Mid-Term Break Commentary

Mid-term Break

Séamus Heaney

I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At ten 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 embarrased
By old men standing up to shake my hand

And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble';
Whispers informed strangers that 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 his left temple.
He lay in a four foot box, as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four foot box, a foot for every year.

Séamus Heaney's "Mid-Term Break" is among the few poems that have really moved me. The writer uses many techniques including similes, metaphors to convey the somber and depressed situation of his brother's death. "Mid-Term Break" is a very controversial poem in which Séamus Heaney reflects on the demise of his little brother Christopher and explains what was going through his mind at that time.
In the poem Heaney travels home from school to attend the funeral of his 4-year old brother who was killed in a tragic accident. During the funeral Heaney is confronted with many issues that make him feel uncomfortable while he still struggles to accept the incident the death of his little brother.

Firstly, the poet only describes others feelings but does not describe his own. His father "had always taken funerals in his stride" .The way that the poet phrase this line is that as the funerals he attended were not that of his family but of other people’s, but this time, he even gave way to "crying" which reflects that he was deeply saddened by the event. Additionally, the poet describes Big Jim Evans to feel that the car incident to be a "hard blow". From a literal perspective, it shows of the impact of car hitting the little brother whereas metaphorically, the incident could also show the emotional blow. Overall, the poet did not seem to be too concerned about the death which this highlights the theme of a distanced relationship.

Secondly, the poet referred to his brother as a "baby" when he was already 4 years old. In line 18, the poet stated that it was the "first time in six weeks" he was seeing his brother. It suggests that the poet only had the fleeting memory of his brother as a baby and hardly ever sees him, therefore contributing largely to the fact that the poet was not grieving over his death because of their distanced relationship. The setting of the poem is also essential to its imagery too. In The line “Snowdrops/and candles soothed the bedside" I felt that the poet is attempting to make the situation seem less harsh, more pleasant, and peaceful.

In conclusion the poem's title suggests a holiday but this "break" does not happen for pleasant reasons. I thought that it suggests that the poem associate the death of his brother to that of a holiday, a day when he could get away from schoolwork, a day that he can enjoy. This also contributes to the theme of distanced family relationship where he views his brother's death as a break from work, as a holiday for him to enjoy.