 So far we have talked about imagery (metaphors,
personification, and any other striking images)
 Word choice (darkness vs. blackness)
 Some structure – the poem is split into 5 stanzas, and we have
summarized each
Form and Structure cont.
 The poem is divided into five stanzas which each
deal with a specific focus:
Stanza 1 – a child’s
memory of his aunt /
main recollection is her
language – Gaelic –
which he could not
understand.
Stanza 2 – describes his
aunt and how she
seemed strange to him,
for example, barefoot or
wearing men’s boots /
his descriptions give
insights into her way of
life.
Stanza 3 – he recalls
the strange
experience of
sleeping in a box bed.
Stanza 4 – vivid
images capture
aspects of her life e.g.
carrying buckets of
water as there is no
running water.
Stanza 5 –
by the time
he learned
some
Gaelic, it
was too late
to
communica
te with his
Aunt: she
had died.
 We will discuss tone, and go into more detail of the structure of
“Aunt Julia”.
Definitions:
 Tone: The poet or speaker’s attitude towards the subject
 Enjambment: The continuation of a line of poetry without a
break. The line of poetry goes over the end of a line with no
punctuation.
Form and Structure
 This is an autobiographical poem so it makes
sense that the poet employs a first person
narrative stance.
 Like all MacCaig poetry, part of its success
lies in his skill of using accessible language in
an incredibly skilful and effective way.
 Writing in free verse helps to create a
conversational style and tone, while the use
of enjambment and repetition allow him to
emphasise key aspects of the poem.
In your groups, go through the stanza assigned
to you and look for any repetition,
enjambment, or other features of structure
that are interesting. Also try to discern
MacCaig’s tone.
 Underline the examples you find
 Think about why MacCaig has structured the
poem in this way
Stanza 1
She appears
to be very
extrovert
and not shy.
Structure:
Repetition
emphasises
MacCaig’s
helplessness.
Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic
Very loud and very fast.
I could not answer her –
I could not understand
her.
She was
different,
as Gaelic
is not a
common
language.
Structure: This poem
is in free verse which
corresponds with aunt
Julia’s eccentricity
and unpredictability.
Stanza 1
 The repetition of I could not reinforces the idea of
the barrier in communication.
 However, despite this inability to understand or be
understood, the tone is affectionate and emphasises
that, even without a common language, strong
bonds can be created.
 Already in this vivid description we have the
impression of Julia as a dynamic, vigorous and
forceful character.
Aunt Julia is
quirky and
unconventio
nal
Peat: an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation
which forms in wetlands such as bogs
Treadle: rocking lever operated by the foot to drive a
spinning wheel
She wore men’s boots
When she wore any.
- I can see her strong foot,
She is burly,
and shows a
sense of
power and
strength.
Stained with peat,
Paddling with the treadle of the spinning wheel
While her right hand drew yarn
Marvellously out of the air.
He is in awe of
her and
admires her.
Stanza 2
Yarn: continuous
twisted strand
fibre produced on
a spinning wheel.
Stanza 2
 Structure: The long line paddling with the
treadle of the spinning wheel serves to
accentuate the lengthiness of the spinning
process and creates a sense of movement
and activity which MacCaig also associates
with his aunt.
 In almost every description of her in the
poem she is either in motion or speaking,
emphasising the shocking silent finality of
her death in the final stanza.
Stanza 2
 Language: The long vowels in her hand drew
yarn elongates the line and helps to convey
the impression of the wool being stretched out
and made taut.
 Language: The use of the present tense
throughout this stanza creates a sense of
immediacy and shows how vividly and
readily he can still access these memories.
Stanza 3
Hers was the only house
Where I’ve lain at night
Despite the darkness
and primitive
accommodation, he
feels secure and safe
In the absolute darkness
Of a box bed, listening to
Crickets being friendly.
Box bed: bed built into a recess in
a traditional Highland cottage,
separated from the main room by a
curtain or wooden panel.
The ‘darkness’
and friendly
crickets
contrast
No
punctuation –
shows
excitement.
Stanza 3
 In stanza three we see clearly that the
language barrier was surmounted by an bond
between the speaker and his aunt.
 The young boy feels safe and secure in Aunt
Julia’s home..
 Again the affection he feels for her is evident
in the decision to open this stanza with the
pronoun Hers, emphasising her significance to
him.
Stanza 4
She was buckets
And water flouncing into them.
She was winds pouring wetly
Round house-ends.
She was brown eggs, black skirts
And a keeper of threepennybits
In a tea pot.
Aunt Julia combines the
strength of nature and the
security of a domestic home.
Threepennybit: old eight-sided pre-decimal coin (worth
around 1p)
He compare to a
series of metaphors –
to do with nature
and things of a home
(clothing and money)
It is a hard life, she
did not have much
money but worked
very hard.
Stanza 4
 In stanza four, MacCaig employs personification and metaphor
to compare his aunt both with the elements he associates with
this landscape, the wind and water
 She appears to him to be vivid, larger than life, and so
connected with the landscape itself she becomes part of it.
 Again the impression conveyed is of a woman in constant
motion: the flouncing water gives a description of the
deliberate, vigorous way she moved.
Stanza 5
Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic
Very loud and very fast.
By the time I had learned
It is too late by the time
he had learnt his aunties
language. He cannot
communicate with her.
A little, she lay
Silenced in the absolute black
Of a sandy grave
Death =
Darkness
At Luskentyre.
Luskentyre – tiny village with spectacular
sandy beach on the island of Harris.
Shorter lines with
more pauses for
thought. Change of
atmosphere –
disappointment and
sadness.
Stanza 5
But I hear her still, welcoming me
With a seagull’s voice
Across a hundred yards
Her words are
incomprehensible. But she
still lives through nature, as
he still hears her through
the ‘seagull’s voice’.
Of peatscrapes and lazybeds
And getting angry, getting angry
With so many questions
unanswered.
Lazybeds: traditional way of growing
crops in small patches of soil using
ridges of soil.
Both are getting angry.
Aunt Julia is angry because
he could not answer her
questions. But he is
frustrated because he could
not get to know her better.
Stanza 5
 Structure: The final stanza opens by repeating the opening
lines of the poem: Aunt Julia spoke Gaelic/very loud and
very fast.
 However a darker tone enters the poem at this point. By
the time MacCaig had learned a little Gaelic, his aunt
was dead, lying silenced in her grave.
 Structure: The contrast between the loud, talkative vibrant
Aunt Julia in life and the utter, absolute quiet of death is
emphasised using enjambment to position silenced at the
opening of line five.
 The tone seems almost accusatory, as if blaming death
for suffocating and stopping her voice.
Stanza 5
 This sinister, unsettling tone continues in describing
the absolute black of her grave.
 Unlike the comforting security of the absolute darkness of
the box bed in the third stanza, the subtle shift from
darkness to black conveys the frighteningly bleak void of
death.
 However, he can still vividly imagine her calling to him in
welcome. Her voice is loud, carrying across a hundred
yards and shrill like a seagull’s piercing cry.
 Again, the metaphor used connects her to the natural
world which played such a huge part in her life. The poem
ends with the poet imagining her: getting angry, getting
angry, with so many questions, unanswered.
Stanza 5
 Structure: The repetition of the word angry in these final three
lines suggests MacCaig is warning us to hold onto and cherish
the culture and heritage of the island way of life. He is afraid if
we allow it to die, like Aunt Julia, then it too will be lost forever.
Overall Tone of Regret
 Different lines in different stanzas may have
different tones, but this poem has one overall
tone: regret
 The reason for this regret is that only after Julia's
death did the poet learn enough Gaelic to be
able to communicate with her.
 Hence all the questions that he would have
asked to her must now remain unanswered, just
as her questions to him as a child had been.
 Try your best to work through the questions about, ‘Aunt Julia’.
Make your answers and detailed and as mature as possible. Use
your notes.
 Imagine that you are the young narrator laying in your box
bed listening to the friendly crickets, writing a diary entry
about your visit to see Aunt Julia.