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Aunt Julia by Norman Mccaig Below Are a Few Readers' Views of One of the Easier Poems in the Selection. All Seem to Agree On

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Aunt Julia by Norman Mccaig Below Are a Few Readers' Views of One of the Easier Poems in the Selection. All Seem to Agree On Aunt Julia by Norman McCaig Below are a few readers’ views of one of the easier poems in the selection. All seem to agree on the symbolism of the central character as representing Scotland itself, its identity, its integrity, lost before it can be fully understood. Read through the four interpretations carefully, with the poem alongside, and decide which aspects you agree most with, and note and learn them. Don’t forget that your set theme is “Home”. See the sample paper for how you might be questioned. This poem denotes the childhood memories McCaig has. We get a clear, vivid and detail picture of an important figure in his life, his aunt Julia. He reminisces about her because we find out in the final stanza she is dead. He clearly tells the reader on many occasions he does not understand what she says, due to her Gaelic; however, for him to understand and observe her well we get an impression that he has an almost magical and spiritual relationship with his aunt. Some people may say that poem denotes his passion for Scottish heritage and anger, and for the loss of it as time moves on. They also say that Aunt Julia is a symbol of Scottish lifestyle, culture and language, which is disappearing in the modern world. The moral he is implying is once it has gone like Aunt Julia it has gone forever. McCaig has clearly shown to the reader the random nature of human thought when he is remembering his dearest aunt. He has written this poem to entertain, but the implications make readers question themselves what can they do to protect the Scottish heritage. One can indentify this poem portrays the random nature of human thought because it is written in a free verse style consisting of irregular stanzas, although one must appreciate the literary devices used to create such a vivid image in our minds. He uses descriptive words and phrases which appeal to all senses: sight, sound, touch , smell and taste. These show the nature of observation, and this observation and the random nature of his thoughts have made the reader closer to McCaig himself, as it is his voice in the poem. By far one the most effective device he uses is the list of three metaphors on stanza four. These metaphors make the reader involved with Aunt Julia almost in an interaction. In the metaphors he has also used personification – in the use of the word 'flouncing' , which personifies the water, it must also be noted that this human attribute given to the water is also one of Aunt Julia, which is what makes this such a successful poem. There are many other devices and images used, but I feel that what I have said already is enough to give you tasted to this marvellous, harmonious and highly emotive poem. [Chad-Z, heavily edited] The poem that I have selected is MacCaig’s 'Aunt Julia', which reflects upon his relationship with his Gaelic-speaking aunt on the Isle of Harris. Norman MacCaig was born in Edinburgh on the 14th November 1910, and divided the rest of his life between Edinburgh and Assynt, an area just north of Ullapool. He read 1 classics at the University of Edinburgh, and was appointed a fellowship in creative writing at the same university in 1967. In 1970 he became a reader in poetry at the University of Stirling. Norman MacCaig had deep familial links to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides which is where his mother was from. Like his Aunt (and unlike MacCaig) she could also speak Gaelic. I chose this poem because growing up in contemporary Scotland, I relate to MacCaig's description of being unable to communicate with his aunt, and the differences that she embodied. The second stanza concentrates on her strangeness – she wears men's boots and engages in hard labour. She has a craft. Aunt Julia is mostly described only as how she appeared to the author, who seems to know little or nothing about who she actually was. The personal information we are given about her character is about the way she talks, and the fact that she was frustrated by being unable to communicate with her nephew. I too have often felt isolated from my own heritage. As I don't speak the native language of my homeland, I can only learn about the origins of my culture from what I can see. Language is so integral to culture that it almost impossible to understand a culture without understanding the language – especially when that culture is based upon an oral tradition. Sadly for MacCaig, by the time he had learned enough Gaelic to be able to communicate with his aunt, she had passed away. Norman MacCaig lived until the 23rd of January, 1996. [Anna Gibson] Vocabulary Gaelic – any one of a number of Celtic languages spoken throughout the British Isles Threepenny bit – a coin worth 3 old pence (Just over 1p in modern value) Peat – decayed vegetation, compressed which is dug up from the peat bogs and used as fuel. Peatscrapes – scars in the bog where the peat has been removed 2 Lazybeds – the correct name for large beds of earth after the peat has been removed. Introduction “Aunt Julia” is an autobiographical poem in which the author looks back at his childhood days with Aunt Julia affectionately and now speaks regretfully that, following her death, he has lost the ability to converse with her in the Gaelic language. Meaning The fact that MacCaig repeats the word “angry” towards the end of the poem implies that there is something more than mere autobiography about the poem. He is passionate about his Scottish roots, and, maybe, Aunt Julia represents something more than a single person: she seems to stand for a way of life, a culture and a language which are fast disappearing in the modern world of technology and “progress”. Like Aunt Julia, once it is gone, it is gone for ever. Structure The poem is written in free verse, with five irregular stanzas. This style suits the poem because it reflects the random nature of human thought, as the poet reflects upon his past, and then becomes more passionate toward the end. Analysis The first stanza uses simple language and relies upon repetition to enhance the rhythm; this is appropriate for the idea of a poet musing upon his childhood. We are introduced to the slightly eccentric personality of his aunt with her loud, fast and incomprehensible speech. The use of the dash at the end of the third line suggests that the poet has adapted the thought in line 3 to make line 4 stronger. In stanza 2, he reinforces his aunt’s eccentricity, with his references to her footwear, but there is an extra dimension of hardiness, which is reinforced with the word “strong”. Again, he has made use of the dash to give the impression of an afterthought. He describes her as being in unity with the land because she is “stained with peat”, just as she is in unity with the task of turning a natural product, wool, into clothing. The use of the word “marvellously” gives her skill an awesome, almost magical quality. Despite the fact that the author claimed he could not “understand” her, this refers only to her language, because his descriptions of her reveal that he has a very clear “understanding” of who she is, and what she stands for. Stanza 3 has no endstops creating a sense of pace and excitement. The child is alone, at night, in a comparatively strange bed – of sorts. This is often a recipe for fear, but not in this case. Again, there is the concept of harmony with nature because of the “crickets 3 being friendly”. Despite the poverty, there is a different kind of wealth associated with this existence, a spiritual wealth and harmony. Stanza 4 bombards the senses with a list of three statements, all starting the same way (“She was…”) for emphasis. The same idea of unity with her life is contained within that idea that she “was” each of the tasks she performed, rather than a more familiar “she did”. Use of the word “was” reminds us that all of the tasks she performed were part of her existence – again, that sense of harmony in everything she did. The sense of touch is used with the water and the wind and “wetly”. The word “flouncing” carries an idea of sound, and the two colours in the same line create a picture for the eye, with the sense of taste hinted at with the eggs and the teapot. His aunt, despite her poverty, had a sense of pride and dignity about her, in her dedication to her work, her unity with the natural elements, even to the point of saving small amounts of money so that she could remain self-sufficient. The final stanza begins with the same two lines as at the beginning of the poem; this provides a kind of refrain and brings the poem neatly to a rounded end. There is an element of sadness in the fact that he is desperate to communicate with his aunt in her own language and learns enough – just too late - as she dies just at the time he feels ready. His anger is suggested by the finality of the vocabulary “silenced”, “absolute” and “black”. The slightly romantic-sounding “Luskentyre” adds to the feel that this woman belongs to another world. The irony at the end is the fact that he has been desperate to communicate with her during her lifetime and felt that he could not, but after her death there is a kind of communication between them, perhaps showing that the spiritual bond between them was always there and did not really need the mechanics of language.
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