Aunt Julia

“Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast“

Repetition of “very” applied to loud and fast draws immediate attention to the communication problem in the relationship and reinforces her extroverted nature/ spirit/ strengths

“I could not answer her-

I could not understand her”

Repetition-suggests a building increasing frustration at the barrier MacCaig faces when trying to communicate with his aunt. It also suggests distance and a lack of communication with his aunt. It also suggests distance and a lack of connection

“She wore men’s boots”

Word choice-suggests that Julia is both tough and practical

“Strong foot”

Word choice-suggests her toughness of character; her hardness

“Stained”

Word choice-has connotations of permanence and something that doesn’t go away. This suggests her connection to the land; it is part of her. The colour of her bare feet is the result of routinely digging out the peat for her fire

“Marvellously”

Word choice-draws attention to how magical and wondrous the spinning yarn being conjured out of thin air with extraordinary skill seemed to him as a child from the city. A tone of admiration and awe at her skilled and delicate feminine grace is created here

“Hers was the only house”

Affectionate tone-placing the possessive pronoun ‘Hers’ at the start of the line when coupled with the emphasis on ‘only’ suggests that the poet seemed almost more comfortable and sage there than anywhere else

“Absolute darkness”

Word choice-the harsh alliteration of ‘box bed’ convey the small size of the house, it’s isolation and possibly harsh conditions (all which could have been scary), yet it is all clear that MacCaig feels a deep sense of comfort and reassurance when staying at his aunt’s, as we can also see connotations of calm and peaceful

“Crickets being friendly”

Personification-suggests harmony with nature and underlines the comfort he feels, snug within the curtains of the box bed with his aunt close by in the tiny house

“She was” “she was” “she was”

Repetition-bombards our senses and helps to convey this constantly moving, natural, unstoppable, elemental side of his aunt. We get a vivid impression of her through this whirlwind of activity. She is a symbol of this landscape, lifestyle and culture

“She was buckets”

Metaphor-suggests she was the tasks that became part of island life.

“Flouncing”

Word choice-gets across her energy and vigour; she was constantly moving. Her spirit is truly captured here, which makes the contrast at the end of the poem more shocking

“She was winds pouring wetly round house-ends”

Metaphor-connects her to nature and suggests her forceful, strong personality

“She was brown eggs, black skirts and a keeper of threepennybits in a teapot

Metaphor-convey her basic lifestyles, her self sufficiency, down to earth nature and thrifitness

List-shows the number and variety of objects MacCaig connects to his aunt, revealing the sheer impact she had on him

“Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic very loud and very fast” (2)

Repetition-signalling a rounding-off in his reflections and a reminder of the language barrier that separated them. This repetition brings cohesion to the poem as it begins and ends with AJ

“By the time I had learned a little”

Regretful tone-irony as he admits that by the time he had learned some of his aunt’s language, he was too late to use it with her

“Silenced”

Word choice-conveys the now complete absence of sound and the awful finality of death for an atheist like the poet. In contrast to the activity and chatter of Julia’s working life she has been made still and silenced by death 💀

“Absolute black”

Word choice-it echoes the earlier description of night time, yet this time, it offers none of the same comforts. This description suggests a deep void of death and the idea of no return

“But I hear her still, welcoming me with a seagull’s voice”

Personification-captures Julia’s connection to nature effectively but also suggests something of the harsh, loud shrill and baffling nature of his aunts voice and language the he could not understand

“Getting angry, getting angry 😡 “

Repetition-both Julia’s frustration at not being able to communicate with her nephew and MacCaig’s own frustration at the questions she could never answer for him. The repetition itself creates the idea 💡 of a building, increasing frustration

“Unanswered”

Enjambment-emphasises his enduring frustration at these unanswered questions that never will be answered. Tone of regret is once again apparent here