Memorial Flashcards
“Everywhere she dies. Everywhere I go she dies”
Short sentence, matter of fact and to the point. This clarifies the theme of the poem which is how grief and loss can take over a life.
Repetition of “everywhere” emphasises the fact that her death is ubiquitous and inescapable for the speaker.
“dies” present tense suggests he is constantly replaying it in his mind. It is not in the past and he cannot move on.
“No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountain”
This is a list of places where her death is found and repetition of “no” emphasises how inescapable and ubiquitous her death is. She is always on his mind, wherever he goes. These are not scenes usually associated with death so this suggests death and grief is all he is.
“The silence of her dying sounds through
the carousel of language”
Paradox. Silence cannot make a sound. This highlights that the absence of his loved one has had a huge impact on him. A sudden silence can be noticeable and powerful.
Metaphor. The language is compared to a merry-go-round. This implies he now views language as light and frivolous. In contrast, silence of death is more profound and serious.
“It’s a web on which laughter stitches itself”
Metaphor. This is the silence left by death of a loved one compared to a spiders web which traps things, in this case laughter. He is saying that the death has robbed him of joy and is preventing his happiness.
“No crocus is carved more gently
than the way her dying
shapes my mind”
Comparison of speaker’s mind/imagination has been moulded by her death in the way nature shaped a beautiful flower. It has altered his view on life and inspired his creativity in the form of poems he has written about his experience.
“-But”
Dahs indicates change in direction/contrast
“black words”
Connotations of bleakness, emptiness of evil and darkness. In contrast to the way her death affects his mind in a creative way. This is a remind of the despair caused by death.
“the sound
of soundlessness”
Paradox. Sound cannot be soundless but the poet is emphasising just how hollow and meaningless death is. Death is “soundless” only silence remains, there is nothing left after death.
“thick” and “intolerable”
Word choice. Shows his grief is heavy, impenetrable and unbearable.
“She grieves for my grief”
Subversion. The usual way of things is reversed. Here it seems the dead women is grieving for the living man. This is an unusual phrase this reinforces how close the two people were as it conveys how distressed she would have been to see him in so much pain and misery.
“Dying she tells me
that bird dives from the sun, that fish
leaps into it.”
Subversion. This is a curious image as usually a bird would fly up and a fish would dive down. The poet seems to be saying that the world has been turned upside down by his grief at her death, the natural order of things has been disturbed.
“name the nowhere”
Paradox. This is a similar idea to “sound of soundlessness”. “Nowhere” is where the person is going after death. This shows MacCaig has no faith in life after death. For him, she has disappeared into a silent “nowhere”
“She is continuously going into”
Present tense again shows her dying is still present for him, it is still raw and he cannot escape from it. It is as if it is still happening over and over again.
“Ever since she died
she can’t stop dying”
This is a blunt, matter of fact sentence that recaps the first line of stanza 1. We relive that in the speaker’s mind he is constantly replaying the moment of death.
“She makes me her elegy”
Metaphor. This final stance contains 4 complementary metaphors in a row. This one compares the speaker to an elegy which is a song or poem about death. By saying he has become this and he is showing that his grief has taken him over completely, that he identifies with it totally. There is nothing but grief in his life so he has become a physical embodiment of an elegy.
