"Mid-Term Break". A poem by Seamus Heaney which talks about a tragedy happened to a child of four years old: The poem is narrated by a sibling of this dead boy.

Essay by fernandabr May 2006

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In the poem "Mid-Term Break", we can appreciate how heaney tries to arouse the feelings of pity and compassion (for the family). He achieves this by introducing a child who talks in a natural way and uses simple vocabulary. Also, he emphasizes those feelings by creating shoking images.

While we read the poem, we can notice how the speaking voice is restraint. This means that he is not showing his feelings towards his dead brother and the complicated situation. He writes in an objective tone and has a natural way of telling things which makes the poem more belierable, moving and the reader feels touched.

The poem beggins with the word I. This immediately brings the reader into the poem and opens our minds. In the first stanza, we can see how the author uses assonance, by repeating the middle sound of the word, and alliteration which is the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of words.

We can appreciate this when he says: "counting bells knelling classes to a close". Line number two emphasizes the matter of having a funeral, its a simile between the end of school and the announcement of a burial.

The second stanza tells us where the boy is (in his porch) and beggins with the image of the narrator's father crying. This particulary makes the child and the reader aware that something wrong has happened. Heaney chose this verb "cry" to describe the man, as it is seen as something very painful. While continuing reading we make sure that a person has died.

In line one of the third stanza the boy who speaks reaches a place where there was a baby who cooed and laughed. This is an image which means that he and his family...