The title of Seamus HeaneyÆs (1980) poem, Mid-Term Break, about a speaker who loses his four-year-old brother to an automobile accident is ironic. One typically expects to read of fun times, vacation, and general merriment during a studentÆs ômid-term break,ö but this poem is one of loss, depression and ôangry tearless sighsö due to the aftermath of the death of a small child being its subject, (Heaney, 1980, pp. 106-07). Through the use of poetic devices, Heaney is able to make us feel the pain of those suffering from the impact of this tragic loss of a child.
Heaney uses a number of poetic devices to increase the emotion and impact of the speakerÆs tragic loss. He uses alliteration to reinforce his theme of loss of unfulfilled youthful promise as well as word repetition to increase the impact on the readerÆs emotions. In the final line of the poem we see both of these devices employed, ôA four foot box, a foot for every yearö (Heaney, 1980, p. 107).
Heaney also uses consonance to add flow and movement to his words, making them more lyrical when spoken aloud and more fluid in the reading. In the first stanza, he uses alliteration and consonance to achieve these twin goals, ôI sat all morning in the college sick bay / Counting bells knelling classes to a close, / At two oÆclock our neighbors drove me homeö (Heaney, 1980, p. 107). The repetition of the double ôllö and the repetition of the ôclö make this a short passage that rises to a high level of lyricism. Perhaps a musical mourning is what the poet had in mind in order to remind us that this is, in a way, a funeral dirge crafted from words.
The speaker in the poem informs us that his father is in tears when he arrives home, though he was usually strong at funerals. His mother holds onto his hand and is wracked by ôangry tearless sighs,ö to overcome with grief to weep outrightö (Heaney, 1980, p. 107). In this stanza, Heaney
...