The Lammas Hireling - Poem Analysis Flashcards
IAN DUHIG (10 cards)
1
Q
Who is the poem by?
A
Ian Duhig
2
Q
What does the poem explore?
A
The poem looks at many different ideas and feelings, represented through a wide variety of techniques.
3
Q
Who is Ian Duhig?
A
Born in 1954 in Ireland, Duhig grew up in England and has won the national poetry competition twice. ‘The Lammas Hireling’ achieved second place in this competition in 2000. He is known for his inventive use of language, and uses his strong knowledge of literature, culture and history to support his work. This poem is particularly curious as a result of the layers of meaning and different interpretations, with unfamiliarity acting as a strong contributor to the poem’s effectiveness.
4
Q
Analyse the title. (‘The Lammas Hireling’)
A
- The title relates to an old harvest festival, traditionally on August 1st. This would be the day in which farmers went to their local town or village to hire farm hands to help bring in the harvest, which at this point would be reaching peak output.
- By focusing on a single unnamed individual, it would immediately bring a sense of intrigue and mystery to the poem, and indicate that the subject matter is specific to one person rather than to anything else.
- Some readers may interpret this as showing an attempt to distance the worker from the narrator of the poem by there not being a name involved, perhaps alluding to some notable event in the relationship between the two.
5
Q
Analyse the poems structure. (Enjambment)
A
- There are four stanzas in total in the poem, each made up of six lines.
- Enjambment occurs between all of the stanzas to create the effect of ongoing quick and frantic speech, with little opportunity to pause for reflection on what has been said.
- This helps to increase the level of confusion felt by a reader, and is one of the reasons why it is initially difficult to understand the meaning of the poem.
- In addition, the breaks between stanzas often act as ‘hinge points’ for the poem, particularly between the first and second stanza when the tone shifts to be more mysterious and disturbing.
6
Q
Analyse the structure. (Different sentence lengths)
A
- There is a wide mix of different sentence lengths throughout ‘The Lammas Hireling’, varying from several lines to only one line or less.
- Again, this helps to encourage the feeling of confusion and make a reader see the narrator as erratic.
- By ending the poem on one final line a contrast is shown in comparison to the preceding lines because it feels much more rigid in structure.
- This can be seen as reflecting the idea of conforming to the ideas of church and religion, which are shared through this idea of “confession”.
7
Q
Analyse the structure. (repetition)
A
- When skimming the poem, it becomes clear as to how often the word ‘and’ is repeated at the beginning of a line, occurring at the beginning of five lines, particularly in the first stanza.
- This gives the idea of further building up a story, but could be interpreted by a reader as also indicating that this may be a fantasy and unrealistic.
- This could be seen as a deliberate choice by Duhig as this would further make the actions of the narrator seem implausible by the end of the poem, and reinforce the confusion of the reader, forcing them to consider the poem more extensively and question their views on the truthfulness and authenticity of the piece.
- By encouraging the reader to question the authenticity of the narrator’s version of events, it raises the interesting question as to whether what is written has been too easily trusted.
8
Q
Analyse the poetic techniques. (metaphor)
A
- Using specific word placements helps to continue the sense of confusion, often in relation to the ideas of “light” – whether that be something physically light in weight, or happy and positive connotations.
- For example, the first line describes a “light heart” which may allude to an emptiness in love and emotion, or alternatively a positive and happy feeling.
- Similarly, the oxymoron “light from the dark lantern” makes a reader question the effectiveness of the lantern if it is not truly able to show light and clarity on the situation, acting as a metaphor for the confusing events of the second stanza which links the ideas of the narrator’s wife, the hireling, and warlocks all into one section.
- In addition, describing the moon as a “yellow witness” is interesting because it could be interpreted as indicating that the light it gives (both literally and figuratively) is somehow tainted, in contrast to the typically ‘pure’ colour of white.
9
Q
Analyse the poetic techniques. (semantic field)
A
- Duhig also utilises a semantic field of the supernatural, with words such as “warlock”, “night” and “dark”.
- This helps to add one of the extra layers of meaning to the poem, as it makes the reader question the reality of this situation, continuing with the general skepticism of the narrator’s story.
- Typical connotations of these words include danger, mystery and the unknown and this would make a reader apprehensive of the situation, but also potentially dismissive that the events took place as described.
- What is also interesting is the inclusion of the idea of religion in this context, which acts as a positive force against the ideas of the negative supernatural imagery.
10
Q
Analyse the poetic techniques, (Personification)
A
- Personification aims to reinforce the theme of the supernatural, for example “the fox-trap biting” gives the impression that it has been ‘possessed’ to be given animal or human like qualities.
- In addition, the description helps a reader to focus on this section, and opens up the possibility of multiple interpretations; for example whether this is to stop foxes getting into the farm, or to stop people from leaving.
