Norman MacCaig Memorial Stanza 1

"Everywhere she dies. Everywhere I go she dies"
"No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountain"
1. Repetition
  1. Emphasises that MacCaig cannot escape from the pain and suffering of grief.
"The silence of her dying sounds"
1. Paradox
  1. The silence is so intense it impacts as a loud noise would
"through the carousel of language"
1. M,etohor
  1. A bright, colourful and musical ride is now silenced by her death
"it's a web/ on which laughter stitches itself"
1. Metaphor
  1. MacCaig compares her death to a web as he is unable to free himself from it
  2. The word "stitches" suggests that this hold is very strong
"that thick death"
1. Word choice
  1. This use of imagery show how the poet feels as though he is stuck in her death
  2. Her death is heavy and constantly overwhelming him through every waking minute
"that intolerable distance?"
1. Enjambment
  1. MacCaig indicates the "intolerable distance" by separating this over many lines to show the distance between himself and who he has lost

Resource summary

	Created by lorynduffus almost 10 years ago