Mid-Term Break

E519328

"Mid-Term Break" is a poignant autobiographical poem by Seamus Heaney that reflects on a young boy's experience of family grief following the sudden death of his younger brother.

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Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf literary work
poem
author Seamus Heaney NERFINISHED
centralEvent death of the speaker's younger brother
closingLine "A four foot box, a foot for every year."
collection Death of a Naturalist NERFINISHED
countryOfOrigin Ireland
firstPublicationYear 1966
firstPublishedIn Death of a Naturalist NERFINISHED
form lyric poem
genre autobiographical poem
elegy
hasCriticalReputation one of Seamus Heaney's most studied poems
includedIn school curricula in Ireland
school curricula in the United Kingdom
inspiredBy death of Seamus Heaney's younger brother Christopher Heaney
keyImage four-foot box
poppy bruise on the brother's temple
snowdrops and candles
language English
lineCount 34
literaryPeriod contemporary poetry
meter predominantly iambic pentameter
narrativePerspective first person
narratorAge schoolboy
openingScene speaker waiting in the college sick bay
poetNationality Irish
poetNobelPrize Seamus Heaney Nobel Prize in Literature 1995
publisherOfFirstCollection Faber and Faber NERFINISHED
rhymeScheme unrhymed
setting rural Ireland
stanzaCount 7
subject childhood
death
family
grief
mourning rituals
theme emotional distance and shock
family dynamics in bereavement
loss of innocence
public versus private grief
timePeriodOfEvents mid-20th century
tone poignant
restrained

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Death of a Naturalist containsPoem Mid-Term Break