The Lammas Hireling
Rural life
● ‘Lammas’ - The title reflect rural life as ‘Lammas’ is the end of August, when people are hired to
help with the harvest
● ‘Heifers’, ‘fat as cream’ and ‘yields doubled’ - Fecund imagery shows positive start to poem.
Fertility could be compared to Chainsaw. Cream could have sexual connotations. Possible
reference to Of Mice and Men
● ‘Yields doubled’ - Two word sentence enacts how the yields are doubling
● ‘fox-trap biting his ankle’ - Image of rural life as being perhaps quite violent
● ‘my herd’s elf-shot’ - negative end to the poem, contrasting with the fecund imagery in the first
stanza
● ‘warlock’ and ‘Cow’ ‘with horns’ Reference to an Irish riddle meaning ‘hare
Religion
● ‘eyes rose like bread’ Christ imagery as Jesus’ body is bread. ‘rose’ has connotations of a
resurrection
● Duhig comes from Ireland, a very Catholic country. The end of the poem reflects this as it is
revealed that the narrator is speaking to a priest in confession
● Last two sentences of the poem are arguably paraprosdokian - it is surprising to find out that it is
taking place in a confession
● The narrator is presented as being dependent on religion for forgiveness; the imperative in
‘bless me’ shows his desperation.
● ‘sinned’ - ambiguous verb as we don’t know how he sinned. It could be bestiality,
homosexuality, murder
● ‘an hour since my last confession’ - A Lady Macbeth like obsession with religion and salvation.
Fantasy, Magic and Witchcraft
● The fantasy elements of the poem could present the narrator justifying why he killed the
hireling.
● It could also dehumanise the hireling because he is perhaps homosexual
● ‘yields doubled’ - the hireling may be presented as a quasi-magical figure in the first stanza as he
is shown to have a miraculous effect on the farm
● ‘pale form’ - ghostlike
● ‘fox trap biting his ankle’ - zoomorphism (attributing animal characteristics to a human). A
reference to DH Lawrence’s novella The Fox in which the male character on a farm is constantly
described using forx imagery.
● ‘warlock’ and ‘Cow’ ‘with horns’ - A ‘warlock’ is a male witch but a ‘cow’ is female. Shapeshifting
and blurring of the sexes, like in Chainsaw. Reference to an Irish riddle meaning ‘hare
● ‘To go into the hare gets you muckle sorrow’ - Reference to Isobel Gowdie, who ‘confessed’
Rural life
● ‘Lammas’ - The title reflect rural life as ‘Lammas’ is the end of August, when people are hired to
help with the harvest
● ‘Heifers’, ‘fat as cream’ and ‘yields doubled’ - Fecund imagery shows positive start to poem.
Fertility could be compared to Chainsaw. Cream could have sexual connotations. Possible
reference to Of Mice and Men
● ‘Yields doubled’ - Two word sentence enacts how the yields are doubling
● ‘fox-trap biting his ankle’ - Image of rural life as being perhaps quite violent
● ‘my herd’s elf-shot’ - negative end to the poem, contrasting with the fecund imagery in the first
stanza
● ‘warlock’ and ‘Cow’ ‘with horns’ Reference to an Irish riddle meaning ‘hare
Religion
● ‘eyes rose like bread’ Christ imagery as Jesus’ body is bread. ‘rose’ has connotations of a
resurrection
● Duhig comes from Ireland, a very Catholic country. The end of the poem reflects this as it is
revealed that the narrator is speaking to a priest in confession
● Last two sentences of the poem are arguably paraprosdokian - it is surprising to find out that it is
taking place in a confession
● The narrator is presented as being dependent on religion for forgiveness; the imperative in
‘bless me’ shows his desperation.
● ‘sinned’ - ambiguous verb as we don’t know how he sinned. It could be bestiality,
homosexuality, murder
● ‘an hour since my last confession’ - A Lady Macbeth like obsession with religion and salvation.
Fantasy, Magic and Witchcraft
● The fantasy elements of the poem could present the narrator justifying why he killed the
hireling.
● It could also dehumanise the hireling because he is perhaps homosexual
● ‘yields doubled’ - the hireling may be presented as a quasi-magical figure in the first stanza as he
is shown to have a miraculous effect on the farm
● ‘pale form’ - ghostlike
● ‘fox trap biting his ankle’ - zoomorphism (attributing animal characteristics to a human). A
reference to DH Lawrence’s novella The Fox in which the male character on a farm is constantly
described using forx imagery.
● ‘warlock’ and ‘Cow’ ‘with horns’ - A ‘warlock’ is a male witch but a ‘cow’ is female. Shapeshifting
and blurring of the sexes, like in Chainsaw. Reference to an Irish riddle meaning ‘hare
● ‘To go into the hare gets you muckle sorrow’ - Reference to Isobel Gowdie, who ‘confessed’
