Aunt Julia Flashcards
What did the poet do instead of communicating with her?
Watched Julia work- admiration? (“While her right hand drew yarn”)
What technique suggests paddling in “paddling with the treadle of the spinning wheel
Onomatopoeia (paddling the spinning wheel) and visual image
Treadle: leaver worked by the strong foot
Spinning wheel: made the yarn, he was fascinated by this
Did she have any help doing things?
No she was all alone doing all the chores and taking the peat for fuel/heat
What did MacCaig notice about her?
“Her strong foot” (sees her strong bare foot stained with peat) wider themes: strong, admiration and practicality
What sort of lifestyle did she live?
Simple, rustic
She only had 1 pair of shoes when….
“When she wore any”
“She wore men’s boots”
Visual image, they were big and ugly (suggests she had big feet) and they were practical (also suggests that they were second hand)
What was the wider theme when the poet says “I could not understand her”
Lack of understanding and frustration
“I could not answer her”
Parenthesis explains why the poet could not answer (she was speaking Gaelic and he can’t understand it)
What does the intensifier make you think of in “she spoke very loud and very fast?
It uses enjambment, makes you think that she is continually speaking, (also talks about the past)
How did she speak?
“Very loud and very fast”
What language did aunt Julia speak that MacCaig couldn’t at the time
She spoke Gaelic whilst he spoke English
What technique suggests paddling in “paddling with the treadle of the spinning wheel
Onomatopoeia (paddling the spinning wheel) and visual image
Treadle: leaver worked by the strong foot
Spinning wheel: made the yarn, he was fascinated by this
How could very loud and very fast seem to a small child?
It could be quite confusing/scary but also frustrating as he wanted to get to know her
Analyse “with so many questions unanswered.”
“So many”: about why/how she’s passed (Misses her a lot)
“unanswered”: Regretful tone? Really wanted to get to know her as she seemed very interesting
What technique does “and getting angry, getting angry” use?
Repetition: MacCaig is getting angry as no one is trying to help all her vegetables or at least eating them
What happened to her peat scrapes and lazy beds after she passed?
No one took care of them at all
Across how far could he hear her voice?
“Across a hundred yards of peat scrapes and lazy beds”
What technique is used in “with a seagull’s voice”
Metaphor - emphasis on her loud and annoying voice
“But I hear her still, welcoming me”
“Hear her still” - he can still hear her fast and loud voice
misses her a lot and think that she’s still there
Where was she buried?
In a “sandy grave at Luskentyre”
South of the Isle of Harris - somewhere important to her?
Analyse “silenced in the absolute black”
Silenced: she could no longer be that very loud and very fast person
Repetition of the absolute black suggesting she is lonely after passing even more than she was when she was alive
“By the time I had ‘L’earned a ‘L’ittle, she ‘L’ay” what technique was used?
Alliteration: the ‘L’ connect the alliteration to the
”I had learned a little she lay silenced”
“ a little, she lay” - She lays in a coffin in the ground (first time she’s been quite and still)
Theme: sympathy for MacCaig (cared and loved her a lot)
What 2 lines where repeated in stanza 5?
“Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic”
and
“very loud and very fast.”
Where did she hide her money?
Her teapot is the keeper of her money (suggests little money/saving them)
She was a keeper of….
Threepennybits
Keeper: most likely a jar or something to keep all her money safe
“She was brown eggs, black skirts” analyse “brown eggs” and “black skirts”
Brown eggs: her chickens eggs
Black skirts: all the mud and dirt all over her skirt (her hard work)
What’s the quote which suggests a small smooth house?
“round house-ends.” (Cosy but tiny)
“She was winds pouring wetly” suggests…
Rough, bleak environment.
And her determination to keep working whilst it’s raining (shows how tough she is in all conditions)
“and water flouncing into them.” Analyse water and flouncing
Water: used for cleaning yourself/drinking
Flouncing: Personification describing Julia’s personality. Connotations of constant movement
(Practical and independent)
What does “crickets being friendly.” (Stanza 3) and “She was buckets” (stanza 4) have in common
Both metaphors
Enjambment links the two sections of each metaphor
Why does MacCaig say “She was buckets”
Uses a lot of metaphors (didn’t know her well)
“Was”: past tense (looking back? Or foreshadowing)
Buckets: suggests hard work and physical labour
“Crickets being friendly”
Metaphor: he didn’t know that they were looking for a mate
Describe the box bed he payed on
It was a simple wooden bed with a drape separating it from the room
Very hard, uncomfortable bed yet he relaxes in it
Analyse “in the absolute darkness”
Absolute: sees only black nothing else
Relaxed but lonely, makes us feel as if he’s all by himself
What was the big novelty he found at his aunts?
The box bed (exciting as it’s new)
Childhood Innocence- listening to the crickets’ mating calls
What does “hers was the only house” suggests?
She’s the only one that’s there- suggests she lived by herself (either a widower or spinster)
Might be happy by herself
Theme: independent
Analyse “Marvellously out of the air”
Visual imagery- watched her produce yarn out of wool, it probably seemed like magic
Marvellously- connotation- fascinated, admiration (disbelief)
Theme: practical, awe- a sense of wonder, frustration
