Seamus Heaney - Death

854 Words4 Pages
Death, especially that of a loved one, proves to be one of the most challenging experiences an individual can be exposed to, although a natural aspect of life. It is one of the few things that everyone must face; the confrontation that death forces upon us and the loss of our innocence has the ability to define us as an individual. How we deal with this experience shapes our perceptions and interactions with the world. Seamus Heaney, an Irish poet and winner of a Nobel Literature Prize, explores the way individuals responds to death, especially the effects it has on a young person’s life, through his poetry. In the poem Mid-Term Break, written in the form of an elegy, Heaney explores the emotional response to the loss of a loved one through revisiting his younger self's confrontation with the death of his four year old brother. His poem Blackberry Picking, largely autobiographical in content, doesn't explore the death on such a personal level as Mid-Term Break; though it is used as a conceit to explore metaphysical ideas about mortality and humanity. Death is a very emotional and personal experience and the way in which one responds to the death and the effects it has varies greatly in each individual. Mid-Term Break is a poignant poem that is driven by the emotional power of Heaney’s very muted and understated response which then contrasts with the a focus on the parent’s reaction to convey the shocking impact the death has on the family. The unnerving double meaning of the words “hard blow” highlights the often awkward approach humans fall into when offering their condolences, reminding us how ill-equipped humans are when faced with death, especially in such tragic circumstances. In the second stanza we are presented with the ‘father crying’, the pathos of the line accentuating that the emotions that accompanies death are so powerful that we are often
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