Concept Of Death In Mid-Term Break By Seamus Heaney And Lament By Gillian Clarke

Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney and Lament by Gillian Clarke both explore the concept of death. Mid-Term Break is formatted as an autobiography. The visceral grief experienced resulting from the death of the poet’s own younger brother is portrayed through the perspective of a young college boy facing the loss of his younger brother.

Lament by Gillian Clarke summarizes the consequences of a conflict resulting in the death of the natural environment — inspired by The Gulf War. She portrays death as a loss of humanity to war and conflict, by choosing to focus on innocent lives. For those that don’t comprehend the cause or nature of their misfortune, Clarke evokes a level of sympathy from her audience. Throughout the poem, Heaney writes in a straightforward manner. This is illustrated when the old men were giving him their condolences, and Heaney was unable to respond to them properly. By using monotonous short sentences such as “I was embarrassed.” It allows him to reach his audience and give them further insight into his emotions. He tells his story to the reader, and shows how he doesn’t feel connected to the situation at hand, shown through his lack of personal responses and emotions to the events happening. He focuses more on describing his surroundings and occurrences rather than addressing the tragedy directly. Caesura is also used in the sixth stanza, Heaney uses this to create tension for when he finally came to terms with his brother’s death. Especially emphasizing ‘the room’ as he shares his personal experience — dreading to confront reality. Heaney uses this device to further emphasize to the reader that he is trying to delay the encounter with his dead brother, as well as present the situation in a daunting manner as he has to face reality inevitably. However, in Lament the narrator is appalled by the consequence of conflict resulting in the deaths of innocent wildlife.

Inspired by the Gulf War Crisis in 1991, in which massive amounts of oil spilling into the sea and burning oil wells. Unlike Mid-Term Break, Clarke uses emotive language that is chosen carefully and delicately for the many ‘shades’ of meaning throughout the poem. Clarke attends to these specific aspects and incorporates them into her poem using imagery. The tone in which she has written the piece is similar to that of a prayer of remembrance for nature, almost as if apologizing and confessing — to the lives that were affected. Throughout the piece, Clarke cleverly uses subtle euphemisms to conceal an otherwise harsh or blunt remark, which is apparent in the line ‘veil of iridescence on the sand’ in stanza five. She does this to imbue the poem directly with a melancholy mood.

The title Mid-Term Break is ironic because of how innocent it sounds, allowing the readers to believe the poem to be as carefree as it is portrayed in the title. Since the poem is about tragedy and grief, this allows Heaney to demonstrates child-like innocence, freedom and happiness to the reader before revealing the true grim context of the piece — his brother’s death. Contrastingly, Clarke expresses mourning and sorrow through the use of ‘For’

.Clarke uses anaphora to create an impression of ‘in tribute to’ or ‘in memorial’ of a life lost, in this case, the loss of nature’s natural splendor. The poem is written elegiacally, Clarke uses this literary device to lay emphasis on an idea the narrator wants to convey, in this case, a reflection on the lament of death. Lament openly acclaims the unforgiving nature of death through Clarke’s writing which constructs and adds on to the powerful imagery she presents to express her views on death. Heaney poem also describes a death not of his own, but that of a loved one. In the first stanza ”Counting bells knelling classes to a close.” sibilance and alliteration is used, by doing this he delays the initial feelings of denial towards the incident, which suggests to the reader that Heaney is trying to postpone the time in which he is finally forced to face the feelings of grief. This consequently proceeds to build tension, suggesting the narrator is overwhelmed, confused and distant from his feelings and doesn’t know how to express it, which shows in the lack of emotive language. The use of ‘knelling’ foreshadows death as the sound of the bell represents the end to something and is used to describe the chime of funeral bells.

Clarke creates powerful imagery of a nestling turtle with her words “pulsing burden” "nest of sickness" on stanzas one and three. She employs personification by giving human qualities to objects, in stanza six by writing "the veiled sun and the stink of anger." by doing this she portrays to the reader the state of the environment around. There is also a notation of a double entendre regarding “stink of anger”. This is because Clarke is creating the image fire representing anger, the smell of something burning and the hatred behind it. Symbolism is used to relate different ideas to death. In Mid-Term Break Heaney portrays his brother’s bruise as “a poppy bruise” which relates back to Remembrance Day, when poppies were worn to commemorate and honor soldiers of World War One. By using the word ‘wearing’ Heaney suggests that the bruise is like poppy flower worn by his brother instead of embedded onto his flesh, signifying the remembrance of his life that this flower symbolizes. This is also shows that he naively hopes that his brother will be able to take the poppy off like clothing. Clarke however, portrays symbolism by demonstrating the decay of life resulting from violence evident in the line “For vengeance, and the ashes of language.”

In the last line of the last stanza, Clarke presents the destruction left by war and effect on not only the natural world but also on mankind. ‘Language’ is human’s means of communication, without it we become barbaric. ‘Ashes’ represent the loss of our human values resulting from the disaster. In conclusion, both poets have uses a range of poetic devices completely different perspectives and reactions towards death. Heaney effectively conveys feelings of dismay and ignorance, whilst Clarke expresses grief and mourning. Heaney delivers this in a blunt matter-of-fact tone which further highlights his inclination to accept the situation. He delays this by distracting himself with descriptions of his surroundings emphasizing his detachment. Clarke, however, openly exhibits her distaste for death. She communicates her grief in mourning, commemorating the lives that were lost due to war — intensifying her need to express her beliefs on the matter.

In conclusion, both poets have used a range of poetic devices to present completely different perspectives and reactions towards death. Heaney effectively conveys feelings of dismay and ignorance, while Clarke expresses grief and mourning. Heaney delivers this in a blunt matter-of-fact tone, which further highlights his inclination to accept the situation. He delays this by distracting himself with descriptions of his surroundings, emphasizing his detachment. Clarke, however, openly exhibits her distaste for death. She communicates her grief in mourning, commemorating the lives that were lost due to war, intensifying her need to express her beliefs on the matter. Although both poets have very different experiences and views when confronted by death, readers are still able to sympathize with the emotions the poems bare. One more essay that provides a thought-provoking exploration of the funeral industry and the practices surrounding death is "Behind The Formaldehyde Curtain" by Jessica Mitford. Although both poets have very different experiences and views when confronted by death, readers are still able to sympathize with the emotions the poems bare.