1.
Name of Poem: The Lammas Hierling, Ian Duhig (32)
Description A narrator (a farmer) hires a mysterious young man at the Lammas festival. After the hireling brings prosperity to the farm, the farmer becomes
suspicious of his supernatural abilities. This suspicion is confirmed when one night the Hierling transforms into a warlock (male witch) and then a hare, which the
speaker shoots. Believing him to be a supernatural witch, the farmer disposes of the body in the river. The poem ends with the reader's overwhelming guilt and
paranoia - not only from murder but the potential of his sexual transgression towards Hierling.
Themes Passion, Sin, Guilt, Superstition, Folklore, Supernatural, Unexplained Events, Uncanny, Unreliable Narrators, Death
Form Dramatic monologue told in the past tense, until the final stanza, which brings the action to the present = representative of the unchecked guilt experienced by the
narrator
- Consists of four sestets
- Sentences are abrupt and disjointed, either stretched or stopped via enjambment.
- No stanza is self-contained, furthering the fraught sense of tension which reflects the speaker’s disturbed state of mind
Meter and Written in free verse, mimicking the disjointed state of mind of the reader. Adds to the idea of an unreliable narrator, who is trying to justify to readers why he killed
Rhyme the Hierling.
Doesn’t contain a rhyme scheme ; it reflects the unjointness of the poet's paranoia, while adding to the strangeness of vocabulary that reflect that of folklore. The
only internal rhyme (“To go into the hare gets you muckle sorrow // the wisdom runs, muckle care”) is emblematic of an old Irish proverb, further supporting this idea
of supernatural being.
Analysis 1 First Stanza depicts a brief period of happiness - however this is superficial and underscores a strange, subtle disquiet
“And Cattle doted on him: in his time // Mine only dropped heifers, fat as cream”
- Personifies the cattle, who have an unnatural affection towards the hireling. Subtly introduces an early air of eeriness
- Heifers (female cows that haven’t yet calved) are linked to fertility and value, suggesting that the farmer is consistently producing high-value offspring - an
unlikely event. This, despite enveloping an air of prosperity equally is synonymous with unnerving abundance, which is further supported through the use of
enjambment -> ominous tone
- This idea of good fortune is continued with the simile, “fat as cream” -> indulgent and luxury further alluding to the excessive, almost decadent abundance of
these cows. Perhaps it also hints towards an undercurrent of temptation or gluttony
Analysis 2 Second Stanza takes a dark turn, introducing themes of death and the supernatural
“Disturbed from the dreams of my dear late wife // I hunted her torn voice to his pale form”
- Alliteration of “d” creates a soft, mournful rhythm which is almost contrived as if the speaker is trying to project a specific narrative onto the reader
- The assonance and consonance of the wife's, “torn voice” with “form” intrinsically spiritually links the heirling and dead wife
- Furthermore, the violent, obsessive verb, “hunted” demonstrates the authors pursual of the hireling, potentially suggesting a primitive, if not persistent
relationship
- Potentially, the hireling could be seen to function as the symbolic embodiment of the speaker's dead wife, and thus by killing him the speaker attempts to rid
himself of her lingering presence
- The idea of a “pale form” adds a ghostly, if not at least eerie atmosphere -> supernatural element of the poem
Analysis 3 Third Stanza recounts the shooting of the hireling, and the speakers justification of why this was ‘acceptable’
“Stark Naked…..His lovely head thinned. His top lip gathered. His eyes rose like bread”
- The speaker deliberately highlights Hierling's nakedness, with a link divulged between evil and nudity. Thus, this could lead some readers to infer this poem
, is centered around a violent outburst of repressed sexuality
- This idea is furthered through the anaphora of ‘His”, demonstrative of the speaker's intense focus on Hierling's body (allusion to homoerotic undertones
perhaps?
- Furthermore, the supernatural element of this is also expressed within this through the simile, “His eyes rose like bread”. Bread rising, by nature is slow,
living (due to yeast) but inanimate, implying distortion of flesh in ways that is both domestic and grotesque
Analysis 4 Final Stanza offers a perpetual present, expressing the present guilt and sin the speaker is experiencing
“Bless me father, I have sinned. It has been an hour since my last confession”
- This formal, ritualistic opening to a catholic confession is loaded with religious and moral weight
- The speaker places himself within a submissive, penitential role: re-framing the poem (almost as if is a confessionary piece)
- Ambiguity on what the reader is repenting for: is it his homosexual desire, is it his blasphemous involvement with the supernatural?
- By ending with a confession, the dramatic monologue reveals its purpose: the speaker’s desperate plea to justify, absolve and pray for peace: this ends
readers to question whether this poem lies in the supernatural or folklore, or instead a confessionary peace in which the narrator is stuck in a cyclical,
obsessive state of internal conflicts
Authors The poem expresses the psychological collapse of the narrator: triggered by repressed trauma, guilt and sexual desire. Through the backdrop of the supernatural,
intention Duhig explores how repressed emotions and desires can lead to delusion and self destruction.
The poem is a modern interpretation of supernatural folklore, with Duhig warning readers about the impact of meddling with the supernatural.
The Hireling, a symbolic embodiment of the speaker's dead wife demonstrates how grief inherently twists reality, and how trying to subsitst sch emotions only leads
to deeper emotional turmoil.
The speaker uses the supernatural as a facet in which to disguise his murderous tendency, with Duhig using this as an exploration into the human tendency to avoid
accountability for their actions.
, 2.
Name of Poem: Giuseppe, Roderick Ford
Description The poem is a confessional monologue where the speaker recounts a story told to him by his uncle Guiseppe, set during a warzone during WW2, in Italy. This story
tells of a captive mermaid (described with a contrast of human-like features) who was kept in an unused aquarium of a deserted hotel. In a time of desperation and
starvation, a group of men (including a doctor and fishmonger) decide to kill and butcher the mermaid who is fed to the troops.
Themes Guilt, Morality, Power, Gender, Dehumanisation, narrative voice (2nd hand), Trauma, Fragmented Memory
Form Confessional Monologue - The poem's movement from storytelling to the aftermath of storytelling invites the reader to consider the long afterlife of such atrocities.
This ultimately suffers that this atrocity does and should not be buried within the past, but would instead be something that both the speaker and Guiseppe will have
to reckon with - raising questions around humans capacity for murder
Meter and Written in free verse, with an absence of rhyme and metre throughout. The poem thus presents itself with a conversational tone, which is reminiscent of guiseppes
Rhyme annecites.
It is thus divided into 6 irregular stanzas, which create an unadorned, naturalistic tone which mimics that of a confession or truth telling
Analysis 1 “In the courtyard behind the aquarium,/ where the bougainviella grows so well,/ the only captive mermaid”
- Juxtaposition between the flowery Cicilly and the murder of the Mermaid forewarns Ford’s message that evil can lie, both literally and metaphorically, within
your back garden. Such vivid imagery of the “bougaiviella” introduces lush, vibrant sensory imagery that sharply contrasts against the impending violence.
Such naturalistic detail functions as a subtle ironic symbol of love and beauty flourishing alongside such human depravity
- Furthermore, the insinuation of the captive mermaid is telling:
- A mermaid is symbolic of beauty, allure and mysticism, yet she is instead being abused and destroyed willfully. This provides an obvious connection
towards the atrocities of WW1, when Nazi fascists murdered millions of Jews
Analysis 2 “But the priest who held one of her hands / while her throat was cut”
- The contrast between the priest (a symbol of morality and holiness) with the albeit passive emblem of violence reflects almost a detached nature to such
depravity
- The verb “cut” within this is simple, blunt and clinical. This, like the word “butchered” maintains the poem's monotonous and unadorned tone
- The action of holding her “hands” is a semantic reminder of her humanity (hands are distinctive features of her humanity)
- The enjambment here places the action of holding hands and the action of her throat being cut on 2 separate lines, yet in immediate succession: structurally
linking comfort and violence, mirroring the paradoxical nature of the priests involvement
- The use of the passive voice here also creates linguistic distance between the reader and the speaker - reflecting how violence is sanitised amd
depersonalised
Analysis 3 NEED TO DO THIS FOR ALL THE STANZAS
“This was proof she was just a fish / Anyway an egg is not a child”
- The semantic minimalisation is evident here - reducing the gravity of such violence on a mere technically - this is an attempt at a rationalization, using
biological terminology (‘egg’) to deny the emotional and moral weight of the situation (‘child’). The speaker thus uses this pseudo-science in order to justify
infanticide
- This idea is furthered through the limiting adverb, “just” - merely undermining such atrocities
Analysis 4
“Starvation forgives men many things, / for which i thank God”
, - Starvation is personified (through the capital letter), granting it authority to ‘forgive’ - the speaker elevates a biological condition to an ethical or legal authority
in order to justify the communities brutality: they weren't even, just merely driven by necessity
- The poem also, at the end, switches from free indirect speech to almost being stood next to the reader, emulating the speakers personal disgust and appaul
towards not only Uncle Guiseppe but mans capacity as a whole for evil
Authors The cynical outlook - the Doctor, the fishmonger and the aquarium keeper all preserve their societal roles despite such depravity that they commit. Thus the image of
intention the mermaid suggests humanity's tendency to latch onto difference in order to justify cruelty. Furthermore, the mermaid's commonalities (her head, hands…) are
more meaningful than her differences. People thus, who want to destroy others, the poem suggests, look for justification
Name of Poem: The Lammas Hierling, Ian Duhig (32)
Description A narrator (a farmer) hires a mysterious young man at the Lammas festival. After the hireling brings prosperity to the farm, the farmer becomes
suspicious of his supernatural abilities. This suspicion is confirmed when one night the Hierling transforms into a warlock (male witch) and then a hare, which the
speaker shoots. Believing him to be a supernatural witch, the farmer disposes of the body in the river. The poem ends with the reader's overwhelming guilt and
paranoia - not only from murder but the potential of his sexual transgression towards Hierling.
Themes Passion, Sin, Guilt, Superstition, Folklore, Supernatural, Unexplained Events, Uncanny, Unreliable Narrators, Death
Form Dramatic monologue told in the past tense, until the final stanza, which brings the action to the present = representative of the unchecked guilt experienced by the
narrator
- Consists of four sestets
- Sentences are abrupt and disjointed, either stretched or stopped via enjambment.
- No stanza is self-contained, furthering the fraught sense of tension which reflects the speaker’s disturbed state of mind
Meter and Written in free verse, mimicking the disjointed state of mind of the reader. Adds to the idea of an unreliable narrator, who is trying to justify to readers why he killed
Rhyme the Hierling.
Doesn’t contain a rhyme scheme ; it reflects the unjointness of the poet's paranoia, while adding to the strangeness of vocabulary that reflect that of folklore. The
only internal rhyme (“To go into the hare gets you muckle sorrow // the wisdom runs, muckle care”) is emblematic of an old Irish proverb, further supporting this idea
of supernatural being.
Analysis 1 First Stanza depicts a brief period of happiness - however this is superficial and underscores a strange, subtle disquiet
“And Cattle doted on him: in his time // Mine only dropped heifers, fat as cream”
- Personifies the cattle, who have an unnatural affection towards the hireling. Subtly introduces an early air of eeriness
- Heifers (female cows that haven’t yet calved) are linked to fertility and value, suggesting that the farmer is consistently producing high-value offspring - an
unlikely event. This, despite enveloping an air of prosperity equally is synonymous with unnerving abundance, which is further supported through the use of
enjambment -> ominous tone
- This idea of good fortune is continued with the simile, “fat as cream” -> indulgent and luxury further alluding to the excessive, almost decadent abundance of
these cows. Perhaps it also hints towards an undercurrent of temptation or gluttony
Analysis 2 Second Stanza takes a dark turn, introducing themes of death and the supernatural
“Disturbed from the dreams of my dear late wife // I hunted her torn voice to his pale form”
- Alliteration of “d” creates a soft, mournful rhythm which is almost contrived as if the speaker is trying to project a specific narrative onto the reader
- The assonance and consonance of the wife's, “torn voice” with “form” intrinsically spiritually links the heirling and dead wife
- Furthermore, the violent, obsessive verb, “hunted” demonstrates the authors pursual of the hireling, potentially suggesting a primitive, if not persistent
relationship
- Potentially, the hireling could be seen to function as the symbolic embodiment of the speaker's dead wife, and thus by killing him the speaker attempts to rid
himself of her lingering presence
- The idea of a “pale form” adds a ghostly, if not at least eerie atmosphere -> supernatural element of the poem
Analysis 3 Third Stanza recounts the shooting of the hireling, and the speakers justification of why this was ‘acceptable’
“Stark Naked…..His lovely head thinned. His top lip gathered. His eyes rose like bread”
- The speaker deliberately highlights Hierling's nakedness, with a link divulged between evil and nudity. Thus, this could lead some readers to infer this poem
, is centered around a violent outburst of repressed sexuality
- This idea is furthered through the anaphora of ‘His”, demonstrative of the speaker's intense focus on Hierling's body (allusion to homoerotic undertones
perhaps?
- Furthermore, the supernatural element of this is also expressed within this through the simile, “His eyes rose like bread”. Bread rising, by nature is slow,
living (due to yeast) but inanimate, implying distortion of flesh in ways that is both domestic and grotesque
Analysis 4 Final Stanza offers a perpetual present, expressing the present guilt and sin the speaker is experiencing
“Bless me father, I have sinned. It has been an hour since my last confession”
- This formal, ritualistic opening to a catholic confession is loaded with religious and moral weight
- The speaker places himself within a submissive, penitential role: re-framing the poem (almost as if is a confessionary piece)
- Ambiguity on what the reader is repenting for: is it his homosexual desire, is it his blasphemous involvement with the supernatural?
- By ending with a confession, the dramatic monologue reveals its purpose: the speaker’s desperate plea to justify, absolve and pray for peace: this ends
readers to question whether this poem lies in the supernatural or folklore, or instead a confessionary peace in which the narrator is stuck in a cyclical,
obsessive state of internal conflicts
Authors The poem expresses the psychological collapse of the narrator: triggered by repressed trauma, guilt and sexual desire. Through the backdrop of the supernatural,
intention Duhig explores how repressed emotions and desires can lead to delusion and self destruction.
The poem is a modern interpretation of supernatural folklore, with Duhig warning readers about the impact of meddling with the supernatural.
The Hireling, a symbolic embodiment of the speaker's dead wife demonstrates how grief inherently twists reality, and how trying to subsitst sch emotions only leads
to deeper emotional turmoil.
The speaker uses the supernatural as a facet in which to disguise his murderous tendency, with Duhig using this as an exploration into the human tendency to avoid
accountability for their actions.
, 2.
Name of Poem: Giuseppe, Roderick Ford
Description The poem is a confessional monologue where the speaker recounts a story told to him by his uncle Guiseppe, set during a warzone during WW2, in Italy. This story
tells of a captive mermaid (described with a contrast of human-like features) who was kept in an unused aquarium of a deserted hotel. In a time of desperation and
starvation, a group of men (including a doctor and fishmonger) decide to kill and butcher the mermaid who is fed to the troops.
Themes Guilt, Morality, Power, Gender, Dehumanisation, narrative voice (2nd hand), Trauma, Fragmented Memory
Form Confessional Monologue - The poem's movement from storytelling to the aftermath of storytelling invites the reader to consider the long afterlife of such atrocities.
This ultimately suffers that this atrocity does and should not be buried within the past, but would instead be something that both the speaker and Guiseppe will have
to reckon with - raising questions around humans capacity for murder
Meter and Written in free verse, with an absence of rhyme and metre throughout. The poem thus presents itself with a conversational tone, which is reminiscent of guiseppes
Rhyme annecites.
It is thus divided into 6 irregular stanzas, which create an unadorned, naturalistic tone which mimics that of a confession or truth telling
Analysis 1 “In the courtyard behind the aquarium,/ where the bougainviella grows so well,/ the only captive mermaid”
- Juxtaposition between the flowery Cicilly and the murder of the Mermaid forewarns Ford’s message that evil can lie, both literally and metaphorically, within
your back garden. Such vivid imagery of the “bougaiviella” introduces lush, vibrant sensory imagery that sharply contrasts against the impending violence.
Such naturalistic detail functions as a subtle ironic symbol of love and beauty flourishing alongside such human depravity
- Furthermore, the insinuation of the captive mermaid is telling:
- A mermaid is symbolic of beauty, allure and mysticism, yet she is instead being abused and destroyed willfully. This provides an obvious connection
towards the atrocities of WW1, when Nazi fascists murdered millions of Jews
Analysis 2 “But the priest who held one of her hands / while her throat was cut”
- The contrast between the priest (a symbol of morality and holiness) with the albeit passive emblem of violence reflects almost a detached nature to such
depravity
- The verb “cut” within this is simple, blunt and clinical. This, like the word “butchered” maintains the poem's monotonous and unadorned tone
- The action of holding her “hands” is a semantic reminder of her humanity (hands are distinctive features of her humanity)
- The enjambment here places the action of holding hands and the action of her throat being cut on 2 separate lines, yet in immediate succession: structurally
linking comfort and violence, mirroring the paradoxical nature of the priests involvement
- The use of the passive voice here also creates linguistic distance between the reader and the speaker - reflecting how violence is sanitised amd
depersonalised
Analysis 3 NEED TO DO THIS FOR ALL THE STANZAS
“This was proof she was just a fish / Anyway an egg is not a child”
- The semantic minimalisation is evident here - reducing the gravity of such violence on a mere technically - this is an attempt at a rationalization, using
biological terminology (‘egg’) to deny the emotional and moral weight of the situation (‘child’). The speaker thus uses this pseudo-science in order to justify
infanticide
- This idea is furthered through the limiting adverb, “just” - merely undermining such atrocities
Analysis 4
“Starvation forgives men many things, / for which i thank God”
, - Starvation is personified (through the capital letter), granting it authority to ‘forgive’ - the speaker elevates a biological condition to an ethical or legal authority
in order to justify the communities brutality: they weren't even, just merely driven by necessity
- The poem also, at the end, switches from free indirect speech to almost being stood next to the reader, emulating the speakers personal disgust and appaul
towards not only Uncle Guiseppe but mans capacity as a whole for evil
Authors The cynical outlook - the Doctor, the fishmonger and the aquarium keeper all preserve their societal roles despite such depravity that they commit. Thus the image of
intention the mermaid suggests humanity's tendency to latch onto difference in order to justify cruelty. Furthermore, the mermaid's commonalities (her head, hands…) are
more meaningful than her differences. People thus, who want to destroy others, the poem suggests, look for justification
