the lammas hireling Flashcards
“After the fair, I’d still a light heart
and a heavy purse”
value of human life
the oppressor can live life without consequence or justice
juxtaposition of “light” and “heavy” (establishing tension and conflict within the poem, and ideas of guilt)
“after” reveals themes of transformation
but juxtaposed by the continuity of “still”
”, he struck so cheap.”
following caesura, reflecting juxtaposition and ideas of conflict
“struck” ideas of luck (fortune and fate) versus the violence and force
questioning value of human life, and ideas of ownership of other people within relationships
ambiguity and juxtaposition of meanings present the narrator as conflicted, and unreliable
“And cattle doted on him”
god like power of the hireling
animals liking him, pantheism of nature
animals oppressed and owned like the hireling, zoomorphistic view of those ‘below’ one another
or hireling below animals, doting “on him”
short fragmented sentence structure + caesura/enjambment
further idea of unreliable narrator (not getting the full, unedited story- does not fit within the structure (dishonesty?)
also ideas of division, or not fitting in / isolation, through not fitting within a structre
out of tune with society / the present
stuck in the past?
ideas of not being in control
“disturbed from dreams of my dear late wife,”
starting stanza with enjambment, reflecting stuck in the past, cannot start a new era of life
alliteration of d creating a forceful (plosive), almost resentful effect to the lines (emphasis on disturbed, dreams, dear) whilst still having a storytelling, rythmic
disturbed - double meaning of haunted vs. crazy
“I hunted down her torn voice to his pale form.”
again zoomorphism of the people around him, but this time into prey
connection between “her” and the “him of the hireling, reflecting supernatural or subconscious (he now owns the guilt, its what grows his farm, he has to spend the rest of his life with it)
“torn voice” reflects the violence on her life and identity, cut short
“Stock-still in the light from the dark lantern,”
oxymoron of the “light” from the “dark”
reflecting the truth haunts him and cannot be ignored, the light/ truth/ guilt is inescapable
“stark-naked but for one bloody boot of fox-trap,
I knew him a warlock, a cow with leather horns.”
“stark naked” animalistic versus no pretences, nothing to hide, no conformity to society before loyalty to humanity
“cow with leather horns” ironic, leather made from the skin of dead cows, the violence of the hireling comes from the death of others like him (the late wife)
“warlock” male practitioner of magic, prosecuted like the witches of the middle ages, punishment from the devil, owned by the devil (owned by the narrator)
“The moon came out. By its yellow witness
I saw him fur over like a stone mossing.”
light imagery of the moon
mans destruction on nature, or natures witness to the destruction of man, men with power from society
yellow light due to the impurity of the world, stained with immorality
moon as the feminine, inescapability of guilt
“in a sack that grew lighter at every step
and dropped him from a bridge. There was no
splash.”
start of a stanza with enjamment, reflecting again the stuckness of the past or the inability to move on or conform
imagery of lightness / weight repeated for stanza one, cyclicality reflecting human nature
“in a sack” ownership and control, choosing other peoples journey an destination
“there was no // splash” enjambment reflecting he thinks the lack of splash absolutes his dismissal, but the thing still occured, just because he hasnt seen the consequences yet
