AUNT JULIA - annotated

Question 1

Aunt Julia

Answer 1

structure - poem begins with direct reference to aunt-
emphasises her importance to poet.

Question 2

very loud and very fast.

Answer 2

repetition - conveys her determined forceful character
word choice - conveys dominance of Julia’s personality. Both reflect confidence.

Question 3

I could not answer her —
I could not understand her.

Answer 3

repetition - conveys his inability to communicate with his aunt.
word choice - develops why he could not communicate with her. Both verbally and in life?

Question 4

She

Answer 4

structure - 2nd stanza again begins with direct reference to AJ - again emphasising her importance.

Question 5

wore men’s boots

Answer 5

word choice - suggests she is strong and practical
character - doesn’t care for appearances and
capable of doing tasks normally done by males

Question 6

when she wore any

Answer 6

suggests strength of character as she is often barefooted

Question 7

strong foot,

Answer 7

going barefoot outside links her with world of
nature.

Question 8

stained with peat,

Answer 8

word choice - links AJ with traditional, natural environment of the island. she is hardy.

Question 9

paddling with the treadle of the

Answer 9

long sentence and onomatopoeia - reflects length of time spinning process takes and the sound made

Question 10

spinningwheel

Answer 10

word choice - again connects AJ with skill traditional to
island life. harris associated with tweed.

Question 11

her right hand drew yarn

Answer 11

elongated vowel sounds - lengthens line and reflects wool being stretched.

Question 12

marvellously

Answer 12

word choice - connotations of something impressive, a spectacle - magical quality to her skill

Question 13

out of the air.

Answer 13

word choice - suggests impossibility, magic - poet impressed by AJ’s ability

Question 14

the only house

Answer 14

word choice - emphasises the bond they have and how special it was to visit AJ.

Question 15

absolute darkness

Answer 15

word choice - connotations of intensity, total darkness, something which would normally be scary but poet isn’t scared

Question 16

box bed,

Answer 16

alliteration - conveys idea of it being a strange location - being surrounded, content, security

Question 17

crickets being friendly.

Answer 17

word choice - childlike language, importance of natural world - sounds like a tale told by an adult -
removes fear from the situation - surrounded by warm, friendly nature

Question 18

She was buckets and water flouncing into them.

Answer 18

metaphor - highlights that she had no running water, simple life but worked through it, ‘flouncing’
suggests her energy, vitality

‘flouncing’ - transferred epithet - gives a
description of the deliberate,
vigorous way she moved.

Question 19

She was winds pouring wetly round house-ends.

Answer 19

imagery and alliteration - highlights the wild weather of Scotland which MacCaig experienced when there with her. links her to landscape. Also emphasises her fluid quality but also strong fluid nature.

Question 20

She was brown eggs,

Answer 20

metaphor - highlights her simple life of her croft
producing the food she ate

Question 21

black skirts

Answer 21

Word choice - connotations of
simplicity, plain - AJ was practical in
her clothes, knows they may get dirty.

Question 22

keeper of threepennybits in a teapot.

Answer 22

alliteration - shows her to be thrifty, careful with money. poet remembers little quirks that form the image of her in his memory.

Question 23

Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic

Answer 23

repetition of opening line - introduces his desire to learn Gaelic and the fact he only managed after she’d died. pathos/irony of situation.

Question 24

very loud and very fast.

Answer 24

contrasts between AJ and him - ‘very loud/fast” and ‘learned little’ shows her strength, energy and
purpose with his ineffective efforts.

Question 25

learned a little,

Answer 25

alliteration - highlights the irony of his situation - she’s gone before he can ask the questions he wants to. also shows how modest his grasp was.

Question 26

she lay silenced

Answer 26

sibilance - creates soft sound - stark contrast to her loud voice - shows what has been lost with her death. ‘silence’ suggests she was forced to stop talking by death - emphasises the finality of it. Enjambment also stresses this.

Question 27

absolute black

Answer 27

word choice - echoes ‘absolute darkness’ from earlier but no warmth, comfort this time - stresses his loss. ‘black’ has connotation of mourning too.

Question 28

sandy grave

Answer 28

word choice - she was buried beside the beach - another reference to her being part of nature.

Question 29

But I hear her still,

Answer 29

inversion and beginning sentence with conjunction highlights poet’s desire to keep her in his memory.

Question 30

a seagull's voice

Answer 30

word choice - compares her shrill voice to that of a seagull - notorious for being loud and high- pitched, again identifies her with natural world

Question 31

across a hundred yards

Answer 31

word choice - stresses the power of her voice - echoes idea that he can still hear it now.

Question 32

peatscrapes and lazybeds

Answer 32

word choice - again places AJ in the traditional, natural environment island

Question 33

getting angry, getting angry

Answer 33

repetition could convey either the poet’s frustration at his lost chance to ask his aunt the questions he had or her frustration that he doesn’t understand her when she speaks to him. word choice of ‘getting angry’ also conveys her powerful emotions and lack of sentimentality.

Question 34

so many questions

Answer 34

enjmabment leaves line hanging as he has been left with things he wanted to ask her. ambiguity - the questions he alludes to could represent her questions to him, which he was unable to answer, or the questions he would have loves to have asked.

Question 35

unanswered

Answer 35

word choice - connotations of confusion, mystery - by giving word its own line, poet stresses that this is the one thing that still bother him about his AJ.