Mid-Term Break
I sat all morning in the college sick bay
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At two o'clock our neighbors 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 embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand
And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble,'
Whispers informed strangers 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 the four foot box as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
Counting bells knelling classes to a close.
At two o'clock our neighbors 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 embarrassed
By old men standing up to shake my hand
And tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble,'
Whispers informed strangers 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 the four foot box as in his cot.
No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear.
A four foot box, a foot for every year.
Writing response: Look at the progresson of the poem, how does it help our understanding of how the speaker felt on that day? Connect to the poem by thinking of a time where an event changed your life.
e.e cumings. is kawanns!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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ReplyDeletebilly collins is Jesse's
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ReplyDeleteits a little kid that really doesnt understand what happened to his brother. we didnt expect it and he wasnt ready. what happened really confused him because when he got home there was a whole bunch people that were at his house and at the funeral. the kid was stunned and he didnt know how to react.
ReplyDeletewhen i was little i would go to a couple of funerals. everyone else would be crying and i was dieing to get out. i didnt even know who those people were and i was a little ashamed that i didnt feel any pity for them.
The progression of the poem helps me understand that the writer didnt know what was going on. He portrayed it as a regular day of school. i started to undertand his confusion in stanza three and four where described how he was greeted by men saying, "sorry for your trouble." i can draw that his obvious feeling was confused, but at the same time hurtbecause he lost his four year old brother.
ReplyDeleteAn event that i can remember that can relate to the author of this poem, is the passing of my grandmother. I had the same confusion the author had, just because i was the age of four. i guess you can say the feeling for both our events were mutal in a sense.
The progression of the poem dosent really help me understand how the speaker felt that day. Throughout the whole poem she seems to be very nonchalant about the whole thing. not once in the poem she said how she was sad or angry at what had happened. I dotn really have an event equal in importance to this one. So far no one close to me has died so i can't compare.
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ReplyDeleteThe speaker of the poem wasn't expecting what had happend and in my opinion didn't react. Also, he was confused as to going home and seeing all those people in his house. Finding out his four year old brother had gotten hit by a car and died. I can connect to this poem because a couple years ago when my aunt died I went home and saw everyone crying. I was confused not knowing what had happend until I was told.
ReplyDelete"He had always taken funerals in his stride--
ReplyDeleteAnd Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow."
This poem shows the progression of his days evevnts. When we recall on memories, we see it in snapshots and each stanza reflects a different time. With each scene comes the emotion portrayed in them. We feel his pain and suffering but he doesn't say it straight foward. I like the line above because it is something that I can personally relate to. My mother is known as lady death, and she has funnerals in her stride, just as his father does.
"Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,He lay in the four foot box as in his cot.No gaudy scars, the bumper knocked him clear" That's my favorite line of the poem becuase it really hits you. It relates to the fact that people don't really register that a person is dead until they actually see them. The whole poem is based on one day; the day of the funeral and he saw his brother dead. Each break was a surprise, and the end is where it shocked me.
ReplyDelete"A four foot box, a foot for every year." That line stands alonf, and i think thgat's what makes it more effective becuase it pops out at the reader. We realize that the brother was only four years old. And as for the connection in my life, I don't really have one. I never had anyone close to me die yet, so the idea of death hasn't really hit me full on yet, but I bet it will become real for me soon, just like the person in the poem.
this poem is very interesting because it's shows how people change and how some parts of our lives change for sudden happenings. in my personal life decisions have changed my life in both long and short periods of time.
ReplyDeleteWe can see the progess of the author from being bored in class, to being embaressed and awkward in the beginning. Then he came to see the body with any extra, negative emotions clouding his mind. Then death was faced by him and he stood to see with a mature reaction. Back when I graduating from middle school, it was my eighth grade year and I was the awkward, shy, geeky and smart girl who was chosen to be the graduating class' valedictorian. I was too shy to stand up in front of the crowd or even speak in front of the class much. I was fearful nor fearless and felt too honored to be given such a position to read a speech to back down. So after drafting my speech and making a mini intro to the award ceremony as the valedictorian, I go tup with still a bit of fear but with gratefulness pumping through my blood. With that small moment to others but big moment to me, I was able to take on the world with more courage -- I had changed.
ReplyDeleteThe speaker was lost and confused, as if he didnt know what was going on. I think he kinda didnt really get what was happening when he saw all those people at his house. It really hit him when he saw his four year old brother for the first time after six weeks and he was laying dead. I really cant connect to this poem, nothing this serious has ever happened to me. i've never experienced something so drastic,as losing a close family member,that made me change my life.
ReplyDeleteThe speaker throughout the was confused and lost with everything that was around him. He didnt understand why everyone was crying. It really hit him when he finally saw his brother after six weeks dead. Seeing him laying dead made him realize why everyone was feeling that way. I can relate to this poem because a while ago I have lost a cousin. I was confused when I went to my uncles house and saw everyone crying. After a while was when I was told what had happened.
ReplyDeleteDeath surrounds all of us, whether it affects us or not. I could turn on the TV, watch the news, hear about a four car pileup with the death of a family, and not feel an ache in my heart. Of course it’s sad but it’s definitely not cold-hearted not to care. If someone cried for every time they heard about a devastating accident or death, they would be a complete mess. It’s useless to waste your emotions on something that doesn’t affect your life. But when death slaps you in face, it’s hard to take in. When my dog died, I couldn’t believe anything anyone was saying. It didn’t matter because those kinds of things aren’t supposed to happen in my life. But it did. And like the narrator of the poem, seeing the body was just the moment it actually hits you and its realization.
ReplyDeleteThis poem helps me understand what the speaker is going though by the way the poem is written. The poem is written like a story. The speaker guided me threw what was going on and how he felt. I think the speaker felt loss.He didn't know what to do. I guess that was the first time some close to him died all of a sudden. It shocked the speaker. When my fish died i didn't know it was dead. I did not want to accept the fact that my fish died. Like it happen out of no where. Just yesterday she was fine playing in her tank. Just like the speaker i was shocked and didn't know what to do to make it seem better.
ReplyDeleteThe speaker of the poem by stanza three and four clearly demonstrates how and where he learned the news. Based off of my understanding of the poem the speaker was in school when he learned the news of his brothers death. Additionally he was confused and had no idea, so as the poem progressed he was confused and had no idea. But later when he saw the body, he found out and the real emotions came in and then he saw his brothers room as a memorial and then he understood what really was going on.
ReplyDeleteOne event that I could easily relate to was the first time I went to disney world and I was riding in a mary go go-round. I was so innocent back then and didn't really understand what was going on in the world at the time. At that time my primary goal was to get a picture with Mickey Mouse, I was oblivious to all the problems people in general go through. Looking back at that picture I see myself as a totally different person . First, I care more about people and their feelings, so I'm not so ignorant in that sense. Next, back then life used to be really fun but now my goal is to get into a good college and being successful.
"Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple,
ReplyDeleteHe lay in the four foot box as in his cot."
I liked this line because it gave a visual. Up until now, there wasn't much on what was going on. There was no hints as to who had died up until now. This line ties together the entire poem. The way that everything is written, helps understand how the writer is feeling. Every stanza is a new scene, which for many people is how things happen. At the beginning, the speaker doesn't seem to know what's going on.
When I was little, I lost someone who was really close to me, and at first, much like the poet, I was confused as to what was happening. I was eight years old. I was dropped off at my aunts house, and my mom had left. For a while, I was left feeling confused.
Though the poem had a certain bitterness to it, the words and their connotation adds a sweet feeling of love and awkwardness, making the audience feel bashful yet showered with bitter sweet warmth. This seems to be how the speaker feels during this series of event and therefore the poem makes the audience live through the experience rather than just reading or hearing it. The audience lives through the stages of accepting death and experiences all the emotional impact, from detachment to acceptance, which comes along with them. Therefore, the author’s choices of language and literary devices are very appropriate and serve their purpose, especially in emphasising the last line which wraps up the poem on one bitter sweet note. I noticed Heaney used structure to outline the importance of the last line, but poems are often not read but heard and so this rhyme allows listeners to notice the emphasis on the last line.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is very interesting because the author of the poem is basically in the same position we, the readers are in. He is going through a normal day of his life innocent and unaware of what might be ahead of him. Then in the 3rd stanza both us the reader and the author unexpectedly find out of the loss of his brother. Also just like the reader was shocked over the loss so was I because in the beginning it all seemed fluent and normal
ReplyDeleteAnd tell me they were 'sorry for my trouble,'
ReplyDeleteWhispers informed strangers I was the eldest. This line show me this was about someone death. I can picture random stanger saying the most cliche lines to this person, but in reality you are not really paying attendtion to them. Every happens so fast and you know what really yo expect. In the end, when he saw his brother, he noticed all the little things for the last time.