Pfeiffertheface.com

Discover the world with our lifehacks

What is the main message of Mid-Term Break?

What is the main message of Mid-Term Break?

“Mid-Term Break” describes the aftermath of a tragedy: the speaker’s four-year-old brother has been hit by a car and killed. But the poem doesn’t spend a lot of time describing the accident or memorializing the dead child. Instead, the poem focuses on the way that other people respond to this tragedy.

How does Heaney convey a sense of sadness in Mid-Term Break?

His use of various contrasts of life and death emphasize the death, and the remorse resulting from it. Also, his use of simple, impersonal language and effective sounds allows the reader to fully grasp the severity of this death. In turn, this helps Heaney to implicitly present his own feelings of sadness and sorrow.

What is the imagery of the poem Mid-Term Break?

The death of his little brother happened in an instant and was a shock to the whole family. In “Mid-Term Break” Heaney uses tone and imagery to show that the closer a person is to the victim of a death the harder that person will react to the death.

What is the metaphor in stanza 7 of Mid-Term Break?

The metaphor “Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,” makes the image of the child’s injuries and appearance stand out and helps support the situation of the poem.

What does a poppy bruise mean?

In this time of sorrow, they stand up to shake his hand and say they’re “sorry for his trouble”. The reference to “poppy bruise” in the final verse creates a sense of frustration and impotence that such a small looking blow could have such a devastating effect.

What is ironic about the title of the poem Mid-Term Break?

The title “Mid-Term Break” is ironic because the break is not the vacation one associates with the term. Rather, it depicts the terrible break in the life of the college student as he comes home for the funeral of his four-year-old brother.

What does poppy bruise mean?

The phrase “wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple” refers to the large bruise on the head of the speaker’s recently deceased brother. The boy has been knocked down and killed by a car, and the bruise, which looks like a poppy, is a reminder of this appalling tragedy.

What poetic devices are used in Mid-Term Break?

The poem successfully conveys Heaney’s sense of grief through various poetic techniques such as metaphor, simile and alliteration.

What is unusual about the poet’s use of the phrase the corpse?

The word ‘corpse’ suggests that Heaney seems detached. He does not see this body as being that of his younger brother, rather he has dehumanised the body in an attempt to cope with his grief.

What does a four foot box a foot for every year mean?

A four foot box, a foot for every year. The young Heaney has to wait all morning in his school’s sick bay waiting for his neighbours to drive him home. The line “counting bells knelling classes” suggests the tedium of waiting for the morning to pass but it also suggests funeral bells that will echo later.

Why is the speaker embarrassed when the old man shake his hand?

In “Mid-Term Break,” the speaker is embarrassed by the old men shaking his hand, because he doesn’t like being the center of attention, especially at such a difficult time. He also doesn’t feel that they should be shaking his hand given that he’s still a child and they’re old men.

How does Heaney make Mid-Term Break such a powerfully moving poem?

How does Heaney make “Mid-Term Break” such a moving poem? In “Mid-Term Break,” Heaney uses a variety of devices to make his brother’s death moving. The imagery Heaney uses is arguably the most effective technique used in achieving this, although other techniques, such as enjambment are also used.