Aunt Julia

“very loud and very fast.”

Suggests she is a big character, repetition, frustration over not being able to understand her.

“spoke Gaelic”

Immediately establishes the language barrier

“Strong foot”

Strong at physical labour

“I could not answer her/ I could not understand her.”

Repetition, main theme of frustration and language barrier

“I could not understand her”

Both the way she talks and her way of life are different and confusing for him

“She wore men's boots”

A capable women in work, lacking in femininity and going for a more practical choice

“When she wore any”

Close and in touch with nature

“Stained with peat”

She works so hard she has become stained by it, blends in with nature

“Marvelously”

Entrancing to watch, looks up to her, seen by a young boy

“Hers was the only house”

Her significance to him, alliteration, draws attention to Aunt Julia’s belongings

Absolute darkness

There are no city lights, he isn’t afraid, calming to him

“box bed”

keeps you warm, comforting, secure, his home was more modern so he doesn’t know this way of life

“She was buckets”

Metaphor, so close to nature she is part of it, she is remembered as her work

“Flouncing”

In motion, personification, full of life

“Water…winds”

Comparing her to the the elements and the life that she lives

“Winds pouring wetly”

Alliteration, intertwined with the natural weather

“Brown eggs, black skirts… threepenny bits”

Simple mundane objects, domestic, natural eggs, traditional skirt, careful and saves up money, power of three

“Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic/ very loud and very fast”

Repetition of the first stanza, reflecting, concluding the poem

“By the time I had leaned”

Tone of regret and frustration, the communication barrier was never resolved

“She lay/ Silenced”

Enjambment, makes it look like she is sleeping, peaceful

“Silenced”

She is now dead, contrasts with her ;lively self to her death

“Absolute black”

Contrast to the previous stanza, no longer comforting, conveys the frighting bleak void of death

“Sandy grave”

“buried in nature, still surrounded by it in her death, buried near the coast

“Welcoming”

closeness and fondness of their relationship

“I hear her still”

She left a lasting impression on him

“Seagulls voice”

connecting her to nature, loud, noisy, can be heard, you cant understand a seagull like he couldn’t understand her

“across a hundred yards”

confidence and liveliness

“peatscrapes and lazybeds”

location and the farming lifestyle

“getting angry, getting angry”

repetition, frustration

“unanswered”

speakers enduring sense of frustrations of not being able to talk to her, draws attention to the fact that he will never know