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MID-TERM BREAK
I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close
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In the porch I met my father cryingHe had always taken funerals in his strideAnd Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow
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Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs
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Next morning I went up into the room
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Paler now,

Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,
He lay in the four-foot box as in his cot
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A four-foot box a foot for every year

Poet:
Seamus Heaney (born 13 April 1939) is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer from County
Londonderry, Northern Ireland
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Many of his
works concern his own family history and focus on characters in his own family they
can be read as elegies (funeral speech or song) for those family members
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The elegy originally had a strict structure
dealing with meter alternating between six foot and five foot lines
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Mood: Usually, elegies commemorate the dead and are melancholy, mournful and contemplative
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Summary
The subject of this poem is the death of Seamus Heaney's younger brother, Christopher who was killed
by a car at the age of four
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He chooses to focus more upon the reaction of his parents in
order to convey the shocking impact of the death of their little boy
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In this case, though, we may
be sure that Mid-Term Break is purely and intensely autobiographical
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It presents an elder brother having to deal with
a terrible trauma
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Heaney concentrates on observed details and it is the accumulation of these details that helps to make
the poem so memorable
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The poem opens with a line that might easily describe any child but the second line introduces a darkly
foreboding atmosphere
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We do not normally associate school bells with death but this day was to prove horrifically different for
the poet
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The 'c' an 'I' sound as well as the internal rhyme of "bells" and "knelling" help to suggest both the idea of
finality and of time seeming to slow down
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The
fact that Heaney remembers the precise time, is convincing
as we all tend to remember precise timings when recalling traumatic, life changing events
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Heaney contrasts his father's usual behavior at funerals with his behavior now
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The third stanza presents us with another contrast
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The bouncy
emphatic rhythm is in direct contrast to the opening stanza
measured pace
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Their awkwardness is
economically conveyed through their euphemistic use of language
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Heaney goes on to concentrate upon his mothers reaction
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This is the first time that we know that the "trouble" is connected with
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"
He does not go on to say that this is where his little brother is lying dead
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We now know that the eldest brother had been away at boarding school and has not recently been
home with his family
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Another flower image draws attention to the apparently insignificant injury that had such a devastating
effect, as well as the fragility of life
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The young boy could easily be asleep but tragically it is only as if he were asleep
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The effect of this is to
present a terrible equation on its own, something that stands out baldly and inescapably
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The final line is, in a sense, "knocked clear" of the rest of the poem
through
Heaney's decision to separate it
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Questions 1
1
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What makes you think that something is wrong?
3
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What makes you think that he sat alone for a very long time?
5
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What does the word
knelling remind you of? How does this word foreshadow what happens in the rest of
the poem?
6
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When you read the first line out load, you will hear that it has a heavy rhythm:
I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close
How does this rhythm make you feel?
8
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What is the first sign that someone must have died?
10
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Look at the last stanza of the poem
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In the next stanza we meet another member of his family
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How do you know that the baby recognized her brother and was happy to see him?

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14
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What two pieces of information do we learn about the boy (the poet)?
16
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Why do people always whisper at a funeral?
18
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When we realise that the parents have lost a child we understand that this funeral is different and
that is why the father is crying
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is the mother angry?
20
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What evidence was there that the dead person had suffered physical injuries?
22
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We know from the poet's personal history that it was his little brother,
Christopher, who had been killed
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What does this attempt to distance himself from the fact that his brother is dead suggest about the
poet's feelings?
24
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What funereal objects are in the room?
26
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The title Mid-Term Break suggests a holiday of sorts, a time of enjoyment, in reality the poem deals
with a time of grief and emotional upheaval
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The poet is waiting in the sick bay
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3
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4
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The neighbours only picked him up at two
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The poem is about death, sorrow, loss
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A sad or mournful sound
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The rhythm is slow, solemn
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8
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Isolated
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Bored
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9
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In the second stanza the fact that his father is crying
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He says his father is usually very much in control of his feelings and that his father is used to dealing
with funerals
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The little boy was hit by a car
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12
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13
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This rhythm is light hearted, happy
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15
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He is in boarding school
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16
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He does
not yet know how to behave because he is still a child
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Respect for the family; respect and awe in the presence of Death
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This sounds like people whispering
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19
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20
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21
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22
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It is
how he tries to maintain control
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He was still in shock
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24
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25
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26
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The bandages have been removed
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What is the setting of this poem in stanza
2
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Refer to line 2 (Counting bells
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)
(a) Is the word 'knelling' meant LITERALLY or FIGURATIVELY?
(b)Explain what this word suggest about the sound made by the school bells
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Quote FOUR consecutive words in stanza 1 to prove the following statement
FALSE:
The speaker walks home by himself
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Why is the father of the speaker crying?
6
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means that the father has always been about the funerals
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Crazy
B
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Calm
D
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Why does the father react differently to this funeral?
8
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9
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(b) Explain the symbolism in this figure of speech
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Quote FIVE consecutive words which prove that the baby is not bothered by
the mood in the home/house
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Why does the speaker feel embarrassed by the actions of mourners in stanza 3?
11
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12
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13
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14
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tearless sighs)
(a) ldentify the tone in the mother's words
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Refer to lines 14 to 17 (At ten o'clock
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Paler now
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(b) Explain what each of these words suggest about how the speaker
feels?
Answers
1
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2
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3
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4
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He is meeting his eldest son for the first time after the death of his youngest
son
6
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calm
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He reacts differently by crying because the funeral is for his own son
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The father has lost his son/child in an accident
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The child is still very young and no one expected him to die
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(a) Metaphor
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/Pigeons are
symbolic of releasing the spirit of the dead person at a funeral
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'Laughed and rocked the pram'
11
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12
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The relatives / mourners are speaking in low voices to show respect for the

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diseased
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(a) Angry/ harsh
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/ She could be blaming the car
that hit her son for his death
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(a) Corpse him
(b) Corpse: the speaker feels distant from his brother, he does not accept that he is still his brother as he
has died
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Test yourself
1
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('l sat all
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')
Where does the speaker find himself?
2
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('Counting bells knelling classes to a close
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3
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('He had always
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Refer to line 6
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a hard blow
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5
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Refer to line 8
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I was embarrassed
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7
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Write
only the letter (A-D) next to the question number (7
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('And tell me
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A the speaker is now the eldest at home
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C the speaker is ill at home
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10



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