Aunt Julia Key Quotations Flashcards
‘Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast’
Word Placement of AJ foregrounds character. The word choice and repetition of ‘very’ further intensifies the difficult nature of Gaelic. Adjectives of ‘loud’ and ‘fast’ shows she is bold.
‘I could not answer her - I could not understand her.’
The Repetition (parallelism) of ‘I could not’ alludes to theme of uncertainty. It also introduces a contrast of characters where AJ is strong and bold and the narrator powerless and ignorant
‘She wore men’s boots when she wore any.’
The contrast of ‘she’ and ‘men’s’ shows how her life involves practicality (as she lives in the wilderness). The latter part of the quote shows her unconventional nature and compliments her bold and strong nature mentioned previously
‘I can see her strong foot stained with peat, paddling with the treadle of the spinning wheel.’
The choice of detail ‘stained with peat’ shows that AJ completes both male and female tasks, again emphasising her unconventional behaviour.
‘Marvellously out of the air’
The word choice of ‘marvellously’ has connotations of amazing and wonder, this suggests that AJ has immense skill in these tasks
‘Hers was the only house where I’ve lain at night in the absolute darkness.’
The word placement of ‘Hers’ shifts the focus from AJ too narrator. ‘Where I’ve lain at night in the absolute darkness .’ This is an unconventional positive memory, as we think of darkness as its connotations of danger and malice.
‘She was buckets and water flouncing into them. She was winds pouring wetly round house-ends.’
The focus returns to AJ and describes her way of life. ‘She was buckets’ just as water is free flowing and fast so too is AJ free and energetic. This metaphor introduces Metonymy where AJ is placed near water throughout poem. There is also a transferred epithet, it is AJ moving not the water.
‘She was brown eggs, black skirts and a keeper of threepennybits in a teapot’
Here we learn a little more of AJ’s life. The tradition of black skirts is common in this area of Scotland. we learn that she is wholesome (brown eggs), practical (black skirts) and frugal/possible generosity (in a teapot)
‘Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast.’
The repetition of the first lines returns the poem to the beginning, creating a circular structure. Gaelic is repeated 3 times emphasising its presence.
‘By the time I had learned a little, she lay silenced in the absolute black of a sandy grave at Luskentyre.’
The word ‘ a little’ emphasises that despite the length of the time he has still not learnt Gaelic, emphasising the difficulty he still has with understanding the language. The word ‘absolute black’ links back to previous.
The death of AJ symbolises the death of the Gaelic culture and way of life.
But I hear her still, welcoming me with a seagull’s voice.’
The word choice of ‘welcoming’ has connotations of warm and gentle.
‘getting angry, getting angry with so many questions unanswered.’
the repetition of ‘getting angry’ shows another dimension of characters. the word choice of angry leaves us confused. AJ is warm and gentle and determined is compromised by anger.
