aunt julia

Question 1

Very loud and very fast

Answer 1

Repetition emphasises her talkative nature. Full of life and energy

Question 2

I could not answer her -

I could not understand hrt

Answer 2

Repetition emphasises his frustration
MacCaig as a child observer
2 sentences in opposition to each other. AJ loud vs NM silent

Question 3

Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic
very loud and very fast
I could not answer her -
I could not understand her.

Answer 3

Two clear straightforward statements emphasise the frustration at the inability to understand AJ

Question 4

She wore men’s boots

Answer 4

Working - physical work.

More practical and not into fancy clothes

Question 5

when she wore any.

Answer 5

Normally barefoot, she is unconventional

Question 6

• I can see her strong foot,

Answer 6

• = shift tense
  “can see” = shift to present tense - creates a sense of immediacy
  “strong” = rustic, hardworking- physical being

Question 7

stained with peat

Answer 7

Stained = she is marked by island life 
Peat = source of fuel

Question 8

Drew yarn

Marvellously

Answer 8

Long vowel sounds reflect the stretching of the yarn

Marvellously- word choice reflects the admiration, wonder and magic

Question 9

Hers

Answer 9

Pronoun starts with hers to foreground the importance to him

Question 10

Only house

Answer 10

Unique and special experience. Very different to urban life

Question 11

Absolute darkness

Answer 11

This might normally suggest fear and threat but he suggests safety and security

Question 12

Box bed

Answer 12

Comforting

Question 13

Crickets

Answer 13

Surrounding by nature

Question 14

Being friendly

Answer 14

Adverb childish view of nature

Question 15

Buckets

Answer 15

Safe strong reliable

Question 16

Water flouncing

Answer 16

Series of natural metaphors she is at one with the weather.

Personifiying the water. Vibrant verb mimic her exuberant movements. Transferred epithet

Question 17

Winds pouring wetly

Answer 17

Alliteration reflects the power of the storm

Series of natural metaphors- she is at one with the weather

Question 18

She was brown eggs, black skirts
And a keeper of threepennybits
In a teapot

Answer 18

Domestic objects that are evocative of her life on the island
Julia is a symbol of traditional island life

Question 19

Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic

Answer 19

Repetition reflects the importance of the communication barrier - regret, frustration
Sense of circulatory

Question 20

Learned

A little

Answer 20

Emphasises sadness alliteration

Question 21

Silenced

Answer 21

Contrasts with the personality of Aunt julia

Question 22

Absolute black
Of a sandy grave
At Luskentyre

Answer 22

“Absolute” - link to stanza 3. She is part of the island now she has physically become part of the island. Her death is not all negative

Question 23

A seagull’s voice

Answer 23

Loud, incomprehensible- she is still present in nature

Question 24

Getting angry, getting angry

Answer 24

Repetition reflects the anger at AJs death, but also the death of a way of life

Question 25

Unanswered.

Answer 25

The word is left hanging like the unanwsered questions