Complete with in-depth analysis that helped me to achieve full marks on the relevant comparative essay, and ultimately full marks in the A-Level exam itself (June 2022). Alongside close reading applies a range of critical perspectives (eg Marxism, postcolonialism etc) to enable alternative readings.
BAND 5 RESPONSE - “Material” and “Piano” - Compare the methods both poets use to explore family relationships
English Literature: Modern Poetry Summaries
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PEARSON (PEARSON)
English Literature 2015
Unit 3 - Poetry
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The Lammas Hireling
Ian Duhig
Positive, optimistic tone and the antithesis between ‘light heart’ and ‘heavy
purse’ and sibilance and intensifier ‘so’ emphasise awe at hireling’s good
value – falsely positive opening given that it will descend into murder. Links
After the fair, I’d still a light heart to the Marxist reading: ‘struck so cheap’ – exploitation/objectification of the
working class by the bourgeoisie – acknowledges financial value rather than
and a heavy purse, he struck so cheap. broader human nature.
And cattle doted on him: in his time
If this is critique of an archaic, rural existence, the verb ‘doted’
mine only dropped heifers, fat as cream. suggests the cattle are almost under his spell and that there is an
intuitive relationship/bond that he has with the cattle. The short
Yields doubled. I grew fond of company declarative ‘yields doubled’ suggests the speaker’s preoccupation
that knew when to shut up. Then one night, with profits – the hireling is notably absent from the blunt declarative,
reflecting the speaker’s negation of his humanity. ‘Yields doubled’
could also suggest that when the speaker accepts his homoerotic
‘Knew when to shut up’ is an aggressive phrase; we might
tendencies, his life is more fulfilled. The simile ‘fat as cream’
insinuate from the next line that his wife was verbose. The
emphasises the profits and benefits that the speaker gains and the
enjambment creates a jarring which suggests the speaker’s
noun ‘cream’ insinuates greed and indulgence. The modifier ‘only’
erratic, impulsive nature and emotional instability from a
creates a tone of surprise or disbelief, implying the hireling has
psychoanalytical perspective. The verb ‘fond’ and the noun
magically tampered with the cattle.
‘company’ suggest affection which jars with the aggression of the
next clause. From a homoerotic reading, women are perceived to
be more verbose; the speaker feels an affinity with males. The temporal phrase ‘then one night’ marks a volta in the poem,
Equally, it might insinuate something physical/sexual that the marking an abrupt departure from the relatively pleasant/prosaic
hireling knows not to talk about as homosexuality might have tone presaging something unsettling or disturbing. This is
been considered taboo – inability to acknowledge the sexual acts strengthened by the enjambment which places emphasis on the
that are occurring. Caesura in each line further reflects the adjective ‘disturbed’, furthering the sense of unease. The adjective
speaker’s erratic state of mind. ‘Fond’ is arguably euphemistic, is a dual semantic, reflecting an inability to sleep but also
reflecting the speaker’s inability to fully acknowledge his madness/delirium.
homoerotic tendencies. ‘Knew when to shut up’ insinuates the
hireling keeping it secret; suggests latent aggression towards wife From a psychoanalytical perspective, dreams represent unfulfilled
subconscious desires or guilt; the hireling could feel guilty for his
attraction to the hireling or for murdering and betraying his wife – the
guilt is ambiguous.
The adjective ‘pale’ suggests the hireling is insubstantial or
disturbed from dreams of my dear late wife,
spectral; he is a metaphorical externalisation of the speaker’s
I hunted down her torn voice to his pale form. conscience. The ‘torn voice’ could be a transferred epithet for
his fragmented, unstable mental state. The juxtaposition of the
Stock-still in the light from the dark lantern, wife’s ‘torn voice’ and the hireling’s ‘pale form’ suggests that he
stark-naked but for one bloody boot of fox-trap, is blurring/morphing these figures of desire; he is struggling to
reconcile where his desires lie. The ‘pale form’, if the poem is
read as a critique of folklore, insinuates something supernatural
and that the hireling is impersonating his wife. Alternatively, the
juxtaposition between ‘her torn voice’ and ‘his pale form’ could
suggest the hireling is exposing the speaker’s act of mariticide –
This line is paradoxical: the ‘light’ comes from the ‘dark the hireling has literally ‘torn’ the wife’s voice away. ‘Torn’
lantern’, lending weight to the reading of the poem as a suggests brutal mutilation. The verb ‘hunted’ makes his
critique of folklore – he does not conform to natural behaviour seem primitive, predatory – he has regressed to the
laws. Alternatively, it could link to the homoerotic id.
reading, suggesting the conflict between the speaker’s
homoerotic desires and his aversion to these tendencies. Disturbing/coarse/grotesque image. The compound adjective
From a psychoanalytical perspective, it furthers the idea ‘stark-naked’ connotes sexual attraction, linking with the
of the speaker’s psychological instability and also the homoerotic reading. From a Marxist perspective, the ‘bloody
spectral/insubstantial nature of the hireling (he does not boot of fox-trap’ could suggest his vulnerability. Links to
exist). ‘hunted’ from before – trap. Lack of protection.
, ‘a cow with leather horns’: old folklore image for a hare. The
I knew him a warlock, a cow with leather horns. hare is a shapeshifter in folklore. The confident declarative
lends weight to the psychoanalytical reading of the poem as it
To go into the hare gets you muckle sorrow, suggests certainty that the hireling is a warlock; this is heavily
ironic as they do not exist, implying the speaker is mentally
Folklore proverb: ‘muckle’ is a dialectical word unstable.
meaning ‘very much’. The speaker has been ‘a cow with leather horns’ is also a cuckold, suggesting the
absorbed into the folklore. speaker feels his wife has betrayed him.
The verb ‘levelled’ in conjunction with the act of murder is
heavily ironic; from a psychoanalytical perspective, the
speaker’s superego has been rendered dysfunctional – he has
been inured to murder, reflecting how utterly unstable he has
the wisdom runs, muckle care. I levelled become. The line is strangely poetic, emphasising the extent of
his detachment.
The moon is generally associated with the development of monsters
and blew the small hour through his heart. and transformation, simultaneously creating the sense of something
The moon came out. By its yellow witness monstrous and unnatural happening (murder), but also the speaker
transforming into something beast-like.
I saw him fur over like a stone mossing.
The noun ‘witness’ indicates the speaker’s mental instability and
His lovely head thinned. His top lip gathered. paranoia; he believes he is being watched, suggesting a sense of
His eyes rose like bread. I carried him guilt or anxiety. In Frankenstein, the moon is yellow and not white,
furthering the sense of impurity and iniquity. The natural image in
the simile is unsettling, with the verb ‘fur’ implying shapeshifting,
either indicating the speaker’s mental instability or the supernatural
The triadic structure of the corporeal imagery lends aspect of the hireling. There is an irony as he has tried to eradicate
weigh to the homoerotic reading suggesting a tender, the hireling, but a stone is something perpetual and difficult to
affectionate view of the hireling in death. The simile destroy, suggesting an inability to purge his guilt or the projection
‘rose like bread’ is incongruous with death: it is a of the hireling in his subconscious. The natural image suggests the
pleasant image belying the act of murder. These are speaker’s madness: the natural imagery is incongruous with the
unnatural things described with nonchalant, horror of his crime, particularly as ‘stone mossing’ could be a
perfunctory, calm declaratives. euphemism/symbol for blood spilling out.
The enjambment memetic of the act of carrying and is also jarring
and fragments the line, reflecting the speaker’s unstable state of
mind. In turn, this renders the speaker’s actions heavily ironic: he is
attempting to physically dispose of the hireling but, as presaged by
in a sack that grew lighter at every step
the image of the ‘stone’, he will find difficulty in achieving catharsis
and dropped him from a bridge. There was no and purging himself of guilt. ‘I carried him’ alone is affectionate and
tender; this is belied by the image of a ‘sack’.
Splash. Now my herd’s elf-shot. I don’t dream
but spend my nights casting ball from half-crowns This cold, blunt, unadorned declarative reinforces the
speaker’s madness – inured to death.
The negation of the onomatopoeic noun ‘Splash’ with the
enjambment would give the sense that the splash would
That he is ‘casting ball from half-crowns’, signify resolution and finality – the lack thereof suggests a lack
from a Marxist perspective, could symbolise of closure. Negation could be because the entire hireling is a
the speaker’s power that he gains from projection; folklore, supernatural; homoerotic: cannot purge
money and status. The ‘I don’t dream’ could is homoerotic tendencies. The enjambment draws attention
suggest he has destroyed the homoerotic to how surprising it is.
part of himself and is now obsessed with
destruction. This image also reflects the ‘elf-shot’ is to be riddled by disease, suggesting a fantastical or supernatural
futility of the speaker’s position: his money punishment. From a psychoanalytical perspective, this suggests the speaker’s
is useless and pointless and he lacks madness/mental instability – he is projecting guilt onto other things. He fails to
meaning. recognise that he needs to purge his own guilt in order to achieve catharsis.
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