Mid-Term Break Would Expect Holiday Happiness Instead He Is Called Away from School Because

Mid-term Break – would expect holiday – happiness – instead he is called away from school because his brother has been killed – break up of family – mid life of narrator– moment of awakening – loss (break) of innocence – boy is broken

I sat all morning in the college sick bay Words associated with death – sick – Counting bells knelling classes to a close. knell – close – mourning .. even though At ten o'clock our neighbours drove me home. no mention of death in stanza. Atmosphere – sombre/dread/ morbid

Raises question – why didn’t parents collect him – something unusual –

Time passing – references to time In the porch I met my father crying - First indication something terrible He had always taken funerals in his stride - happened – father has been able to And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow. handle other funerals – emotionally strong – this has undone him.

‘Big’ suggests tough/ strong – unfortunate choice of words – show Big Jim – trying but doesn’t know what to say - uncomfortable The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram Baby doesn’t know any different – When I came in, and I was embarrassed innocent – inappropriate reaction – just By old men standing up to shake my hand like Big Jim – baby just pleased to see him (been at school for 6 weeks) – brings attention to the new arrival. Feels out of his depth – intimidated – attention – wrong way around – he should be shaking their hand –

He’s embarrassed to be treated like an adult

Old men’s comment – ‘sorry for my trouble’ – seems odd/ trivial – shows they don’t know what to say/ how to react either –

Scrap of dialogue – brings this section of the poem to life.

And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble' Subdued mood – strange that there are Whispers informed strangers that I was the eldest, strangers there – catholic tradition – but Away at school, as my mother held my hand still feels detached/ odd

Heaney himself feels detached – been away at school –

Adds to his uncomfortable feelings – being talked about. In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs. Onomatopoeic – hear the sound of her At ten o'clock the ambulance arrived With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses. tearless sobs

Reference to time … repetition of ten ??

Detached – refers to brother as a corpse – impersonal - Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops Shift in the mood – white – purity And candles soothed the bedside I saw him innocence – first sign of spring – new life For the first time in six weeks. Paler now, – ironic – but hope even in the face of tragedy.

Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple. More flower imagery – remembrance of He lay in a four foot box, as in his cot. the dead - seems natural – even though No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear. the injury is unnatural –

Apart from the bruise, he seems uninjured, sleeping, untouched.

Bumper knocked him clear – reminder of the violence… but also that the picture is now clear. A four foot box, a foot for every year. Repetition – not coffin – four foot box – poignant reminder that the little boy’s life can be measured out by the size of his coffin. Blunt … final ending Seamus Heaney