The Corruption of Lack

In the poem "Red Fox," Margaret Atwood examines the human life and actions as she compares the actions and life of the red fox to those of man. The struggles of living a life of need ar described through the description of a mother taking on bodily pain in order that her child may eat and Hansel and Gretel being dumped in the forest alone because of their parents' inability to care for them even in their hunger. The motif of hunger used througout the poem demonstrates how lack becomes the prominent force which drives people's actions to the point where the struggle for survival can sometimes lead to moral corruption.
Atwood uses strong imagery to demonstrate the struggle of survival. Hunger is the result of the lack of food or the lack of fullfillment of the food provided. Food is necessary for the continuation of life. The mother presented in the "Red Fox" has literally had the life sucked out of her as she attempts to give life to her child. The fox is known as a sly, sneaky animal who knows how to get what she wants. The fox has a "coat of an elegant scoundrel," sometimes using her beauty to take what does not belong to her. However, like the mother, the fox is using her body as a tool to meet a need.
In the second stanza Atwood says "she didn't get this smart for nothing." In life sometimes intelligence is used to make a gain even if it means someone else is slighted in the process. "Hunger corrupts" for when a need has to be met whether "virtious poverty" or a good suffering is experienced internally like the mother described in the poemor "trickster's eyes" like those of the fox ar used to scope out an evil means to get ahead, when struggle arrives people's reactions are sometimes those of the unexpected, corrupt.

On the Frontier of Writing

A soldier stands ready to defend, execute, ready to take on interrogation because they know the world is watching their every move. Seamus Heaney compares writing to fighting a war. The vivid images of combat and the procedures of war help demonstrate the seriousness of an author's writing process. A writer struggles to experience self satisfaction through their work while still working to please readers and publishers who somewhat control the success of a writer's career.
In the beginning of the poem, the speaker is describing being stopped while other troops inspect the make and number of his vehicle. The outside world is dissecting this writers work. They are trying to identify the writer through his work. One person leans close to he window in an attempt to see what this person is about. A window is transparent and through writing an author becomes somewhat transparent, expressing what's on the inside as in what's in the car through literature.
The speaker describes a situation where he is interrogated. People are usually interrogated by a superior like someone who has the power to determine something about their future. In an interrogation, the person being interrogated usually conforms to whatever the interrogators wants. For the writer the interrogator is the publisher and critics who edit and changes writers' work. The speaker explains how after the interrogation he feels empty as if the meaning and personal connection with his work has been stripped bare from his writing. However, at the end of the poem, the speaker explains how he has emerged from behind the waterfall. A waterfall shows an image but not clearly through the water. This image shows the writer eing able to put himself into his work clearly for all to see without is being clouded by the water of society. His work is not diluted. If he perseveres on the frontier and struggles through the difficult process of writing in the end he can stand strong behind his work.

The Worst Mid-Term Break Ever

A mid-term break during the long, very challenging college year usually creates a mood of joy. Mid-term break equates family hugs you have missed since you last saw mom and dad, home cooked meals, high school friends and simply relaxing. Judging from the title of Seamus Heaney's poem "Mid-Term Break" the poem would describe the typical going home experience of a college student. However, as soon as the speaker steps into his house he is greeted by feelings of grief. The separation from his family the speaker experiences while away at school has made him almost a stranger in his own home and he has a difficult time outwardly expressing the feelings of pain he is experiencing internally.

The speaker is at school and the bells are ringing signifying class coming to an end. The ringing bells foreshadow the life of the speaker's younger brother coming to an end. After riding home with neighbors before evening making his way into the house, the speaker meets his crying, grief filled father. "Big Jim Evans saying it was a hard blow." At this point in the poem the speaker specifies a funeral is occurring and Big Jim Evan's comment demonstrates the major impact the death has had on the family. While the young baby is oblivious as to what is happening, the speaker is embarrassed as he shakes the hands of old men. Heaney creates the image of people quietly whispering, behaving in the somber manner usually displayed at a funeral. The corpse is brought in and eventually the speaker makes his way to his younger brother's bedside. There his brother lies in a "four-foot box, a foot for every year". While sometimes deaths in the family, especially an unexpected death like that of a child occurs, members of the family unite to strengthen on another during the difficult time.

In "Mid-Term Break," Heaney illustrates with diction, imagery and symbols the distance between this young college student and his family. When the speaker arrives home, there are strangers in his home. Other people are already present to console his parents and yet he was away and most likely feeling embarrassed because he was unable to be present. In stanzas three and four the hands are referenced. In stanza three the speaker shakes hands with the older men and in stanza four he holds his mother's hand. Never does the speaker verbalize feelings surrounding the child's death. While in the room with his brother's corpse, candles are burning and snowdrops fall. Candles and snowdrops on window sills are materials that create the image of a home. These material objects are necessary for the speaker because he lacks a connection with his home and tries to recreate the feeling. His brother wore a bruise on his temple but did not have any gaudy scars. A scar is external and shows the world struggle and pain. On the other hand, a bruise is internal and eventually leaves. This is how the speaker's pain towards the four year old child's death is. He has feelings but the distance between he and his family and brother make showing that grief like his mother and father very hard.

Heaney uses strong images to share the story of the college student who lost his younger brother. Heaney can be describing how sometimes assuming life's responsibilities such as school distance us from those who mean the most to us.