Norman MacCaig, Aunt Julia. Flashcards
Analyse “Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast.”
Word choice/repitition: The poet begins with affectionate childhood memories of his Aunt. Repitition of “very” and “I could not” highlight how difficult/impossible it was to communicate with his Aunt.
Analyse “she wore men’s boots when she wore any.”
Word choice: The fact that she “wears men’s boots” suggests a woman who is very practical. Her work is physically demanding, both outdoors and sitting her house.
Analyse “paddling with the treadle of the spinning wheel”
Structure: The long line “paddling with…spinning wheel” highlights the length of time the spinning process takes or the yarn being drawn out. Aunt Julia is always shown to be moving, her hard working, active nature.
Analyse “drew yarn marvellously out of the air.”
Word choice: “drew yarn marvellously out of the air” conveys the sense of magic or illusion about the task in the eyes of the poet as a child. It suggests he admired her.
Analyse “the absolute darkness of a box bed,listenning to crickets beings friendly.”
Word choice: The poet shows affection in his description of his Aunt. Despite the typically frightening “absolute darkness”, the poet seems very comfortable and safe. This is clear when the crickets are shown to be “friendly”.
Analyse “she was buckets and water flouncing into them. She was winds pouring Welty round house ends.”
Metaphor: The poet feels his Aunt is so close to nature that she has became part of it. She is shown to be directly connected to both the wind and the rain.
Analyse “she was brown eggs, black skirts and a keeper of threepennybits in a teapot.”
Word choice: The poet also links his Aunt Julia to the collection of simple domestic objects. These objects she her to be natural, traditional and careful with money.
Analyse “Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast.”
Repitition: The poet returns to the opening line if his poem, providing a hint that we are heading towards the end of the text.
Analyse “By the time I had learned a little”
Tone: This is a turning point of the poem, as the poets tone has changed to one of regret and frustration,
.
Analyse “silenced in the absolute black”
Word choice: in contrast to the liveliness and activity of Julia’s working life, death has silenced her. “absolute blackness” is a reminder of “absolute darkness” in stanza 3 but this time the darkness is no comfort.
Analyse the phrase “welcoming me”
Word choice: Julia is still so connected to nature in his mind that he hears her in the sounds of nature, even after death. In other words, nature reminds him of her.
Analyse the final stanza “with a seagulls voice across a hundred yards of peatscrapes and lazybeds and getting angry, getting angry with so many questions unanswered.
Repetition: The repetition of the word “angry” in these final three lines suggests MacCaig is very frustrated. He is both a get at the questions left by the death of his aunt but he is also mourning the death of a traditional Scottish way of life. Here he is warning us to hold onto our culture and heritage of the island way of life. He is afraid of we allow it to die, like Aunt Julia, then it too will be lost forever.
