Introducing a poem: mid-term break

Introducing a poem:mid-term break Sunday, 23 June 2013

Your mission: • To check understanding of “connotation” • To gain confidence using the SCASI analysis method • To introduce the poem ready for further study.

Mid term break Mid-Term Break I sat all morning in the college sick bayCounting 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 pramWhen I came in, and I was embarrassedBy old men standing up to shake my handAnd tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble,'Whispers informed strangers I was the eldest,Away at school, as my mother held my handIn hers and coughed out angry tearless sighs.At ten o'clock the ambulance arrivedWith the corpse, stanched and bandaged by the nurses.Next morning I went up into the room. SnowdropsAnd candles soothed the bedside; I saw himFor the first time in six weeks. Paler now,Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.A four foot box, a foot for every year. Seamus Heaney • Start with the title… A mid term break is a holiday. It is usually happy. What else can “break” connote?

CONNOTE: • Poems are as much about what lies behind as they are about the obvious. • What is connotation? • Connotations are the ideas suggested by a word or a phrase in addition to the basic meaning. • So what are the connotations of a “mid term break”? Are they all good?

What is connoted by this image: In-human power strength indestructible A man wearing a black plastic dressing-up suit…

Back to Heaney: • A MNEMONIC to aid discussion of a poem: • S: Setting • C: Characters • A: Action • S: Style • I: Ideas

GUIDE FOR DISCUSSION: • Setting refers to both the location(s) of the poem or novel and the times of day or era when the piece is set. • What locations does Heaney use here? What is significant about the change to the bedroom? • What times of day are specified? • Do the settings have any specific atmosphere due to the language?

Character • Who are the characters in the poem? • Which have names? Is this significant do you think? • What contrasts can you find in the ways the characters behave? • How does the narrator feel once he returns home? • Any other comments?

Action • What constitutes the Action in the poem? • What actually takes place? • What verbs are chosen to describe the action – what might they connote? (whisper, inform for example) • Who does anything and why do they do it?

Style • How would you describe Heaney’s style in this poem? • Look for the words or phrases chosen for effect – • Connotation of “poppy” bruise, of “whispers informed strangers…” or of “bells knelled…” • Is the poem mainly descriptive or figurative (full of similes and metaphors)? • What other ideas do you have about Heaney’s writing?

Ideas • This can be tricky: You are asked to suggest the ideas which made the poet write the poem and which they hope the reader will take away. • What is Heaney actually writing about and why? • How does the last line help to convey his emotion? • How does the narrator of the poem feel when he returns home – an image might help…

“Whispers informed strangers…”

To sum up: • What does SCASI stand for? • In this poem, suggest an idea for any of the letters in SCASI which might be used when writing about the poem in this question: • How does Heaney present his grief at the death of his younger brother? • For further ideas, look at the screencasts here: http://jwpblog.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/an-introduction-to-mid-term-break/

Introducing a poem: mid-term break