Analysis of McCaig Quotes Flashcards
“marvellously”
Word Choice
(Aunt Julia)
- Connotations of something revered, magical, fantastic
“she was brown eggs”
Metaphor
(Aunt Julia)
- Compares Aunt Julia to brown eggs
- Just as brown eggs come from nature, so too Aunt Julia was one with nature
“wasted”
Word Choice
(Visiting Hour)
- Connotations of something/someone who is withered, beaten-down, gaunt
“A withered hand / trembles on it’s stalk”
Metaphor
(Visiting Hour)
- Compares the patient’s hand to a dying flower
- Just as a dying flower is old and withered, so too the patient’s hand is old and withered
“white cave of forgetfulness”
Metaphor
(Visiting Hour)
- Compares the hospital to a white cave
- Just as a white cave is lonely and isolated so too the hospital is lonely and isolated
“intolerable distance”
Word Choice
(Memorial)
- Connotations of mass-separation, remoteness and isolation, loneliness
“sound / of soundlessness”
Word Choice
(Memorial)
-Connotations of silence, quietness, isolation, blackout and loneliness
“No crocus is carved more more gently / than the way her dying / shapes my mind”
(Metaphor)
(Memorial)
- Compares the speaker’s grief to a crocus flower
- Just as a crocus is carefully shaped by nature, so too the speaker’s grief is shaped by the events of his loved one’s death
“carousel of language”
Metaphor
(Memorial)
- Compares the condolences of friends and family to a carousel
- Just as a carousel pointlessly goes round and round, so too the condolences are repetitive and pointless
“door / scraped shut”
Metaphor
(Sounds of the Day)
- Compares the relationship ending to a door shutting
- Just as a door shutting is abrupt and a symbol of an ending, so too the relationship ending is abrupt
“When you plunge your hand in freezing water / you feel / a bangle of ice round your wrist / before the whole hand goes numb”
(Metaphor)
- Compares the feeling of being broken-up with someone to plunging your hand into freezing water
- Just as plunging your hand into freezing water brings with it an initial shock followed by a numbing feeling, so too the feeling of being broken-up has an initial shock and an eventual numbing sensation
“roomsized monster”
Metaphor
(Basking Shark)
- Compares the size of the shark to the size of a room
- Just as a room is large in size, so too the shark is large in size
“matchbox brain”
Metaphor
(Basking Shark)
- Compares the size of the shark’s brain to the size of a matchbox
- Just as a matchbox is very small, so too the shark’s brain is very small
“twisted”
Word Choice
(Assisi)
- Connotations of something/someone contorted or out-of-shape
“slumped like a half-filled sack”
Simile
(Assisi)
- Compares the posture of the dwarf to a half-filled sack
- Just as a half-filled sack is often drooping or slouching, so too the dwarf is drooping or slouching
