Sounds Of The Day - AnnotationWe are learning to: annotate the text and identify the use of poetic techniques.

Thinking About SilenceThink about the different types of silence that you can have.- What kind of silence do you have

when you are happy?- What kind of silence do you have

when you are upset or lonely?- What power does silence have?

- Where else have we looked at silence and the impact that no noise can have on someone?

First ImpressionsCreate a mind map with a partner about your first impressions of the poem.

What’s it about?What’s the message/theme?Any relevant techniques?And anything else you would like to comment on. Remember, it is how YOU interpret it; there are no right or wrong answers in poetry analysis.

Sounds Of The DayIn Sounds of The Day MacCaig begins by describing the sounds that he hears in a still silent environment. It begins in a positive and descriptive manner.

However the sound of a door closing in stanza two signifies the turning point in the poem and MacCaig goes on to explore the despair of loss. (again!)

StructureThis poem is written in free verse made up of four irregular stanzas. The division between each of the stanzas helps to focus the reader on the specific idea that is contained within each one and the poem is organised in a fairly straightforward chronological order.

The poem begins by describing sounds in stanzas one and two and moves onto describing feelings in stanza three and four. The memories evoked by the “sounds of the day” allow MacCaig to explore this difficult and emotional experience

StanzasStanza One: the speaker describes natural sounds: horses, a bird, waves and a waterfall. On its own, this stanza paints a pleasant picture and indicates the speaker’s delight in nature

Stanza Two: The shut door, described in the second stanza, is the turning point of the poem. Here the ideas move from a delight found in a variety of natural sounds to a reflection upon one specific experience

Stanza Three: The personal nature of the poem is apparent in the third stanza as the speaker addresses the person who has left. We get the impression of a figure, suddenly alone, faced with the consequences of a separation.

Stanza Four: Honest assessment of how deeply he has been affected by the experience. The relationship has meant a lot to the speaker and the separation, though painful enough during the moment itself, has left a lasting impression

Stanza OneWhen a clatter came,it was horses crossing the ford. When the air creaked, it was a lapwing seeing us off the premises of its private marsh. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock. When the black drums rolled, it was water falling sixty feet into itself.

Poem begins by listing the “sounds of the day”

What is most significant is the acuteness and descriptiveness of

these distinct sounds in emphasising how alert the speaker

is to them.

He can hear it because of the silence that surrounds him – it is an

enriching and still environment

Stanza OneWhen a clatter came,it was horses crossing the ford. When the air creaked, it was a lapwing seeing us off the premises of its private marsh. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock. When the black drums rolled, it was water falling sixty feet into itself.

Inverted list – it is the sound that comes first.In this instance it is the sound that is most important (as the title suggests)

Stanza OneWhen a clatter came,it was horses crossing the ford. When the air creaked, it was a lapwing seeing us off the premises of its private marsh. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock. When the black drums rolled, it was water falling sixty feet into itself.

MacCaig uses onomatopoeia and alliteration to imitate these specific sounds

There is a strong sense of the power of nature. Theme of importance of Natural World established.

Stanza OneWhen a clatter came,it was horses crossing the ford. When the air creaked, it was a lapwing seeing us off the premises of its private marsh. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock. When the black drums rolled, it was water falling sixty feet into itself.

Humorous image – personification

Show how territorial the lapwing is

Air creaked – very detailed description of the sound – emphasises how still and quiet the poet must have been

Stanza OneWhen a clatter came,it was horses crossing the ford. When the air creaked, it was a lapwing seeing us off the premises of its private marsh. A snuffling puff ten yards from the boat was the tide blocking and unblocking a hole in a rock. When the black drums rolled, it was water falling sixty feet into itself.

Stanza finishes with the first hint that the poem may have a darker meaning that the first stanza suggets

CK - consonance/harsh sounding words

Black drums rolled – hints at darker undertones (ominous and brooding) Foreshadowing the mood and tone to come

Stanza TwoWhen the door scraped shut, it was the end of all the sounds there are.

The silence that allowed him to hear so keenly the sounds of the

natural world has returned, yet this silence is oppressive and suffocates

the speaker’s aural sense.

Turning Point in the Poem

Stanza Two

When the door scraped shut, it was the end of all the sounds there are.

Door is a metaphor for the end of relationship and suggests a barrier

that cannot be crossed.

Hyperbole of final statement – underlines the significance

of the moment.No pleasure in sitting listening to sounds

Scraped – Same harsh constonent sound as at

the end of stanza oneScraped has connotations of pain

and hurtClear sense of the despair and pain

that follows a partingIdea that nothing will be the same

again(links to Memorial)

Stanza ThreeYou left me beside the quietest fire in the world. Move away from sounds

to feelings and emotions

This single sentence stanza explains the reason for this

shift in mood.

The speaker implies the impact of the parting is that he is no longer to hear and

take pleasure in sounds – the huge impact of the loss.

Stanza Three

You left me beside the quietest fire in the world.

Use of personal pronouns.Accusing tone (similar

technique used in Memorial)Unambiguous statement

Word choice – again emphasising the lack of sound.

Contrast to stanza one.

Use of hyperbole – communicate the extreme pain he is

feeling

Suddenness of the silence

Paradox – being alone should make you hear more not less yet this is not

the case

Stanza FourI thought I was hurt in my pride only, forgetting that, when you plunge your hand in freezing water, you feel a bangle of ice round your wrist before the whole hand goes numb.

Complexity of emotions that comes when there is a

parting.

The final verse is utterly bleak

The focus of the poem

moves from sound to

touch

Stanza Four I thought I was hurt in my pride only, forgetting that, when you plunge your hand in freezing water, you feel a bangle of ice round your wrist before the whole hand goes numb.

Initial feeling is on the surface – he thinks it is his feelings are not

badly hurt at first

Word Choice – plunge

emphasises the

suddeness of the parting

Paradox – hand is how you

normally feel but by plunging it in

ice he cannot feelHe conveys the

emotional pain that still lies, like the hand,

beneath the surface even if he is numb to it

at the moment. Metaphor – raw initial grief of someone leaving

ThemesThe closing door is an important image in the poem and introduces the theme of loss and parting.

For the speaker, the separation is significant and painful. He feels his life has been changed and his senses have been altered forever.

MacCaig explores how parting affects us in a significant way. He captures both the initial, difficult pain of a break-up but also the lasting effect such experiences can have on us.

Love is usually depicted in poetry positively, yet this love has resulted only in pain and heartbreak, leaving the reader to consider whether this relationship has been worth the pain of parting.