The Early Purges Flashcards
I was six when I first saw kittens drown.
‘First’ - he’s seen kittens drown more than once
Full stop emphasises that this is an attention grabbing sentence
This poem has 2 halves - what are the 2 halves about?
The first is about H’s childhood memory and the second is the present day when he is older
Dan Taggart pitched them, ‘the scraggy wee shits’
‘Taggart’ - a farmer or farm labourer
‘Pitched’ - not how you would generally handle a kitten
‘Shits’ - H is cutting through our sedimental attitude towards kittens - it is meant to shock us
Into a bucket; a frail metal sound
Soft paws scraping like mad.
There is contrast between the hard metal and soft fur - shows how defenceless the kittens are
‘Mad’ - they are desperate to live
But their tiny din
Was soon soused
‘Tiny din’ - shows how defenceless and powerless they are
‘Soon soused’ - sibilance - stresses the finality of the situation
‘Soused’ - drowned
They were slung on the snout
Of the pump and the water pumped in.
Repeated sounds - 2’S’s’ - shows the slosh of water as the kittens are thrown on the pump handle - and 2’P’s’ - the steady of the pump handle
‘Sure isn’t it better for them now?’ Dan said.
He thinks it is better for the kittens now they are dead
Like wet gloves they bobbed and shone till he sluiced
Simile
‘Shone’ - light bouncing off the wet fur
Them out on the dunghill, glossy and dead
There is juxtaposition between glossy and dead - glossy shows they still look beautiful but then dead is more shocking and real (it also comes right at the end)
Suddenly frightened
He suddenly fears for his own life as realises that he could die at any moment - he’s afraid of death - epiphanic moment
Suddenly frightened, for days I sadly hung
Round the yard, watching the three sogged remains
Turn mealy and crisp as old summer dung
This suddenly becomes a poem about how nothing lasts forever - transience
Until I forgot them.
Moving into the second halve of the poem - he’s losing his fear of death
But the fear came back
When Dan trapped big rats, snared rabbits, shot crows
Or with a sickening tug, pulled old hen’s necks
H is still shocked about all the death around him
‘Tug’ - short word - onomatopoeic
Still, living displaces false sentiments
Growing older changed the views he had in the past
And now, when shrill pups are prodded to drown
I just shrug, ‘Bloody pups’. It makes sense:
He’s older now and understands why all this needs to be done - he’s imitating Taggart’s view
‘Shrill’ - high pitched screech
