I sat all morning in the college sick bay Counting bells knelling classes to a close. At ten 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 embarrased 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. Discussion Questions 1. What event does this poem narrate in Heaney’s life? 2. The a holiday. When did you know something was title “Mid-Term Break” probably makes you think of wrong? Give me the line. What else could mid-term “break” stand for? 3. What does Heaney mean by the knelling of the bells? What is the literal purpose and metaphorical purpose? 4. Provide examples of assonance. 5. What does the last line do for you? How is the speaker different by that point than during the day? Out, Out by Robert Frost The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
I sat all morning in the college sick bay Counting bells knelling classes to a close. At ten 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 embarrased 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. Discussion Questions 1. What event does this poem narrate in Heaney’s life? 2. The title “Mid-Term Break” probably makes you think of a holiday. When did you know something was wrong? Give me the line. What else could mid-term “break” stand for? 3. What does Heaney mean by the knelling of the bells? What is the literal purpose and metaphorical purpose? 4. Provide examples of assonance. 5. What does the last line do for you? How is the speaker different by that point than during the day? Out, Out by Robert Frost The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
poetry_packet_ela_ii.docx