Somtimes it's hard to get started in analyzing poetry. These poems are easy in that you don't have to worry about the meter. Stick to the imagery and you'll be fine.
In the poem, "Mid-Term Break," by Seamus Heaney, the young poet expresses his sorrow over the loss of his younger brother. He recounts the moments after he learns of the death through sensory imagery. The bells in his school become, "counting bells knelling classes to a close." The bells themselves ring no longer as class dividers, but as life dividers. The poet remembers these bells as death bells.
Against the backdrop of his father crying at home, he catches the familiar expressions one hears at a funeral. Trite expressions such as "hard blow" and " 'sorry for my trouble' " constantly remind the mourners of their sorrow. These words do little to comfort the poet as he deflects his neighbors' remarks. In contrast to these lingering remarks, the poet juxtaposes the baby's laughs and coos, which break through the air of gloom at home. For the poet, the baby's sounds extinguish the death bells from school.
In the last stanza the poet switches from the first to third-person point of view out of respect to his dead brother. His brother wears the "poppy bruise" inside the "four foot box"--no other markings distinguish him. No other sounds distinguish him. All that remains is, "A four foot box, a foot for every year." The size of the box signals the young boy's life; it will remain a buried metaphor for this young boy's short time before death.
In the poem, "Facing It," by Yusef Komunyakaa, the poet mourns for the victims of the Vietnam War. The poet primarily uses visual imagery produced by the mirror metaphor of the Memorial itself. The Memorial transfers faces...
What a fun assignment. Thanks for sharing. I would never have read these poems. Very interesting metaphors.
