MacCaig Aunt Julia

Question 1

Analyse this quote in stanza 1
“Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic”
(What is Gaelic, what it tells us)

Answer 1

Memories of poet’s aunt recalled from childhood
Gaelic: Highland/Island spoken language. Guttural, harsh sounds. Poet can’t speak Gaelic- Communication breakdown.
This tells us that there’s a language barrier and the writer would struggle to understand her at all.

Question 2

“Very loud and very fast”

What is the technique used here and what does it show us.

Answer 2

The repetition of “very” emphasis the fact that she has a large personality and is proud of her heritage.
“Loud” and “fast” suggests that it is confusing/scary/frustrating for the poet.

Question 3

“I could not answer her-“

Stanza 1

Answer 3

Parenthesis explains why the poet could not answer.

Question 4

“She wore men’s boots when she wore any”

Stanza 2

Answer 4

She wore men’s boots or no shoes. Normally in the Isle of Harris the women wouldn’t wear any shoes.

Connotation of a rustic-simple lifestyle.

Question 5

“Stained with peat”

Answer 5

Peat: boggy soil formed from partially decayed vegetation. Commonly found in the Scottish Highlands. Used in agriculture and can also be burned as fuel.

Question 6

“Paddling with the treadle of the spinningwheel”

Answer 6

Paddling: pushing her foot up and down
Treadle: leaver worked by the foot

This suggests that Aunt Julia spun her own clothes.

Question 7

Analyse “while her right hand drew yarn”

Stanza 2

Answer 7

The poet watched Julia work because they couldn’t communicate- sense of admiration? The poet perhaps wishes he could have asked her about her work?
This tells us that Aunt Julia is good at multitasking.

Question 8

Analyse “where I’ve lain at night in the absolute darkness”

Answer 8

The poet feels relaxed in his memory. The word choice of “absolute” suggests that nothing but darkness in front of him.

Question 9

What is a box bed?

Stanza 2

Answer 9

A simple wooden bed with a drape separating it from the room

Question 10

Analyse “she was buckets”

Answer 10

Poet didn’t know Aunt Julia well- he uses a series of metaphors which compare Julia to items which he used to define her in absence of her personality.
Was: past tense. Poet is looking back. Foreshadows Julia’s death?
Buckets: Suggests hard work and physical labour. Tone of reliability?
Enjambment links the two sections of each metaphor.

Question 11

“And water flouncing into them”

Answer 11

Flouncing: Personification describing Julia’s personality. Connotations of

Flouncing- movement/energy/vigorous.

Flouncing is referring to the water splashing very vigorously. This also implies she was normally in a hurry.

Question 12

“She was winds pouring wetly”

Answer 12

Rough, bleak environment. Suggests the water is personified
A metaphor suggests that the climate was very harsh.

She isn’t taking much care as she has other things she also needs to be doing. He is used to seeing her outside in the rain as her jobs can’t wait.

Question 13

“She was brown eggs, black skirts and a keeper of threepennybits”

Answer 13

Brown eggs: practicality, she keeps chickens

Black skirts: practicality

As she keeps the chickens that’s another thing that she needs to look after. It is also strange to the boy who is visiting as he is from Edinburgh and he wouldn’t have animals.

Threepennybit: A coin worth three old pence- worth just over one pence today.
Keeper: tells us that she is careful.

Question 14

“In a teapot”

Answer 14

We would normally keep our money in a piggy bank but she uses a teapot as it works the same and is practical. It is a thrifty thing to do.

Question 15

“By the time I had learned a little,she lay”

Answer 15

Alliteration: learned, little, lay.

This emphasises that he tried hard to learn Gaelic so he could one day he could communicate with his Aunt.

Question 16

Analyse in detail “silenced in the absolute black”

Answer 16

By the time the poet could speak Gaelic, Julia was dead.
Silenced: Aunt Julia was always loud and now she has been silenced by death.

Repetition- he said earlier “absolute darkness” in stanza and now this is referring to Aunt Julia laying in her coffin in the darkness. Symbolic of death.
Aunt Julia is finally at peace for once and this is a good thing.

This makes us feel very sad as Aunt Julia was finally silenced after been known for being a loud character.

Question 17

“Of a Sandy grave at Luskentyre. But I hear her still, welcoming me”

Answer 17

Luskentyre is in the south of the Isle of Harris. Perhaps somewhere that was important to Julia.
Caesura to stop and think about her last place. This tells us where she was buried and how although she is dead the writer still hears he voice, this shows us how her voice was easily recalled.

The sand is symbolic of childhood memories of being on holiday and playing in the sand.
The sand in the soil is easier to dig.

Question 18

“With a seagulls voice”

Answer 18

Metaphor: for how loud and how harshly she speaks. Seagulls voices are penetrating and really difficult to ignore.

Links to the idea of her voice being very loud and very fast.

Question 19

“Of peatscrapes and lazybeds”

Answer 19

Peatscrapes: Furrows in the land where the peat has been harvested

Lazybeds: Small plots where vegetables were grown.

Question 20

“And getting angry, getting angry”

Answer 20

Repetition: emphasis the anger that he feels towards this situation and also escalating the anger he has.
This shows us how the boy payed attention to his Aunt Julia’s attitude and what seems to be her short temper; that’s how he remembers her.

Question 21

“With so many questions unanswered”

Answer 21

So many: in a way this emphasises his anger and sadness as he is talking about how many questions he wished he could’ve asked but by the time he could he was too late.
Regretful tone? He is regretting how didn’t learn Gaelic quick enough to ask all his questions, therefore all his questions are unanswered.

This makes us understand that he had thought about his aunt and was interested in her life though he wanted to learn more.