The Lesson and Mid-term Break Essay -- English Literature

Introduction to The Lesson and Mid-term BreakThe Lesson tells the story of a 10 year old boy who has addled hisfather in the duration of school time. It goes on the say hes trappedand although he feels grief for the death of his father he realisesthat he can commit the death to bind the bullies fist.Mid-Term Break is about the loss of a brother. It goes on to saythat life goes on even though he has upset his brother and he witnessesthings he does not normally experience (his father crying).Mid-Term BreakMeaningThe meaning of Mid-Term Break is to tell the story of an accidentinvolving a young child and a vehicle. He tries to explain how lifegoes on and the death of the boys brother doesnt mean that lifestops. It goes on to show that because his brother has died trustworthythings happen that he doesnt usually see I met my father crying and Old men standing up to shake my hand. It ends with the powerful andtemperature reduction line a four foot box, a foot for every year This shows thatthe boy was very young and had a small coffin because he was only 4years of age.StructureThe poems structure is very neat and very tidy. He chooses to write inthree line stanzas because this allows the poem to settle easily andallows the stanza below it the link in with its predecessor. By alsohaving three line stanzas helps the last line have more of a punch feel because it breaks the mould.Heaney avoids using rhyme in this piece because we usually associaterhyme with happiness and glee. Because of this reason Heaney purposelymakes this poem sad and hopeless.AnalysingThe mood changes throughout the poem. At the start the mood is sombre,sad and mysterious but when it reache... ...death.Pride, like a goldfish, flashed a sudden fin we can imagine thegoldfish swimming in their bowl, perhaps set in the sunshine on awindowsill. The sun catches a goldfish at a certain angle, and thegold of its scales suddenly shines brightly. The speaker, caught inthe sunshine of all this attention and sympathy, suddenly feels prideshining in him.At no point in this poem does the speaker express sorrowfulness at the lossof his father. However, he is aware that he should feel something, andhis shame at the lack of feeling is in conflict with his relief andhis pride. What is uppermost in the speakers mind is the confinedlittle world of the school (rather like the shining prison of thegoldfish bowl). His life is centred on school, the bullying, his otherschool-mates.I think the piercingly lesson he learns is about his own self-centredness.