Summary Poems of the Decade The Lammas Hireling

The Lammas Hireling - Ian Duhig
Stanza Quotation Theme Analysis Device
/Line
Title ‘Lammas’ The end of August, when people
are hired to help with the harvest
1/1-2 ‘Still a light heart’ Juxtaposition of ‘light’ and ‘heavy’.
‘heavy’ At the end of the poem he will be
‘heavy’. The past tense ‘still’
suggests that something ominous
will happen
1/2 ‘struck’ Violence
1/ 4-5 ‘heifers’ Fecund imagery shows positive
‘fat as cream’ start to poem. Fertility could be
‘yields doubled’ compared to Chainsaw.
Cream could have sexual
connotations. Possible reference to
Of Mice and Men
1/5 ‘Yields doubled’ Two word sentence enacts how the
yields are doubling
1/6 ‘knew when to Threatening. Juxtaposes with
shut up’ ‘fond’. Alternatively could be
describing the furtive nature of the
sex with the hireling
1 /6 ‘one night’ Gothic imagery. Line break at the
end of the stanza builds suspense -
sinister like in My Last Duchess
2/1 ‘Disturbed from Consonance sounds sinister.
dreams of my dear Reference to folklore tale of wives
late wife’ dying and coming back for sex in
dreams. Ambiguity as to when the
wife died
2/2 ‘hunted’ Violent. Also fits in semantic field
of animal imagery
2/2 ‘her torn voice’ Ominous. Alternative reading to
the poem may be that the narrator
killed his wife and the hireling
because they were having sex
2/2 ‘pale form’ Shapeshifting imagery. Ghostlike or
sexual - ‘stark-naked’
2/4 ‘fox-trap biting his Reference to the D.H. Lawrence
ankle’ novella ‘The Fox’
2/5 ‘warlock’ A ‘warlock’ is a male witch but a
‘Cow’ ‘with horns’ ‘cow’ is female. Shapeshifting and
blurring of the sexes, like in
Chainsaw. Reference to an Irish