Essay Questions

How old was the deceased? - “Mid-Term Break”

Seamus Heaney concludes “Mid-Term Break” with the line: “A four foot box, a foot for every year.” The deceased’s body is retained in a box that is four feet long. Each of the feet signifies a year that the departed had existed. Therefore, the departed was four years old.

How would you categorize the speaker and the parents in “Elegy for a Still-Born Child”?

The speaker and the parents are Pro-Lifers. Although the child was not born alive, the speaker addresses it as if it were a human being by the time it perished. The speaker says, “Your mother walks light as an empty creel/Unlearning the intimate nudge and pull.” The speaker presumes that the stillborn child was human although it had not yet been delivered into the world. The mother’s desolation following the still birth designates that she regarded the child as life human being and was looking forward to delivering and nurturing it.

How doe childhood and old age converge in “Follower?”

The speaker ponders that during his childhood, “ I wanted to grow up and plough…/All I ever did was follow/In his broad shadow round the farm.” The speaker was the follower because he was not adept in ploughing. However, the speaker confirms, “But today/It is my father who keeps stumbling/Behind me, and will not go away.” The speaker’s father has become the follower during his old age. The son and father transpose their roles (of being followers) ultimately resulting in the intersection of old age and childhood.