A Comparison of Seamus Heaney's Mid-Term Break and Digging

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A Comparison of Seamus Heaney's Mid-Term Break and Digging

I am comparing two poems by Seamus Heaney- `Mid-Term Break` and

`Digging`. Both of the poems are written about his childhood and his

family.

The first poem I analysed was `Mid-Term Break`, where the simple and

straight forward title `Break` caught my attention suggesting to me

that this poem is going to be a positive experience, a break from

work, a time to relax.

The commencing stanza, the first line reads, ?I sat all morning in the

college sick bay?, which has connotation of depression, illness and

suffering suggested from the word `sick`. Also with the reference to

college the reader gathers that the boy is in his late teens. Second

line, ?Counting bells knelling classes to a close?, the word

`knelling` in that line is associated with funerals and death so we

get the feeling that something might be wrong and gather a sense of

foreboding at what is to come. The final line, ?At two o?clock our

neighbours drove me home?, is unusual, why are his neighbours driving

him home and not his parents? The question why are his parents driving

him home this increases the sense of foreboding. Also there is falling

rhythm in this stanza.

In the second stanza, the line begins, ?In the porch I met my father

crying?, and this confirms to the reader that something is wrong, that

something tragic has happened. The second line mentions that he takes

`funerals` in his stride, so that says to me that he?s attended quite

a lot of funerals even though he?s not that old. The final line, ?And

Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow?, leads me to believe that Big

Jim Evans is a close friend and also that he is quite large suggested

by the adjective `Big` to descri...

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...o poems `Mid-Term Break` and `Digging` are both good poems,

which are both about families. `Mid-Term Break` is about when he

leaves college and returns home to find out the news about his little

brother. `Digging` is about his grandfather and how he?s getting old

and finding work difficult, so both poems are about family, but quite

different circumstances. The layout of the two poems is very

different. `Mid-Term Break` being very straight forward, just having

three lines to each stanza and `Digging` being completely opposite and

following no strategic pattern.

Overall I think that `Mid-Term Break` is a better poem, as I find it

more serious and was personally more effective by this poem due to it

being quite sad talking about his brother and that last line, ?A four

foot box, a foot for every year?, which is a very emotional last line

to finish a poem.

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