The Lammas Hireling Analysis

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  • Created by: MJ
  • Created on: 14-03-22 11:17
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  • The Lammas Hireling - Duhig
    • "Lammas Day" is the day of harvest - typically August 1st
      • the poem is based off of Irish folklore, the Lammas Harvest being a day in which farmers would typically pay for farm hands to assist on the farm.
    • "I'd still a light heart"
      • 'still' implies the narrator no longer has a 'light heart', time has passed sine these events have taken place.
    • "And a heavy purse, he struck so cheap."
      • Creates a sense of suspicion - the farm hand's work shouldn't have been so cheap as the narrator was clearly ready to pay more with "a heavy purse"
    • Use of anaphora with the repetition of "And..."
      • Becomes very list-like, always adding more information.
    • "Disturbed from dreams of my dear late wife,"
      • We learn that the narrator's wife is dead, we can assume that due to the plural of 'dreams', there is some unresolved issues with her passing, perhaps guilt?
    • "her torn voice"
      • primal connotations, the pronoun 'her' suggests vulnerability
    • "I knew him a warlock, a cow with leather horns."
      • Untitled
    • the hare  is a creature that has magical qualities in folklore, and is also considered a manifestation of the devil.
      • Duhig commented on the line, claiming it referred to a North Country witches' chant: "Oh, I shall go into the hare/With sorrow and sighing mickle care"
    • "The moon came out... His lovely head thinned. His top lip gathered. His eyes rose like bread."
      • A full moon is said to be an event in which witches are said to be  about, as well as it being a moment of import in gothic fiction (werewolf transformation being a well known one). The gothic theme of transformation is seen to happen in the poem with the hare/hireling growing fur, his lip "gathered" etc.
    • "His lovely head"
      • as a description attests to a homo-****** nature of the relationship between the farmer and the hireling.
    • "His eyes rose like bread."
      • this imagery may draw connotations to the harvest that the hireling worked so hard to help with; wheat is used to make bread which is considered to be a reward for the harvest.
        • The farmer's reward for his greed and sin is the plague that the hireling casts upon him. It's impossible to spot bread rising, as it would be impossible to prevent the cattle dying.
    • "I carried him in a sack that grew lighter at every step And I dropped him from a bridge. There was no splash."
      • The sack gradually becoming lighter may be a metaphor to express the relief that the farmer feels from killing the hireling.
        • And eeriness is created through the brief mention that there was no splash following the sack hitting the water.
          • This  would create even more reason for a sceptical reader to further say the farmer's story is unreliable/unbelievable
    • "elf-shot"
      • condition cows believed to be a curse of 'elves' that causes pain and distress.
    • "I don't dream But spend my nights casting ball from half-crowns And my days here."
      • the farmer continues to suffer with insomnia ("I don't dream"), however we can assume it has worsened from the guilt of killing the hireling.
        • He spends his sleepless nights making bullets, reminiscent of how he killed the hireling
      • "half-crowns" were made from silver, the farmer creating silver bullets.
        • Silver, in folklore and other myths/ urban legends has been said to possess properties to repel and kill beasts, faeries and witches / witchcraft
      • Spending his days "here" suggests that from everything that's happened to the farmer, he's spent his time at a church, confiding in a priest.
        • Conflict between religion and the supernatural.
        • The farmer has become obsessed with the concept of confessing and atoning for his sins (obsession with religion).
  • "dark lantern"
    • Oxymoronic that evokes the unnatural; how can a lamp that becomes a source of light also be dark?
    • The Lammas Hireling - Duhig
      • "Lammas Day" is the day of harvest - typically August 1st
        • the poem is based off of Irish folklore, the Lammas Harvest being a day in which farmers would typically pay for farm hands to assist on the farm.
      • "I'd still a light heart"
        • 'still' implies the narrator no longer has a 'light heart', time has passed sine these events have taken place.
      • "And a heavy purse, he struck so cheap."
        • Creates a sense of suspicion - the farm hand's work shouldn't have been so cheap as the narrator was clearly ready to pay more with "a heavy purse"
      • Use of anaphora with the repetition of "And..."
        • Becomes very list-like, always adding more information.
      • "Disturbed from dreams of my dear late wife,"
        • We learn that the narrator's wife is dead, we can assume that due to the plural of 'dreams', there is some unresolved issues with her passing, perhaps guilt?
      • "her torn voice"
        • primal connotations, the pronoun 'her' suggests vulnerability
      • "I knew him a warlock, a cow with leather horns."
        • Untitled
      • the hare  is a creature that has magical qualities in folklore, and is also considered a manifestation of the devil.
        • Duhig commented on the line, claiming it referred to a North Country witches' chant: "Oh, I shall go into the hare/With sorrow and sighing mickle care"
      • "The moon came out... His lovely head thinned. His top lip gathered. His eyes rose like bread."
        • A full moon is said to be an event in which witches are said to be  about, as well as it being a moment of import in gothic fiction (werewolf transformation being a well known one). The gothic theme of transformation is seen to happen in the poem with the hare/hireling growing fur, his lip "gathered" etc.
      • "His lovely head"
        • as a description attests to a homo-****** nature of the relationship between the farmer and the hireling.
      • "His eyes rose like bread."
        • this imagery may draw connotations to the harvest that the hireling worked so hard to help with; wheat is used to make bread which is considered to be a reward for the harvest.
          • The farmer's reward for his greed and sin is the plague that the hireling casts upon him. It's impossible to spot bread rising, as it would be impossible to prevent the cattle dying.
      • "I carried him in a sack that grew lighter at every step And I dropped him from a bridge. There was no splash."
        • The sack gradually becoming lighter may be a metaphor to express the relief that the farmer feels from killing the hireling.
          • And eeriness is created through the brief mention that there was no splash following the sack hitting the water.
            • This  would create even more reason for a sceptical reader to further say the farmer's story is unreliable/unbelievable
      • "elf-shot"
        • condition cows believed to be a curse of 'elves' that causes pain and distress.
      • "I don't dream But spend my nights casting ball from half-crowns And my days here."
        • the farmer continues to suffer with insomnia ("I don't dream"), however we can assume it has worsened from the guilt of killing the hireling.
          • He spends his sleepless nights making bullets, reminiscent of how he killed the hireling
        • "half-crowns" were made from silver, the farmer creating silver bullets.
          • Silver, in folklore and other myths/ urban legends has been said to possess properties to repel and kill beasts, faeries and witches / witchcraft
        • Spending his days "here" suggests that from everything that's happened to the farmer, he's spent his time at a church, confiding in a priest.
          • Conflict between religion and the supernatural.
          • The farmer has become obsessed with the concept of confessing and atoning for his sins (obsession with religion).
    • Themes of light and dark are seen throughout the poem
      • the farmer, as an example, starts with a "light heart", the sack, later on, grows "lighter with every step".

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