Similarities Between Before You Were Mine And Seamus Heaney

Before You Were Mine by Carol Ann Duffy and Mid Term Break by Seamus Heaney portray the emotion of losing someone in very different ways. In the poem Before You Were Mine, Duffy frames the time element in a way which makes her relive her mother’s old memories. She cleverly uses poetic devices to bring out the glamour of the teenage years or the time preceding her birth. Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney deals with the tragic death of his four year old brother, and the emotional response of his family. It is a tremendously poignant poem and its emotional power obtains large measure from the fact that Heaney is very muted and understated with respect to his own emotional response.

The poem comprises of four stanzas, five lines each containing a lot of visual imagery which is appropriate for a poem inspired by a

photograph. The structure of Duffy’s poem “Before You Were Mine” reveals the regularity of passing time; “I’m ten years away…” magnifies the idea of time passing by. In addition to the hypothesis of passing time, the poem makes the reader visualise pictures placed neatly and arranged with precision. The form of the poem doesn't change. Perhaps this is to show that there is an inevitability to the ‘loss’ of glamour and youth.

Duffy also uses enjambment, “I’m ten years away from the corner you laugh on/with your pals, Maggie McGeeney and Jean Duff.” which adds beat to the poem. There is also caesura that slows down the pace of the poem like-"I’m not here yet. The thought of me doesn’t occur…” which further emphasises that she wanted to see her mother in her youth making the idea of passing time stand out. It reinforces the idea that she wants to spend time with her mother and try to connect with her. But there is some sort of distance put between them.

Moreover, Duffy begins the poem with “I” and ends it with “mine” which gives prominence to her possessiveness and self-centredness. Her poem contrasts the short-lived teenage life to the hardships of being a mother. Duffy recreates her mother’s life as a teenager which is evidence enough to show that she misses her mother. The title itself is surprising as it is something that a mother would say to her child, and not the other way round. She uses direct and straightforward statements like “I’m not here yet.”, “The decade before my loud possessive yell was the best one, eh?” which declares that Duffy believes her mother’s life was better before she came. She glamorises her mother’s short lived teenage life by using words like “laugh”, “shriek”, “fizzy”, “stamping stars”, “glamorous”, “sparkle” and “waltz” which further emphasises her mother’s “loss” of her youth.

“I remember my hands in those high-heeled red shoes, relics,/and now your ghost clatters toward me over George Square/till I see you, clear as scent, under the tree…” the metaphor "high-heeled red shoes" are described as being “relics” which indicates that they are significant of the past of the poet's mother before she was born, and the vibrant person that she was. These shoes behave like almost windows for the poet as they allow her to see and imagine her mother having trysts with lovers. There is also onomatopoeia in the word “clatters” that helps capture the sound that the ghost of her mother's former self makes as the poet imagines her meeting one of her lovers. These devices further reinforce the idea of ‘loss’ by taking us back in time, thus emphasizing on the loss of her mother’s youth.

Mid-Term Break presents ‘loss’ and death as a solemn tragedy.

Like Duffy, Heaney has structured his poem effectively to bring out death. The poem is an iambic pentameter comprising seven equal triplets with a single-line stanza. As a result, the poem echoes with the speech of a dying person or one that is in grief. The single lined stanza at the end not only heightens the feeling of ‘loss’ but also has an emotional impact on the reader. It also signifies a disturbed setting. The lack of rhyme scheme and the use of multiple enjambment slow down the pace of the poem reflecting the unhurried mourning of a loved one. The elegy is written in chronological order, starting from “two o’clock” , “ten o’clock” and then “six weeks later” listing the activities of his brother’s cremation which highlights that Heaney was very disturbed as he remembered the timings with precision. People do not forget the day or the time when something really tragic occurs, it becomes an engraved part of their life. Heaney does not talk about his feelings and remains muted throughout the poem, but the fact that he remembers it so vividly tells us that the tragic experience has scarred

him.

Like Duffy’s poem, there is a fair amount of visual imagery presented throughout Heaney’s poem. The “snowdrops and candles” create a calm, soothing effect but also symbolise the death and the quiet and pure atmosphere. This helps the reader visualise a greatly sacred event. However, the strongest visual imagery is presented in the last single line “A four foot box, a foot for every year.”revealing the death of a four year old, and thus, making it truly devastating for both the reader and the poet. The placement of the line summarises the pain Heaney went through throughout the poem and contrasts with the previous stanza, which is more direct and straightforward. The auditory factors create a contrast such as the “baby cooed and I laughed” which adds on to the joy of the baby seeing his brother but also emphasise on its innocence and the fact that the baby didn’t recognize the catastrophic situation.

The semantic field of death develops his view. First, the reader senses something is wrong because bells were ‘knelling’. Knelling is the ring for a funeral and that notifies the reader that there has been a death. ‘Corpse’ and ‘a poppy bruise on his temple’ bring the reader back to reality as they clearly show that the persona’s brother has died. However, euphemism is used to soften the ‘blow’. ‘Sorry for my trouble’ is more humane than ‘death’ and shows that there is sensitivity when dealing with such solemn matters. Fathers are usually stoic men, but in the poem, the father was ‘crying’ for the death, proving death as a sad affair. Also, Heaney does not reveal until the end that it was his four year old brother who died which makes the reader curious as well as sympathise.

In conclusion, Duffy and Heaney have different perceptions of loss. To Duffy it is the “loss of her mother’s youth” while to Heaney it is the “loss of his younger brother”. Both the poems succeed in presenting “loss” in very different ways. Duffy’s perception is unique as she talks about her mother’s loss while Heaney talks about his family’s loss. Finally, I think both the poems presented “loss” aptly using visual imagery and other poetic devices.