has passed away

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The baby who is ignorant of the sorrow around him/her

Multiple Choice

What is Assonance

• Repeating consonant sounds in a text

• Reapeating sound devices in a text

• Repeating only A, E, I & Y in a text

• Reapeating vowel sounds in a text

Multiple Choice

The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram

"cooed" is an example of

• Personification

• Onomatopoeia

• Assonance

• Symbolism

Multiple Choice

The word "Knelling" or "knell" could be defined as

• Signalling the end of School

• A school bell ringing

• A solemn ring of a bell usually for a funeral

• A church bell ringing on Sunday morning

The use of the word Knelling to describe the school bell while he waits in the sick room of his boarding school creates the ominous link to death and funerals.

Multiple Choice

"We are sorry for your troubles"

• Euphemism

• Simile

• Methaphor

• Personification

Multiple Choice

How did the child die?

• Got pneumonia

• Fell and hit their head

• Hit by a car

• Drowned

Multiple Choice

What does the speakers use of the word "corpse" tell us about the speaker?

• The speaker is feeling disconnected or is trying to be

• Emphasis on how the speaker is feeling

• Creates a horrific image of the child

• Emphasises the horrible situation

" Dont just say Emphasis! You always need to explain. " 

Poetry Question Tip

Multiple Select

Which themes are relevant to the poem. Select all that apply.

• Loss

• Youth

• Growth

• Death

Multiple Choice

Poppies are a symbol of ...

• youth

• death

• life

• sadness

​Lets look at the last line

The poem breaks its tercet pattern at the end: A single line describes his brother's coffin -- "A four-foot box, one foot for every year." This is the single sentence in the work with a degree of mixed emotion in its tone: regret, nostalgia and fatalism. The reader, confronted with the age of the deceased, feels intense horror, but horror is missing from Heaney's emotional state; if he feels it, he doesn't tell anyone.

tercet = a set or group of three lines of verse