Aunt Julia

Aunt Julia

Character of Aunt Julia
1. Speaks Gaelic
2. Lively "speaks loud and fast"
3. Rugged "often went barefoot"
4. Strong/masculine "wore men's shoes"
  1. "strong foot".
5. Self-sufficient
  1. makes and grows own food
6. Skilled "drew yarn marvellously out of the air".
7. energetic "water flouncing", winds pouring"
8. eccentric " keeper of three penny bits in a teapot"
9. Plain " Black skirts"
10. Dead "silenced in the absolute black of a sandy grave"
Location
1. By the sea
  1. seagull's voice"
  2. "sandy grave"
2. Luskentyre
3. Remote and isolated
  1. "absolute darkness"
4. rural agriculture
  1. "foot stained with peat"
  2. "peatscapes and lazybeds"
    1. colloquial
Poet's Message
1. Aunt Julia's death is a metaphor for the frustration that her culture and language died with her.
2. Who do we need to ask questions of before its too late?
Language and structure
1. Free Verse
2. First person narrative
3. snapshots/ images
4. simple language but vivid picture
5. Metaphors "she was buckets"
  1. "She was black skirts and brown eggs".
Attitudes
1. love - includes details
2. respect "hers was the only house"
3. admired her skills spinning yarn
4. Regret
  1. "By the time I learned a little she lay silenced"
  2. "getting angry with so many questions unanswered"
5. Nostalgia - Past tense

Resource summary

	Created by babyjane23 about 10 years ago