Natural world
Sounds of the Day -Natural world used to examine endings, intrusion
Memorial – surprising images of nature
Aunt Julia – crofting existence close to nature, a relic of the past – like the shark
Basking Shark – natural evolution
Visiting Hour – out of place, disconnected, fragility of patient
Assisi – imagery of dwarf and tourists, St Francis
Nature Imagery – Sounds of the Day, Territory –Basking Shark, Aunt Julia
Life Death and Suffering
Visiting Hour – imagery of dying is monstrous,
Assisi - dwarf has benefit of being alive – suffering
Memorial – walking elegy – poetic voice grieves for his wife
Sounds of the Day
Coping with death, loss, separation – Memorial, Sounds of the Day
Loss – Sounds of the Day, Memorial, Visiting Hour, Aunt Julia
Symbols
Basking Shark – monster, but reflecting on who the monster really is.
Assissi – dwarf is a ruined temple – a symbol of need and charity
Sympathy/empathy - Visiting Hour, Memorial, Aunt Julia, Assisi, Sounds of the Day
Fragility – Memorial, Contrasts with Aunt Julia
Monster s – glass fang – Assisi, Basking Shark
Darkness, hopelessness, silence – Memorial, Aunt Julia, Sounds of the Day.
Numbness – Sound of the Day, Visiting Hour, Memorial
Prejudice
– Basking Shark, Aunt Julia
Ideas – recreating a memory, nostalgia, celebrating a special moment, experience, – Memorial,
Aunt Julia, Basking Shark, Sounds of the Day, Memorial
Survival – Aunt Julia, Memorial
Traditions and loss of traditions – Basking Shark, Aunt Julia
Inability to communicate – Visiting Hour, Aunt Julia
Nature imagery – Sounds of the Day, Basking Shark, Memorial, Visiting Hour, Aunt Julia
Nostalgia – looking back to past – Basking Shark, Memorial, Sounds of the Day, Aunt Julia
Distance – Visiting Hour, Memorial, Sounds of the Day, Basking Shark, Aunt Julia
Techniques connect all poems
• repetition to emphasise a point,
• alliteration to highlight certain word or sound
• assonance to highlight a vowel sound
• parallel sentence structure to draw attention to the contrast
• Onomatopoeia to recreate a sound, vivid memory or experience
• Enjambment to highlight the word at the end of the line, but to run on deliberately – can reflect speed of progress.
• Rhythm of lines to reflect action of the poems
• Unusual images to describe something that has been life changing or shocking
• Word choice that recreates a scene
• Clever use of Imagery – (similes, metaphors, personification)
• Rhyme to highlight sounds or words

Poetry as a work of art – recreating any memory through the language of his craft -poetry– comparisons with nature, carving, trapping – web,
Unanswered questions – is this common to all his poems?
Nature imagery – all
Finality of death, loss of relationships – common with several MacCaig poems