An Analysis Of Carol Ann Duffy's Mid-Term Break

1282 Words6 Pages

IGCSE World Literature

Centre name: Island School, Hong Kong.

Centre number: HK010

Candidate name: Ada Ytterdal

Candidate number: 5231

Coursework Assignment 1:

Critical Essay

Question Title: How effectively do the authors of ‘Mid-Term Break’ and ‘War Photographer’ explore people’s feelings in the face of death?

Word Count: 1,236

‘Mid-Term Break’ by Seamus Heaney and ‘War Photographer’ Carol Ann Duffy both explore people’s feelings in the face of death. Heaney depicts the death of his younger brother. ‘Mid-Term Break’ is written from his point of view and shows the emotional response of the people around him. Duffy creates a grim mood of a war photographer having just returned from capturing the horrors of war. The poem …show more content…

The fact that Heaney uses the word “corpse” instead of the person 's actual name shows that he is not ready to let go of his brother. In addition to being ‘paler’, the body is described as “stanched and bandaged”. These descriptions take away the humanity from the body. It also suggests that they tried to save him, but were clearly unable. Although ‘the bumper knocked him clear’, he did not have any signs of violence on him, except for a ‘poppy bruise on his left temple’. Heaney used poppies to symbolize remembrance and the fact that his brother had a brief but significant impact on people’s lives. This was achieved through using the phrase ‘a four foot box, a foot for every year’. This phrase tells us clearly that his brother was 4 years old, signifying his short life. At the wedding there were many people who had gathered to grieve for the young boy who they all loved, showing that despite his age, he had made an impact on many peoples …show more content…

Through the process of developing the photos, he views himself as ‘a priest preparing to intone a mass’. The photographer compares his dark room to a ‘church’. He travels around the world to witness and capture terrible crimes committed against humanity, bringing them back to us in still images. The phrase ‘spools of suffering’ includes both a metaphors and assonance and conveys the effects of war. The photographer recalls an event where he ‘sought approval without words’, this shows the amount of respect he has for the people around him. ‘In back and white’ has an ambiguous meaning. It relates to the photographs, which the photographer is developing, but also the contrast between good and evil.

The people back home in ‘rural England’, who are not effected by the death and devastation of war, are presented as being uncaring and unconcerned. The war photographer has taken hundreds of photographs, all depicting the horrors and dismay of war. Although the war photographer has travelled to all the troubled countries around the world such as ‘Belfast, Beirut, Phnom Penh’, he still seems happy to return ‘home again’. The photographer’s life in ‘rural’ England creates contrasts to the panic and chaos of the war

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