“Scottish Text Question” Norman MacCaig “Scottish Text Question” Memorial Remember to visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/topics/zrphvcw

Learning Intention We are learning to: annotate the text and identify the use of poetic techniques.

Memorial - Norman MacCaig Context This poem is an elegy, a poem or song that is a lament for the dead, for a beloved person in MacCaig’s life. That person is probably MacCaig’s sister, Frances, who died in 1968 as this poem was published in 1971. Memorial is a sad and beautiful poem about how the sense of loss of the poet’s dear one pervades every aspect of his life. Her death, he makes clear, is not for him an event that has its place in the near past Instead the process of her dying stays with him constantly: the opening states, “Everywhere she dies” and in the final stanza, “she can’t stop dying”.

Context MacCaig is immersed in the “intolerable distance” of death, painfully conscious of its “ugliness”, and painfully conscious too of the all pervading absence of his dear one. MacCaig was an atheist. As such, in the face of death, there were no easy comforts for him of promises of life or resurrection beyond the grave. For him death presented an awful finality.

Form and structure This poem is written in free verse. Death of a loved one itself represents a formlessness, a loss of structure, the disintegration of close bonds of love and affection. The form (free verse) of the poem mirrors the theme (death of a loved one). Written from a first person stance in the past tense, the poem is divided by stanzas into three main sections: In the first stanza, the speaker introduces the subject of the poem - the death of a loved one. In the second he reflects and explores the impact of this painful experience He reaches a conclusion of sorts in the final stanza, by revisiting the point he made in the first line of her death being everywhere, ever present.

Themes The central theme of the poem is the sense of unending grief that is felt when someone we love dies. MacCaig creates a tone which is utterly hopeless in its despairingly bleak outlook. Nevertheless, there is an occasional glimpse of optimism and beauty contained within the image of the crocus, which is “never carved more gently than in the way her dying shapes my mind.”

Stanza One Notes Paired Task Underline, circle, or highlight any examples of the following in Stanza One and Stanza Two. We will go over the analysis as a class in 5 minutes, so be prepared to add to your notes. Examples of imagery Sound techniques Interesting word choice Examples of repetition

Everywhere she dies. Everywhere I go she dies. Memorial - Norman MacCaig Everywhere she dies. Everywhere I go she dies. The poem opens with the flat, slightly puzzling statement: “Everywhere she dies”. “Everywhere” is repeated for reinforcement in the same line: “Everywhere I go she dies”. The qualification “I go” helps us to understand what is meant by this– the poet cannot escape awareness of the death of his loved one. Blunt opening line Repetition of “Everywhere” “Go” – poet trying to move on? “She” – loved one lacks identity – ambiguous “Everywhere I go she dies” - Inversion

No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountain There follows a patterned list of places where her death, for him, is to be found: “No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountain.” The repeated use of the negative “no” emphasises how inescapable her death is for him. The specific choice of the situations in which he feels her death most keenly is also significant as they are not usually associated with death - a city square is usually bustling with people, while sunrise and mountains are associated with beauty. This suggests that the impact of her death has tainted these places and experiences as grief pervades every facet of his existence. “No” – Emphasising the negatives (Repetition) Sunrise, city square, beautiful mountain – typical romantic venues “lurking” – present tense Listing – building up to a climax

But – enjambment – emphasis Her – again, lacks identity but has her death in it. But – enjambment – emphasis Her – again, lacks identity Full stop - finality

The silence of her dying sounds through Silence…sounds – alliteration Dying – present tense again Poet focusing on sound – silence overpowering him?

The silence of her dying sounds through the carousel of language, it's a web Paradox in the line “the silence of her dying sounds through the carousel of language”; this works in the same way as the phrase “a deafening silence” – a silence so intense it makes an impact in the way a loud noise would. Here, this silence is sounding through the “carousel of language”. In this metaphor language is compared to something light-hearted and frivolous, so a carousel is something that goes round in a pointless fashion, going nowhere. By contrast the “silence” of death seems much more profound and serious. There follows a switch of metaphor in which the silence becomes a “web”, with its connotations of a deadly trap. On it, “laughter” is doomed to become stuck – it “stitches itself”. Carousel – going round Language – words of sympathy It’s – referring to the silence Web – caught up in it but also not part of it

on which laughter stitches itself. How can my hand Laughter – loved ones (attempting to comfort him) How can my hand….. – poet’s feelings of despair

clasp another's when between them MacCaig finishes the stanza on a deeply pessimistic note with a rhetorical question, asking how his hand can “clasp another's” when death is described as that “intolerable distance”, lies between them. Clasp – tight grip / holding onto memories Another’s – holding hands / shaking hands / thoughts of future love?

is that thick death, that intolerable distance? Thick death – metaphor (Grief is like a fog that we cannot get through) Use of rhetorical question – idea of being isolated Death is described as “thick”, an inevitable, impenetrable barrier between the living and the dead.

Stanza 2 Notes

She grieves for my grief. Dying, she tells me The opening of this stanza involves a subversion of the usual order by asserting “She grieves for my grief”. Again this reinforces the bond the two shared while she was alive implying she couldn’t bear to see him sad and suffering. She grieves – feelings of love / concern / sympathy towards the poet. Dying – present tense

that bird dives from the sun, that fish In his melancholic imagination she is permanently caught in the act of dying, and he pictures her telling him how “that bird dives from the sun” and “that fish leaps into it”. Both of these images represent a reversal of the normal order of things. The bird should fly towards the sun, and the fish should dive into the depths of the sea away from it. Death, by implication, is seen as a reversal of the natural state of living. Nature imagery – connotations of natural order / creates a sense of calmness

leaps into it. No crocus is carved more gently than the way her dying These images are things of beauty MacCaig acknowledges this in the comparison of the way his mind is shaped by them to the way a crocus is “carved” or shaped by nature. A stark contrast is made, though, at the end of the stanza. Reinforcing this contrast is the use of both a dash to indicate a change of direction Crocus…carved – alliteration Carved – connotations of intricacy / pain? Crocus – symbol for hope and renewal?

shapes my mind. – But I hear, too, Use of dash Hear – links back to the ideas of sounds

the other words, What follows is an image of him hearing “other words, black words” which whisper to him of the horror of the oblivion of the grave. This is done by a paradox, “sound of soundlessness”, which echoes the earlier paradox in stanza one. Words – condolences and sympathies from friends and well-wishers

black words that make the sound Black – metaphor – connotations of death / misery

of soundlessness, that name the nowhere There is also a chilling image of her “continuously” going into a “nowhere” these black words “name”. Death is presented as a kind of metaphorical journey that has no destination and never ends. Soundlessness – Sister has died. Nowhere – Heaven?

she is continuously going into. Into – vague / ambiguous. Connotations of death This stanza appears to be a flashback to when the loved one was alive. Poet’s feelings in Stanza 2 - Anger

Stanza 3

Ever since she died Back in the present moment, after loved one’s death Died – end of line EMPHASIS Like stanza one, this stanza opens with a flat, matter-of-fact statement that revisits the opening line: “Ever since she died/she can’t stop dying.” We realise it is within the poet’s consciousness that she “can’t stop dying”– his mind is forever tortured by this overwhelming experience.

she can't stop dying. She makes me She – enjambment Dying – present tense Can’t stop – involuntary She makes me – his grief is her fault / feelings of anger and denial Blunt A further simple statement follows as he begins to reach his conclusion: “She makes me/her elegy”. An elegy is song or poem associated with death, emphasising that his grief is so raw, so profound and all-consuming, he identifies entirely with it to the exclusion of all else - he has become a physical embodiment of an elegy.

her elegy. I am a walking masterpiece, Her elegy – He personifies her death and the grief she has left behind Masterpiece – strength of grief / connotations of greatness / he is the ultimate example of grief The term “masterpiece” is used satirically to convey how successful his transformation into a mascot for despair has been.

a true fiction Paradox Her death doesn’t feel real The oxymoronic “true fiction” shows us the idea of him being a representation of death’s horror or “ugliness”, and “true” conveys the completeness of this transformation.

of the ugliness of death. Ugliness – this image doesn’t fit in with the rest of the poem Connotations of dying with an illness

I am her sad music. Sentence on its own Relates again to the ideas of sound Poet accepting of sound again? Poet’s feelings - Acceptance The final simple line sums up one of the central ideas in the poem: “I am her sad music”. This pessimistic note again emphasises the ceaseless, all-encompassing nature of the grief and sorrow that consume him.