1. Sounds of the Day
Norman MacCaig

2. Learning Intention: We are learning how to read the poem for UNDERSTANDING So that I can Understand the basic points of the poem before I study the poet's techniques Success Criteria: I can... Identify and define any unfamiliar vocabulary words Identify the speaker, setting and subject of the poem Summarise what happens in the poem

3. Sounds of the Day
When a clatter came, it was horses crossing the ford. When the air creaked, it was a lapwing seeing us off the premises of its private marsh. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock. When the black drums rolled, it was water falling sixty feet into itself.

4. When the door scraped shut, it was the end of all the sounds there are
When the door scraped shut, it was the end of all the sounds there are. You left me beside the quietest fire in the world. I thought I was hurt in my pride only, forgetting that, when you plunge your hand in freezing water, you feel a bangle of ice round your wrist before the whole hand goes numb. Norman MacCaig

5. Reading
As you read the poem, I want you to make a list of any unfamiliar vocabulary words that you come across and any questions or thoughts/observations that you may have.

6. Reading
Vocabulary
Definition
Questions
Answer
Other Thoughts

7. Problem solving
On your own, use a dictionary try to generate definitions for all the unfamiliar vocabulary words. You can use dictionaries or dicationary.com on your phone to help you! Make sure to look up every word you're not sure of and write it down in the table. I will be testing your knowledge of the vocabulary. Now I want you to turn your attention to your questions. Working with a partner, try to find an answer for each of your questions.

8. Now!
Working in the same pairs, read the poem again and take notes under the following headings
What (happens in the poem)
Where (do events takes place)
When ( do events take place)
Who ( is mentioned in the poem)

9. Consolidation
Pretend you are the speaker in the poem. Write a letter to the person who has left where you describe the events of that day and your thoughts and feelings towards them. ‘When I heard a clatter, it was horses crossing the ford. When the air creaked, it was a lapwing telling us to leave its private marsh. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock. When I heard the sound of thundering drums, it was water falling from a great height. I was content and relaxed listening to the sounds of nature. Then...’

10. Understanding (COPY)
The speaker in Sounds of the Day reflects upon a parting. Though the poem begins descriptively with the interpretation of sounds, it moves on to examine the impact of a separation. The poem opens with natural sounds, while the sound of a closing door signals the opening of the second stanza and turns the poem from the relatively pleasant picture of nature towards the darker, more reflective focus of an individual in emotional pain. The opening stanza paints a pleasant picture and indicates the speaker’s delight in nature where the speaker describes natural sounds - horses, a bird, waves and a waterfall. The shut door, described in the second stanza, is the turning point of the poem. Here the ideas move from a delight found in a variety of natural sounds to a description of one specific experience - a parting. The personal nature of the poem is apparent in the third stanza as the speaker addresses the person who has left. We get the impression of a figure, suddenly alone, faced with the consequences of a separation. Having established the theme of the poem, the speaker moves on to offer an honest assessment of how deeply he has been affected by the experience. The most striking imagery is reserved for the final stanza in which the speaker articulates the strength of feeling associated with the parting and a more emotionally raw description of the speaker’s feelings. The relationship has meant a lot to the speaker and the separation, though painful enough during the moment itself, has left a lasting impression.

11. Why?
Now that we have a good basic understanding of the poem, we have to think about the WHY question.
Why did the poet choose to write this particular poem about this particular incident?
What is he trying to share with the reader?

12. Themes
This poem deals with the themes of love and loss. The title, like the first stanza, seems almost innocuous and gives no hint of the dark, melancholic end to the poem.
The closing door is an important image in the poem and introduces the theme of loss and parting.
MacCaig explores how parting affects us in a significant way. He captures both the initial, difficult pain of a break-up but also the lasting effect such experiences can have on us.
Love is usually depicted in poetry positively, yet this love has resulted only in pain and heartbreak, leaving the reader to consider whether this relationship has been worth the pain of parting.

13. Analysis
Now that we understand WHAT is happening in the poem and WHAT MacCaig’s ’s message is, we now must think about HOW he chooses to express this message through his use of language.

14. Learning Intentions Learning Intention:
We are learning about the techniques used by MacCaig to convey the impact of the separation to the reader
So that I can
Understand and comment on MacCaig’s use of language in the exam
Success Criteria
I should be able to define and identify new and familiar techniques in the poem
I could also be able to comment on examples of new and familiar techniques
I might also be able to evaluate the effect of MacCaig’s use of new and familiar techniques

15. Structure
This poem is written in free verse made up of four irregular stanzas. The division between each of the stanzas helps to focus the reader on the specific idea that is contained within each one and the poem is organised in a fairly straightforward chronological order. The poem begins by describing sounds in stanzas one and two and moves onto describing feelings in stanza three and four. The memories evoked by the “sounds of the day” allow MacCaig to explore this difficult and emotional experience.

16. The Sounds - Copy
A pleasant impression of nature is conveyed during the opening of the poem. At first the title seems unambiguous and straightforward as the opening lines seem only to list the sounds of the day. In these lines MacCaig's observational skills are evident in the precision with which the sounds are described. Here silence is something enriching which allows the speaker to hear and appreciate the natural world. The word choice suggests a speaker at ease, enjoying the moment. The list in this stanza is inverted, with the sound coming before the subject or object that makes them. In this way, the speaker emphasises it is the sound, rather than the horses or bird, or ocean or waterfall that is most evocative and memorable about this day.

17. MacCaig begins by listing the sounds that he hears in a still silent environment. It begins in a positive and descriptive manner. What is most significant is the acuteness and descriptiveness of these distinct sounds in emphasising how alert the speaker is to them.
The speaker describes natural sounds. On its own, this stanza paints a pleasant picture and indicates the speaker’s delight in nature.However, we see that MacCaig’s grief causes him to collapse in on himself
When a clatter came, it was horses crossing the ford. When the air creaked, it was a lapwing seeing us off the premises of its private marsh. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock. When the black drums rolled, it was water falling sixty feet into itself.

18. The parting - Copy
The shutting door is a metaphor through which MacCaig compares the door closing to the end of a relationship. Just as a door closing creates a barrier between two places, so too the final moment of a relationship (the parting) represents the crossing point between togetherness and separation. From here on the absence of sound in the poem is hugely important. The silence that allowed him to hear so keenly the sounds of the natural world has returned, yet this silence is oppressive and suffocates the speaker’s aural sense. While before the speaker was delighted in describing the sounds of nature, now he shows us this pleasure has vanished. We get a clear sense of the painful despair that accompanies parting - the feeling that nothing will ever be the same again.

19. scraped shut, it was the end of all the sounds there are.
The second stanza gives us the key image of the poem. It is the last sound and it seems to be the moment the tone of foreboding and the drum roll in the first stanza are building up to. We don’t know whether this is a death or a separation.
When the door
scraped shut, it was the end
of all the sounds there are.
The sound of a door closing signifies the turning point in the poem and MacCaig goes on to explore the despair of loss.
Here the ideas move from a delight found in a variety of natural sounds to a reflection upon one specific experience

20. The aftermath - COPY
The single-sentence stanza explains the reason for this abrupt shift in mood. The monosyllabic directness and the use of the second person is plaintive and utterly lacking in ambiguity. The speaker wants to be clear about the shattering consequences on him of this event.Gone is the playful, poetic language of the opening stanza and so too is the speaker’s feelings of contentment, replaced by abject loneliness and isolation. Effectively, the speaker implies the impact of this parting on him is that he is no longer able to hear and take any pleasure in sounds. His sense of loss is so profound it seems to have resulted in the loss of one of his most enriching senses.

21. You left me beside the quietest fire in the world.
The third stanza is dramatically silent. And introduces the notion of the us from the first stanza being no more. The visual image of a silent fire is full of meaning. A fire might be seen as something full of life, warmth, light ; everything that could symbolise life. By silencing the fire in the image we are given the idea a life but with no warmth, light or life about it. It is symbolic of his life having lost the ‘You’ of the first line .
You left me beside the quietest fire in the world.
The personal nature of the poem is apparent in the this stanza as the speaker addresses the person who has left. We get the impression of a figure, suddenly alone, faced with the consequences of a separation.

22. The Pain - COPY
In stark contrast to the pleasing imagery and mood of the opening stanza, the final verse is utterly bleak as the speaker reaches his conclusion. The sensory focus of the poem moves from sound to touch as he equates the effect of the parting to immersing a hand into freezing water. This is effective in describing the initial jarring pain of this experience and the subsequent feeling of numbness it is replaced with. This is a paradox since the hand is a part of the body we most associate with touch, yet the effect of touching the ice cold water renders him unable to feel. In this way then, he conveys the emotional pain that still lies, like the hand, beneath the surface even if he is numb to it at the moment. The metaphor of the bangle of ice also helps to capture and describe the intensity of the raw and painful sense of loss experienced in the initial aftermath of a break-up.The poem ends with the realisation this experience has affected more than just his pride and he has suffered a profound loss.

23. I thought I was hurt in my pride only, forgetting that, when you plunge your hand in freezing water, you feel a bangle of ice round your wrist before the whole hand goes numb.
Honest assessment of how deeply he has been affected by the experience. The relationship has meant a lot to the speaker and the separation, though painful enough during the moment itself, has left a lasting impression.
The focus of the poem moves from sound to touch.
The final verse is utterly bleak.

24. Dramatic pause - like the rhythm of the sea
Inverted list – it is the sound that comes first.
In this instance it is the sound that is most important
(as the title suggests)
The first line is sharp and disturbing almost sudden which is contrasted with the more mellow repeated ‘o’ sounds in the second line.
MacCaig uses onomatopoeia and alliteration to imitate the echo of the rattle of the horses hooves striking on the stones of the ford
When a clatter came, it was horses crossing the ford. When the air creaked, it was a lapwing seeing us off the premises of its private marsh. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock. When the black drums rolled, it was water falling sixty feet into itself.
The sibilance of the ‘s’ sounds conjure up the hiss of the water as the horses cross the ford.
The onomatopoeic ‘creaked’ gives the familiar cry of the lapwing a gothic overtone. It is an unpleasant thing and coupled with the further unpleasant idea of being unwanted
The fricative repetition of the ‘f’ sounds gives us the sound as the spume splashes into the rock, follows it with an unpleasant sound of ‘blocking’ and ‘unblocking’
Dramatic pause - like the rhythm of the sea
MacCaig uses the foreshortened second line to create a sense of drama and the enjambment from ‘water’ to ‘falling’ on the last line helps create the sound of a thundering waterfall.
O – empty, hollow sound
tension
There is a strong sense of the power of nature. Theme of importance of Natural World established. The sound creates tension and foreboding, they are natural sounds but are not comforting.

25. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock.
The third image of the poem gives us more onomatopoeia; ‘snuffling puff’ creates the sound of the sea forcing its way through a cavity in the rocks at the shore filling and emptying as the waves splash into it.

26. This is a turning point in the poem - Clear sense of the despair and pain that follows a parting
Idea that nothing will be the same again
(links to Memorial)
The silence that allowed him to hear so keenly the sounds of the natural world has returned, yet this silence is oppressive and suffocates the speaker’s aural sense.
Door is a metaphor for the end of relationship and suggests a barrier that cannot be crossed.
When the door scraped shut, it was the end of all the sounds there are.
Hyperbole of final statement – underlines the significance of the moment and of the enormity of this loss . In relation to the small and silent figure of the poet suggested by ‘me’ at the end of the first line of the stanza.
There is now no pleasure in sitting listening to sounds
Same harsh consonant sound as at the end of stanza one “scraped” has connotations of pain and hurt
“shut” suggests finality
Enjambment enhances the feeling of loss as it throws the stress onto the word me at the end of the first line and we get a real sense of the isolation and abandonment felt by the poet.

27. You left me beside the quietest fire in the world.
Move away from sounds to feelings and emotions - this single sentence stanza explains the reason for this shift in mood.
Use of personal pronouns.
Accusing tone (similar technique used in Memorial)
Unambiguous statement
You left me beside the quietest fire in the world.
Use of hyperbole – communicate the extreme pain he is feeling
Word choice - emphasising the lack of sound. Contrast to stanza one.
The speaker implies the impact of the parting is that he is no longer to hear and take pleasure in sounds – the huge impact of the loss.
Paradox – being alone should make you hear more not less yet this is not the case

28. Word Choice – plunge emphasises the suddeness of the parting
Initial feeling is on the surface – he thinks it is his feelings are not badly hurt at first
I thought I was hurt in my pride only, forgetting that, when you plunge your hand in freezing water, you feel a bangle of ice round your wrist before the whole hand goes numb.  
Paradox – hand is how you normally feel but by plunging it in ice he cannot feel
just as his world has gone silent his feelings will change from pain and hurt to a death-like numbness.
suggests anger and feelings of resentment and hurt almost as if he takes the loss as a personal affront but then he reveals himself through the image of the ‘hand in freezing water’.
Metaphor – raw initial grief of someone leaving the pain in his wrist reflects the pain and anger at his loss
He conveys the emotional pain that still lies, like the hand, beneath the surface even if he is numb to it at the moment.
the sounds in the first stanza, which are slightly disturbing, are infinitely preferable to the silence of the shut door