In Mid Term Break by Seamus Heaney, how does the poet manage to convey a sense of his grief.
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 dismay on seeing his father crying, feelings of disbelief on seeing older men standing up for him and shocking grief to discover that his four year old brother had died in an accident. As well as these feelings, Heaney also comments on ideas such as the baby blissfully oblivious to the tragic event unfolding in the family. Through the techniques he uses, the poet manages to show how both he and his family cope with grief caused by the event being described.
In the poem Mid Term Break the poet Seamus Heaney is himself the speaker; he recalls the time when he was a child away in school and was suddenly recalled home. On returning home he witnesses his father crying and a gathering of people who came to offer him condolences. Furthermore, he sees his mother in anguish but on the other hand his baby sibling in the pram appears to be oblivious to the tragedy he was about to discover. The next morning the ambulance brought the body of his brother who had been knocked down by a car. There was a bruise on his forehead and he lay in a coffin four-foot long; his brother was only four years old.
Each person so mentioned in the poem reacts very differently to the death of the boy. We are told that the father appeared to be crying although he was a man who could take death in his stride. This is understandable because it is his very own son who is now dead. Heaneys mother on the other hand is full of anger and anguish. She is angry because faith had dealt a cruel blow in that her little four-year-old son had died in a car accident. The poet himself seems confused; he then was possibly a young teenager not quite ready to deal with a tragedy unfolding in his family. His confusion is