Sounds of The Day Flashcards
What is this poem about?
It is about MacCaig’s sense of loss, about his pain and hurt at the end of a relationship
What does MaCaig use in the first stanza to create a feeling of life and vitality?
He uses nature in the opening stanza create a feeling of life and energy. Horses ‘clatter’ across a bridge and even the air ‘creaked’. Water is described as both a gentle ‘snuffling’ and then a ‘black drum’ as it topples down a waterfall. Very vivid imagery shows his delight in the natural world and sounds.
How is the nature in the first stanza used as a contrast later on in the poem?
It is used to contrast with the absolute silence MacCaig feels when he is left alone next to ‘the quietest fire in the world’
How many stanza’s does the poem have?
4
What themes does this poem primarily deal with?
This poem deals with the themes of love and loss.
What makes the development of the poem surprising?
The title, like the first stanza, seems almost innocuous and gives no hint of the dark, melancholic end to the poem.
What important image introduces the theme of loss and parting?
The closing door is an important image in the poem and introduces the theme of loss and parting.
What breaks the parallel structure in the first stanza?
The parallel structure of the sentences in the opening stanza is suddenly disrupted - the door, “scraped shut”, is not linked to something straightforward, it stands for the significance of parting.
What is the separation like for the speaker?
For the speaker, the separation is significant and painful. He feels his life has been changed and his senses have been altered forever.
What does Norman MacCaig explore in this poem?
- MacCaig explores how parting affects us in a profound way. He captures both the initial, difficult pain of a break-up but also the lasting effect such experiences can have on us.
- Ironically, it is the rawness of this pain that helps to emphasise the intensity of emotion the relationship brought.
- Love is often depicted in poetry positively, yet this love has resulted only in pain and heartbreak, leaving the reader to consider whether this relationship has been worth the pain of parting.
How do we know the speaker has very strong observational skills
MacCaig’s observational skills are evident in the precision with which the sounds are described in stanza one.
The horses “clatter”, the air “creaked”, with the sound of the lapwing, the waves emit a “snuffling puff” over the rock and the waterfall is the sound of “black drums”
MacCaig uses onomatopoeia and alliteration to imitate these specific sounds, some of which seem to startle the speaker while others are more pleasing.
What is most significant is the acuteness and descriptiveness of these distinct sounds in emphasising how alert the speaker is to them.
Celebration of Natural Beauty
In the first stanza, nature is shown to be alive and full of sound. It reflects life being full of vitality and energy. Here silence is something enriching which allows the speaker to hear and appreciate the natural world.
The word choice suggests a speaker at ease, enjoying the moment. The list in this first stanza is inverted, with the sound coming before the subject or object that makes them.
In this way, the speaker emphasises it is the sound, rather than the horses or bird, or ocean or waterfall that is most evocative and memorable about this day.
*Metaphor “ clatter….horses crossing the ford”
Implication of water which is a life giving property and valuable and the fact such delicate sounds can be heard suggests a still, practically silent environment which paints the picture of the speaker relishing in the natural beauty of his surroundings.
- Personification “Lapwing seeing us off the premises of its private marsh”
The personification of the lapwing is light-hearted and playful. The bird becomes territorial, a landlord or gamekeeper, ushering the speaker from its domain. It is a humorous image, which gives the bird power and importance, showing how he is celebrating the power of the bird and he is enjoying the natural beauty of the surroundings.
*Metaphor “black drums rolled”
This image implies music and drama which are two very beautiful things. It also suggests power of nature and the beauty that comes with it.
- Word Choice “snuffling”
Childhood innocence, playful and cute.
What change of mood do we experience in the first stanza?
However, the word choice of” black” the adjective used to describe the drums in the closing lines of the opening stanza hints this poem may have more serious undertones.
On its own, this image is an appropriate way to interpret the deep, thundering tones of the waterfall.
When we read further, the drums have a deeper meaning and become an ominous, brooding sound-effect marking a turning point and foreshadowing the bleaker ideas contained within the remainder of the poem.
How does sentence structure play an important role in the poem?
Sentence structure plays an important role in the poem to establish the contrast between the first stanza and the lines that follow.
The inversion of the relationship of the sound to the object from the previous stanza ends here in the line “the door/scraped shut.”
This change places the door in the more prominent position while the sound of it closing coming at the end helps to reinforce the assertion in the remainder of that stanza it was “the end/of all the sounds there are.”
How is the absence of sound so important in this poem?
From here on the absence of sound in the poem is hugely important. The silence that allowed him to hear so keenly the sounds of the natural world has returned, yet this silence is oppressive and suffocates the speaker’s aural sense.
