The Lammas Hireling - Key Themes

Question 1

How is transgression explored?

Answer 1

There is a clear link to the idea of transgression and taboo throughout the poem, linking both the real and supernatural with contrasting ideas. Many boundaries of human interaction are blurred, making a reader question the narrator’s reliability, and this confusion is maintained beyond the end of the poem.

Question 2

How is language and truth explored?

Answer 2

It is very clear to a reader by the end of ‘The Lammas Hireling’ that accuracy and truth are likely to be hard to find from the narrator of the poem, with numerous examples as to why they are untrustworthy in their account. As such, the poem is very effective at maintaining confusion for the reader due to so many unanswered questions.

Question 3

How is society and culture explored?

Answer 3

The confusion between the narrator’s wife and the hireling raises questions for a reader that are never adequately answered, with both a mix of feminine and masculine imagery combining to question what a normal response of society would be. The poem is also based in the traditional agriculture and pagan cultures, and shows how society can fail when cultures and unsuccessfully mixed.