Aunt Julia

• In Aunt Julia, MacCaig uses his frustration on his inability to communicate effectively with his much loved aunt to explore the central concern of isolation.
• "could not" x2

  • Sentence Structure
  • Repetion is used to empasize MacCaig's frustration. Whilst the use of dash it to show he pauses to reflect on the fact he was unable to answer even if he wanted to because he had no idea that his aunt was saying.
• "Strong" and "peat"


  • Word Choice
  • "strong" has connotations of tough, sturdy, and hard. This suggests it is used to emphasis that aunt Julia is a tough woman. And "peat" is used to reinforce that the setting is in the rural landscape and shows her resilience in working outdoors.
• "where I've lain at night in absolute darkness"


  • Word Choice
  • This suggests that even though normally, children are afraid of the dark, MacCaig felt comfort in his aunt's home.
• "brown eggs, black skirts and a keeper of three pennybits in a teapot"


  • Word Choice (Synecdoche)
  • MacCaig used these objects to represent who Aunt Julia is as a whole. and using earthy colours such as 'brown' and 'black' to suggest she is at one with the land.
• "silenced"


  • Word Choice
  • The contrast of aunt Julia being 'silent' compared to her loud and energetic descriptions earlier on in the poem shows the poet's shock and pain at her passing.
• "getting angry" x2

  • Sentence Structure
  • Repetition is used to show both MacCaig's own frustration as well as aunt Julia's. Frustration at what has been left unsaid and shows MacCaig's growing anger over the lack of communication between them both.