Strongman by Tony Curtis and Mid-term break by Seamus Heaney :: English Literature

Strongman by Tony Curtis and Mid-term break by Seamus Heaney dealwith the subject death of a family member. Compare both metrical compositions showinghow the poets introduce their subjects. Which poem did you prefer andwhy?One of the poets, Tony Curtis, is Welsh, whilst, Seamus Heaney isIrish. Seamus Heaney has grown up on a farm in Northern Ireland withhis brothers and his parents. The whole family has taken on the familybusiness of farming, small-arm Seamus Heaney received an education. Bothpoets are still alive today.These two poems describe the deaths of a family member. The Mid-termbreak is the tragic death of Heaneys four-year-old brother and thepoem progresses over 24 hours. Strongman is describing theauthors strong, caring father who dies naturally in his final hour.While the Mid-Term Break had an awkward and devastating mood theStrongman has a more positive scout on the family members deathas it looks back into the younger, happier times. There are a fewother comparisons that can be made, whilst the Mid-Term Break is adeath that ball over people, the Strongman was a peaceful and easy toaccept death.In this essay I destine to look at the differences and similarities inthe poems.The first poem I intend to discuss is Mid-Term Break by SeamusHeaney. The title Mid-Term Break suggests the poem is about childrenas we associate a mid-term break with school holidays. Other firstimpressions wedded in this poem relate to poor health or death. Werelate to this due to the use of nouns such as sick bay and adverbsdescribing school bells as knelling. This could also be reflectingthe emotions of the child in the sick bay at this point we are notsure.The structure is interesting, because at first glance we suppose that ithas a regular pattern to it, which are three lines to each stanza.This possibly implies that the events that take place in the poem arepredictable. However, the final line is a stanza on its own, drawingyou to it and creating a large impact on the audience.In the second stanza an awkward atmosphere and tone is introduced. Thepoet meets his father crying this is one of the factors that sourthis stanza awkward. Men in the days when this poem was written (1966)were stereotypically thought of as strong people emotionally andphysically, therefore, for the young poet to see his father crying onthe porch would have made him feel uneasy. Furthermore, the dash atthe end if each line causes the lines to flow as one sentence, this is