How Does Heaney Use The Word Home

Seamus Heaney vividly conveys his feelings about the death of this brother at the first stanza by foreshadowing the death he was about to face. He says - “Counting bells knelling classes to close” describing the ringing of the bell. I noticed that Heaney uses the word ‘knelling’ instead of ringing.This almost creates a tone and mood of suspense as the word is usually used to describe church bells knelling for a funeral mass. Another reason why he used bells as an example is to indicate the end of time. When the bells ring it means class has ended, in this case it is the time that has ended. The word ‘close’ rhymes with the word ‘home’ on the third line. This could potentially be a metaphor for his home no longer feeling inviting and possibly feeling restricting as he does not want to face his brother dead.
The word ‘big’ that we uses to describe Jim Evans is the opposite of what his ‘four-foot’ younger brother is. Heaney also describes the men that shook his hands sending him condolences as “old men” and how he was embarrassed by it. It shows us contrast of age - how old the men were and how they were still alive and how his brother was so young and had to go so early. He was embarrassed because he is finding it understandably hard as he is the eldest son hearing 'sorry for your trouble' repeatedly in home almost like forcing him to grow up. The word ‘blow’ indicates how destructive the accident was and that it wasn't going to be easy. Also in this paragraph, Heaney mentions how the ‘baby cooed and laughed’ this is important because it lightens the mood a little bit. It shows how innocent baby’s are and how in such morbid situations they are still able to laugh as they are unaware or the situations occurring. Another reason why Heaney uses a baby is to symbolise the beginning of