Mid-Term Break by Séamus Heaney "Mid-Term Break" by Séamus Heaney is among the few poems that have moved me emotionally. The writer uses many techniques including similes, metaphors and beautiful lexical choice to convey the dark and miserable situation of the brother's death. In this essay I will analyze the language of the poem and discuss, in more detail, the techniques used to convey the true sadness of the situation. "Mid-Term Break" is a very emotional poem in which Séamus Heaney reflects on the untimely death of his little brother Christopher and explains what was going through his mind at the time. The title of the poem suggests a holiday but this "break" is not for pleasant reasons. For most of the poem Heaney writes about people's different reactions and by the end he is able to grieve honestly. In the poem Heaney returns home from school to attend the funeral of his 4-year-old brother who died in a tragic accident. During the funeral Heaney is confronted with many issues that make him uncomfortable as he still struggles to come to terms with the incident that lies before him: the death of his little brother! In this poem, the writer uses many techniques to express the misery of the situation. The writer uses effective word choice in the first stanza. “I sat in the college infirmary all morning counting the bells ringing for classes until the end.” Here we can see that the word "all" suggests that Heaney's waiting time seems interminable, which adds to the sadness of the situation. Furthermore, the "counting" of bells indicates that Heaney is bored but also implies that he desperately wants to leave school, which creates a very tense atmosphere. Furthermore, the word "kneel" ironically suggests... the middle of the paper... its poetry and consequently successfully conveys the sadness and unhappiness of losing a loved one. I was particularly moved when he used a simile to describe his brother as asleep rather than dead; he portrayed his brother as an innocent little boy. Also, when he created the soft image of a hideous scar, I was touched because he obviously loved his brother very much. I very much sympathize with Heaney because it is a tragic loss to lose a family member, especially if it is someone you are exceptionally close to, like a brother or sister. This poem revealed to me the true meaning of life and also the unimaginable pain of death. This poem made me realize that you don't properly appreciate something until it's gone. In light of this I have learned that you should always respect and treat each other well because you never know when their time will come!