And by the beginning of the second stanza, we get a feeling that is going to be a very sad experience for the reader, and the speaker. It starts with "In the porch I met my father crying-" (Heaney), and reading that somewhat jolts one. In countless narratives and stories, the father figure is rigid, stoic figure who does not cry at all unless the situation they're reacting to is of the utmost tragedy. And that's what it signals to the reader, that this is beyond a student simply not feeling well, and it centers around tragic events. This is proven true in the rest of the stanza, where we learn that this is taking place at a funeral, but at the moment, we do not know for who.
Then, the beginning of the third stanza struck me as something so out of place from the rest of the poem. "The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram" (Heaney). This seems to misdirect us from the tone already established, but it could merely be symbolism. Here we have a baby at a funeral, life and death side by side. The child, so innocent, does not know what is going on, and instead finds joy in this new world, while others are rocked by tragedy.
In the fourth stanza, a little more light is shed on the circumstances. We see that "Whispers informed I was the eldest, away at school..." (Heaney), and the curtain is pulled back a little more. We do not know for sure, but casually mentioning the speaker is the eldest means that in context, the events revolve around one of the younger siblings. This would explain the father crying, and the mother's own reaction, "... as mother held my had/ In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs." Yes, next to the father who is so overtaken with grief we have a mother who has not shed a tear. To some she may seem merely impatient and unmoved by the tragic events, but when we see in the context established, she is just the opposite. She cannot shed a tear, because she is too angry with a life and world in which something so precious to her must be taken away.
By the end, we get the full reveal. We see this is about someone who was killed when a car struck him. "He lay in the four foot box as in his cot/ No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear" (Heaney). So now we get a picture of what has happened, and it seems like a freak accident that has rattled a family to it's core. Of course, the final line cements the heartbreak for the reader, "A four foot box, a foot for every year" (Heaney).
Booth, Alison, and Kelly J. Mays. The Norton Introduction to Literature. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2011. Print.
The last line of the poem is by itself, as if the speaker wishes to hit the reader full force as to the tragedy. I thought about how the speaker also had people whispering behind his back and how realistic that was. You seemed to capture the essence of that poem much better than I did.
ReplyDeleteI forgot who read it, but we discussed this poem in class the other day. Like you when I first saw the title of Mid-Term break I figured it would be a poem of some adventure over break or maybe even a coming of age story, but the tragedy is soon revealed. I think my favorite part that we discussed is the line about the baby, who has yet to develop what's good and bad, and it's a great contrast of life and death.
ReplyDeleteThe phrase "mid-term break" is so deeply connected with the ideas of childhood and school days, that we immediately associate it with the playful and carefree days of our youth. However, this poem is about a young boy's life being cut short by a freak accident, and the loss of joy and innocence for his family members, including the deceased boy's older sibling. However, the baby is still blissfully unaware of the grief affecting her or his family. Regardless, the emotional effect of the poem is even harder to deal with once you realize how childhood and innocent young life have been tainted here.
ReplyDeleteThe title of the poem is misleading since I assumed it had a different meaning than talking about a death of a family member. The poem was filled with emotion and to me the last line was the most powerful. Mid-term break is supposed to be filled with a lot of happy memories for students, but this example is the opposite. It deals with the loss of a loved one who left the world with still being young and innocent.
ReplyDeleteOver the last few days, this poem has struck a deeper note with me. The frailty of life and the the suddenness of death are constant even in our innocence. I enjoy the idea that death is innocent in its own way. The child killed is so peaceful, and the scene is so pure. I have also kicked around the idea of the death of childhood, met by one in the early stages of adulthood. He is breaking from reality to see what is left of that childhood (memories of innocence, but ultimately dead), and his father could be an adult lamenting the past. Maybe this is a stretch, for the baby would have to represent the beginingness of life. I suppose it could, being oblivious, the narrator would only know it happened, but be unaware of any thoughts experienced. This is just a late night idea, and probably nothing, but I do sort of enjoy it.
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