Poetry

Part 1 - Reading
 You are going to read a poem by a poet named Seamus Heaney.

Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney (born 13 April 1939) is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer from
County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
He currently lives in Dublin.

Heaney was born the eldest of nine children at the family farmhouse called
Mossbawn, near Castledawson, thirty miles to the north-west of Belfast, in
Northern Ireland.

Heaney's work often deals with the local — that is, his surroundings and
everything inclusive of them. Inevitably this means Ireland, and particularly
Northern Ireland. Hints of sectarian violence, which began just as his writing
career did, can be found in many of his poems, even in works that on the
surface appear to deal with something else.

Despite his many travels much of his work appears to be set in rural
Londonderry, the county of his childhood. Like the Troubles themselves,
Heaney's work is deeply associated with the lessons of history, sometimes
even prehistory.

Many of his works concern his own family history and focus on characters in
his own family: they can be read as elegies for those family members.

Other Notes
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995.

In 2003, Heaney praised Eminem for his "verbal energy" and for encouraging
an interest in poetry among youth.

(elegy: funeral speech or funeral song)

This poem is called ‘Mid Term Break’.

What sort of feelings do you normally get when you are

thinking about mid term break (or ‘half-term’)?

Do you think of this as a holiday?

What do you normally like to do?

What do you think the poem will be about?

The class will make some predictions.

Now – what you must remember is that poets often write

about something unexpected, or write about something in
an unusual way. This often makes their subject matter
seem even more dramatic.

We will read the poem through once from the copy on the
board, then your teacher will ask you to read it through
again, silently and to yourself.

After that, we can discuss what you think of this poem.

 VOCABULARY
On this page you should write down any words that are new to you, or
which you are not sure the meaning of.

Word Definition

Key

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Mid Term Break

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

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.

At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived
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
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,

Wearing a poppy bruise on the left temple,

He lay in the four foot box as in a cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four foot box, a foot for every year.

Now that you have had the chance to read the poem again, there are some
points you should discuss in your pairs.

Task 1

Discussion Points

*How did it make you feel?

*Did your feelings change as we read through?

*Which bit(s) had the strongest effect on you?

*Was the end as you expected?

*What were you expecting from the title?

You will have a little time to discuss these points in your pairs, then your
teacher will ask you to share some of your ideas with the class.

Task 2 – Individual Activity

On the page entitled ‘Vocabulary’ write down any words that you haven’t
heard before, or words whose meaning you can’t quite explain.
Task 3 – Paired Activity
On the next page is a sheet for you to fill in, which will help you to
organise your ideas about the poem.
Task 4 – Individual Activity

Here are some questions to help with your understanding of the poem.
Answer them in your jotter as fully as you can.

1. Where is Heaney in the first stanza? (Check lines 11-12 for clues).

2. By the end of stanza 2, what can we begin to guess has happened?

What is our clue?

3. In what way is the father’s reaction unexpected?

4. Why does the baby react like this? Why does this reaction stand out?

5. Strangers are told that Heaney is “the eldest” (line 11). Why might this
be significant?

6. Why do you suppose Heaney is “embarrassed” about the way the old
men treat him?

7. In stanza 5 Heaney mentions “the corpse”. Who has died? Why do you
think Heaney has chosen to use the word “corpse” instead of, say,
“body”?

8. How can we tell what has happened to him? Quote from the poem to
support your answer.

9a. Heaney describes the “poppy bruise” on his head. What do we

normally associate poppies with?
b. How is that appropriate to this situation?

10. How old was he? Quote from the poem to help explain your answer.
How does the reader react to finding out the boy’s age?

11. Seamus Heaney often writes about childhood and families. In ‘Mid
Term Break’, what do you think he is trying to say about childhood and
growing up?

Check your answers carefully when you have finished.

We are now going to think about how Seamus Heaney has presented his
ideas in this poem and what techniques he has used to help the reader
understand these ideas.

With your teacher, you will read through the techniques and their definitions
on the following page to make sure you understand what each one means –
may know some of these already!

Task 5 – Paired Activity

If you look back at page three, you will see there is a ‘key’ at the bottom. You
are now going to annotate (make notes on) your copy of ‘Mid Term Break’.

You are going to underline any point where Heaney has used the techniques
mentioned in the table. For example, if you see a place where he has used
alliteration, you should:
*write ‘alliteration’ next to one of the boxes
*colour the box in a specific colour
*use that colour to underline the example in the text

When you are doing this, be very specific about which words you underline.
There’s no need to underline a whole line if only one or two of the words are
relevant.

Task 6 – Paired Activity

You are now going to fill in the table on the next page. You should already
have some good examples – but what about the ‘effects’?

Terms to help you understand poetry

Careful – ‘Mid Term Break’ does not actually contain all of these techniques!

Term Definition Example Effect

Alliteration Repetition of
sounds at the
beginning of
words.
Assonance Repetition of
the same vowel
sound

Couplet Two lines of

poetry paired
together by
rhyme
Metaphor Comparing two
things, as if one
actually is the
other
Onomatopoeia When the
sound of a
word echoes or
suggests its
meaning
Pathos The writer
provokes
feelings of
sadness, pity or
sympathy in the
reader
Personification Objects are
given human
characteristics
for effect

Simile Comparing two

things, using
‘like’ or ‘as’.

Symbolism Use of one

 thing to
represent
another

You are now getting ready to write a critical essay on Seamus Heaney’s ‘Mid
Term Break’.

In a critical essay there are three things you must show.

1) That you understand what the poem is about, and that you understand
the ideas the writer is trying to get across and themes s/he is
discussing.

2) That you can explain and analyse how the writer has used language
and structure to express those ideas; you can do this by discussing
techniques s/he has used.

3) That you can express how you (or ‘the reader’) are made to feel by the
poet’s ideas and words.

This will be your question:

In ‘Mid Term Break’ by Seamus Heaney, how does the poet manage to
convey a sense of his grief?

Over the page, there is a paragraph plan to help you.

 Paragraph Plan

How to use this paragraph plan:

For each paragraph (except paragraph 2) you have been given a topic
sentence as a suggestion as to how you might begin the paragraph. You may
choose to use that sentence in your essay, or you may decide you would
rather come up with your own.

Under each suggested topic sentence are ideas as to what you might include
in that paragraph. Again feel free to use these suggestions to help you phrase
your ideas.

However - it is important that you realise that simply finishing off the
sentences that have been begun for you will not be enough to write a full
paragraph. Some ideas might need to be explained more fully, or it might be
appropriate to include some quotes from the poem.

Also, in paragraphs 4 and 5 there are some suggestions of techniques that

you should discuss to help explain your ideas about the poem. You do not
have to discuss every single technique suggested. To help you with this, you
should use your completed table on page 8.

Do your first draft of this essay in your jotter.

Para.1 (Introduction)

‘Mid Term Break’ by Seamus Heaney is a poem in which the writer gives an
account of a family tragedy.
In this poem, he expresses feelings of…
As well as these feelings, Heaney also comments on ideas such as…
Through the techniques he uses, the poet manages to show how both he and
his family cope with the grief caused by the event being described.

Para. 2
(In this paragraph, you should briefly explain what this poem is about –
where/when it is taking place, who is speaking, what is happening, etc.)

Para. 3

Each person mentioned in the poem reacts very differently to the death of the
boy.
We are told that the father…
Heaney’s mother, on the other hand…
The poet himself seems…

Para. 4

In this poem, sounds are very important and powerful.

In the first stanza, the school bells are described as “knelling”. Immediately
this suggests an atmosphere of…
Later on, we are told the mother…
This is in contrast to the baby, who…
The baby’s reaction highlights the mother’s grief because…

[You could mention: alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia]

Para. 5

There is a notable change in the atmosphere between stanza five and stanza
six.
In the first five stanzas the atmosphere is…
However, in the final few stanzas the atmosphere has changed to…
This is because the poet is now…
This shows the reader that the poet is feeling…
The point that Heaney is making here is that…
The final line sums up the overall feeling of the poem, which is that…

[You could mention: simile, metaphor, personification]

Para. 6 (Conclusion)

‘Mid Term Break’ is clearly a poem about a painful and tragic event in the
poet’s life.
In order to fully express the grief this experience caused to both the poet and
his family, he has used…
He has managed to show the reader that…

When you have finished, check your work carefully.

Is it in sentences?
Is your spelling the best it can be?
Does your punctuation make sense?
Have you shown you understand the poem?
Have you discussed the techniques the writer has used?
Have you given some sort of response or reaction to the poem?