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Discovery poem help! (1 Viewer)

the_matrix

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Hello, I'm struggling with analysing 'Mid term break' by Seamus Heaney for AOS Discovery. My prescribed text is Life of Pi and my teacher recommended me to analyse a poem. Could anyone please help me with analysing the elements of discovery in this text? I need to submit an essay in a week's time so any help would be greatly appreciated.

What I've got so far which can be related to Life of Pi:
- Heaney discovers the brutal reality of the world --> death is an inevitable part of the human experience
- Heaney discovers the need for love, care and support during times of hardship

Mid term break by Seamus Heaney

I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At two o’clock our neighbours drove me home.

In the porch I met my father crying –
He had always taken funerals in his stride –
And Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow.

The baby cooed and laughed and rocked the pram
When I came in, and I was embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand

And tell me they were ‘sorry for my trouble’
Whispers informed strangers that I was the eldest,
Away at school, as my mother held my hand

In hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.
At ten o’clock the ambulance arrived
With the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.

Next morning I went up into the room. Snowdrops
And candles soothed the bedside I saw him
For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,

Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple.
He lay in a four foot box, as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.

A four foot box, a foot for every year.
 

BLIT2014

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Firstly, it is good to see that you have shared your thoughts on how you could relate your related to life of pi.

* Discoveries may challenge ideas, values, belief systems

Heaney previously preconceived view of his father is challenged as his father isn't acting "how he is suppose to" or "how his father has previously acted".

Quote: "I met my father crying"
The poet uses the verb "met" almost as a technique to highlight the fact that death can provide a situation to highlight true character traits of an individual.

Societies social expectations in the 1950s are also being challenged. Father figures were supposed to be "patriarchal" and not show much emotion. This in turns highlights the unusualness of the situation.


* Discoveries can be sudden and unexpected
-> Transitory nature of the human condition/frailty of human life
-> "The bumper knocked him clear"
 
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