A)In the first stanza, the speaker feels unease and is worried for his family members. This can be seen from the fact that he was not able to take lessons in the morning, and waited in “the college sick bay” from morning until 2’o clock in the afternoon. In the third stanza, the speaker felt embarrassed when he was treated as a mature adult by old men who were” standing up to shake my hand”. Also, the fact that they apologised to the speaker made him embarrassed too, and the “whispers informed strangers I was the eldest” made it even worse for him. Also, he probably was shocked to see the other side of his usually stoic father, who “had always taken funerals in his stride” cry so melancholy over the death of his child.
B)The first literary device used in this poem is alliteration. In the seventh and last stanza, the phrase “four foot” is used to show the size and age of the child which passed away in the car accident, by using “a foot for every year”, to indirectly tell the readers that the child died at the age of four years old. Also, the literary device, onomatopoeia and irony are used in the poem also. It can be seen from the third stanza, “the baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram”. The onomatopoeia is “cooed” and irony can be seen from the fact that the child was ignorant of the tragic and the melancholy of the family, and thus was in the mood to coo and laugh despite the sad atmosphere. Also, the speaker also describes in the first paragraph as “counting bells knelling classes to a close”, uses metaphor, by replacing the normal “ringing” of the school bell to “knelling”, signifying inauspiciousness.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Analysis on "mid-term break" poem
The title “mid-term break” actually is talking about the fact that the speaker is taking a break from his studies, due to a reason, and in this case, it is the death of his brother.
The poem begins with an ominous tone as the readers are made aware of an abnormal situation the schoolboy is in. This is established by a series of symbols such as “sick bay” and “bells” –objects associated with misfortune and injury. Also, the precise reference to the time “two o’clock” and the fact that “the neighbours drove me home” instead of the persona’s parents combine to suggest that this event must have had a long-lasting impact on the persona, making him remember even the minute details which build up tension and reinforce the feeling that something dreadful has happened.
The speaker received the news of the death of his brother, and was awaiting the arrival of his neighbour to pick him up. This was because his house was far from the school, and needed someone to fetch him, or he would not have to trouble outsiders like his neighbours to come and fetch him. His parents could not come personally as they were busy with the funeral and were grief-stricken over the death of their child. The speaker was in the college sick bay not because he was unwell or sick, but it was because the school did not have a waiting lounge.
When the speaker returned back home, his other baby brother was laughing and rocked the pram, showing his ignorance of the death of his other brother. He saw his father crying, despite being a stoic man. This can be seen from,” He had always taken funerals in his stride”, but this time he could not manage to put up a brave front when his child has died. On the other hand, her mother was not crying. This was because she probably has bawled her eyes out and could not shed any more tears even if she tried to. The “angry tearless sighs” were evidence that she was not able to cry anymore, thus was sighing instead. The sentence “old men standing up to shake my hand and tell me they were ‘sorry for the trouble’ ”, indicates that they were “sorry” for calling the speaker back home, which disrupted his studies. Also, the speaker felt embarrassed when he was treated like a mature adult because he was shaking hands with old men standing up to shake his hands.
In the poem,”snowdrops and candles” served the purpose of soothing the negative feelings of the speaker’s loss of a loved one. The phrase “Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple” signifies death as poppy is literally red in colour, and in this poem, shows the death of the speaker’s sibling. In the fifth stanza, the speaker expresses it in such a way that he had not seen his brother ever since 6 weeks ago, which can be seen from” for the first time in six weeks” before he left for school, and when he had returned 6 weeks later, he only saw the corpse of his sibling, “wrapped and stanched and bandaged by the nurses”.
The seventh stanza tells us that the baby was knocked down clear by the car driver, with no gaudy scars seen on him. Lastly, the phrase “a four foot box, a foot for every year” shows that the box was very small, and the writer’s sibling died at the young age of four.
The poem starts off with the sad and pessimistic tone, and then ends with making the writer feel sympathy for the dead child.
The poem begins with an ominous tone as the readers are made aware of an abnormal situation the schoolboy is in. This is established by a series of symbols such as “sick bay” and “bells” –objects associated with misfortune and injury. Also, the precise reference to the time “two o’clock” and the fact that “the neighbours drove me home” instead of the persona’s parents combine to suggest that this event must have had a long-lasting impact on the persona, making him remember even the minute details which build up tension and reinforce the feeling that something dreadful has happened.
The speaker received the news of the death of his brother, and was awaiting the arrival of his neighbour to pick him up. This was because his house was far from the school, and needed someone to fetch him, or he would not have to trouble outsiders like his neighbours to come and fetch him. His parents could not come personally as they were busy with the funeral and were grief-stricken over the death of their child. The speaker was in the college sick bay not because he was unwell or sick, but it was because the school did not have a waiting lounge.
When the speaker returned back home, his other baby brother was laughing and rocked the pram, showing his ignorance of the death of his other brother. He saw his father crying, despite being a stoic man. This can be seen from,” He had always taken funerals in his stride”, but this time he could not manage to put up a brave front when his child has died. On the other hand, her mother was not crying. This was because she probably has bawled her eyes out and could not shed any more tears even if she tried to. The “angry tearless sighs” were evidence that she was not able to cry anymore, thus was sighing instead. The sentence “old men standing up to shake my hand and tell me they were ‘sorry for the trouble’ ”, indicates that they were “sorry” for calling the speaker back home, which disrupted his studies. Also, the speaker felt embarrassed when he was treated like a mature adult because he was shaking hands with old men standing up to shake his hands.
In the poem,”snowdrops and candles” served the purpose of soothing the negative feelings of the speaker’s loss of a loved one. The phrase “Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple” signifies death as poppy is literally red in colour, and in this poem, shows the death of the speaker’s sibling. In the fifth stanza, the speaker expresses it in such a way that he had not seen his brother ever since 6 weeks ago, which can be seen from” for the first time in six weeks” before he left for school, and when he had returned 6 weeks later, he only saw the corpse of his sibling, “wrapped and stanched and bandaged by the nurses”.
The seventh stanza tells us that the baby was knocked down clear by the car driver, with no gaudy scars seen on him. Lastly, the phrase “a four foot box, a foot for every year” shows that the box was very small, and the writer’s sibling died at the young age of four.
The poem starts off with the sad and pessimistic tone, and then ends with making the writer feel sympathy for the dead child.
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