"An advancement of learning" and "Churning Day" both looks back at a memory of the poets past/ childhood. Compare how these poems deal with the relationship of past and present with "The Sick Equation"

... Post 1900 poetry "An advancement of learning" and "Churning Day" both looks back at a memory of the poets past/ childhood. Compare how these poems deal with the relationship of past and present with "The Sick Equation" Seamus Heaney has written 'An Advancement of Learning' and 'Churning Day'. Heaney, born in Northern Ireland in 1939 has therefore had quite a difficulty background. Most of his poems are about his childhood. Both 'Churning Day' and 'Advancement of Learning' look back on a childhood memory that is comforting to Heaney. In 'An Advancement of Learning' Heaney recalls coming across a rat when he was a child and he remembers being afraid of it. Heaney manages to overcome his fear and walk on past the rat, showing him growing a little wiser realising that the rat is no threat and advancing to another stage in his childhood; a braver one. I think the rat experience in

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