Mid-Term Break

Mid-Term Break

Imagery
1. Child-like
  1. "Counting bells knelling classes"
    1. Child-like act
      1. School bells
    2. "close"
      1. Waiting
      2. Reflects the death
        Church bells
    3. ONOMATOPEA
  2. "In his cot"
    1. Colloquial term
    2. So small and so young
2. Distance
  1. "Four foot box"
    1. box devalues the death
      1. not a coffin
3. Seperates himself
4. Nature
  1. "Poppy Bruise"
    1. Semi-permanence
      1. Imagining his brother without it
    2. Heroic - war
      1. Undeserving of death?
        died at young age
      2. Rememberence
  2. Snowdrops and candles
    1. Ritually for funerals
    2. Symbolic of light and life
5. Death
  1. "The corpse"
    1. Dehumanises - separating from his brother
    2. Stanza 6 finally brings in pronoun "him" - come to realisation
Overview
1. Deconstructs childhood innocence/ignorance
2. Retrospective look of childhood
3. Adult = remorse and regret - reflecting on struggles
Themes
1. Growing up
2. Family
3. Death
Tone
1. Traumatic
2. Sombre
Structure
1. 7 stanzas, 3 lines per stanza
  1. Final single line with rhyming Couplet
    1. Act of death followed by realisation
    2. Reached emotional maturity to deal with death
    3. Closed distance
2. First person account - autobiographical
  1. Personal memory
3. Stanza 6 - finally accept's brother's death
  1. I saw him
    1. enjambement
      1. stops at I saw him - to highlight the shock and suddenness of the situation
  2. Caesuras
    1. Into the room. Snowdrops
    2. Six weeks. Paler now
4. "met my father crying"
  1. First realisation of what's happening
  2. Contrast to usual father figure
  3. Only one not crying - changed from a child
Rhyme
1. No specific rhythm or rhyme
  1. Reflect the surprising/harsh nature of life
2. Full rhyming couplet at end
  1. Reflect his childlike nature
  2. Stands out inescapably - highlights the shock
    1. Sense of finality
    2. Heaney finally accepting it as a poet
Phonetics
1. Whispers
  1. Sibilance - harsh
    1. Tormented by the gossip
    2. Hushed/awkward/sad atmosphere
2. "The baby cooed"
  1. Childlike nature and innocence - bouncy emphatic rhythm
    1. Direct contrast to the opening stanza's measured pace
    2. Aware of the naivity of the baby
Language
1. "Hard blow"
  1. Double Meaning
    1. Emotional
    2. Real impact of the car
2. Posaessive Pronouns
  1. "my trouble" "my mother"
3. Deictic markers - aware of the timings and surroundings - grasping the reality of death
  1. "All morning"
  2. Next morning
  3. At ten o'clock
  4. At 2 o'clock
4. When I came in
  1. Suggesting of entering grown up world of pain
  2. Shake my hand

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	Created by Mollie Rich about 6 years ago