‘Memorial’ by Norman MacCaig
Learning Intentions
Familiarise ourselves with the poem
Develop our understanding of the form and structure
of the poem
Develop our understanding of the poetic techniques
used in the poem
Develop our understanding of the themes in the
poem and the way in which they are conveyed
through an effective use of poetic techniques
Let’s read…Stanza One
Everywhere she dies. Everywhere I go she dies.
No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountain
but has her death in it.
The silence of her dying sounds through
the carousel of language. It’s a web
on which laughter stitches itself. How can my hand
clasp another’s when between them
is that thick death, that intolerable distance?
Stanza Two
She grieves for my grief. Dying, she tells me
that bird dives from the sun, that fish
leaps into it. No crocus is carved more gently
than the way her dying
shapes my mind. – But I hear, too,
the other words,
black words that make the sound
of soundlessness, that name the nowhere
she is continuously going into.
Stanza Three
Ever since she died
she can't stop dying. She makes me
her elegy. I am a walking masterpiece,
a true fiction
of the ugliness of death.
I am her sad music.
First Impressions?
1. What is the poem about on the surface?
2. Who is speaking in the poem? Who are they speaking to?
3. How does the poem use language to convey its message
and what techniques can you identify?
4.
What are the themes or ideas behind it?
5. What response does the poem elicit from the reader/
you?
What is happening in the poem?
Poet describes the impact of a loved one’s death
– probably the death of his sister Frances who
died in 1968. This poem was written in 1971.
This poem is an ELEGY.
Elegy
In literature, an elegy (from the Greek
word for “lament”) is a mournful,
melancholic or plaintive poem , especially
a funeral song or a lament for the dead.
(sometimes spelled elégie)
may denote a type of musical work,
usually of a sad or sombre nature.
"Elegy"
Structure of an Elegy
A traditional elegy mirror three stages of loss:
First, there is a lament, where the speaker
expresses grief and sorrow.
Then praise and admiration of the idealised
dead.
Finally consolation and solace.
Memorial
A sad, beautiful poem about the way in which the
loss of a poet’s loved one pervades every aspect
of his life.
Her death is not in the past. The process of her
dying stays with him constantly. The opening
states, “Everywhere she dies” and the final
stanza reads, “she can’t stop dying”.
Poet’s beliefs…
MacCaig was an atheist.
As such, in the face of death, there were no easy comforts
for him of promises of life or resurrection beyond the
grave.
For him death presented an awful finality- “intolerable
distance” and “ugliness”.
Poet’s beliefs…
Still, the act of writing such a powerful, memorable and
skilfully constructed poem raised the poet’s consciousness
above the profound, melancholic state he experienced at
this time.
Form and Structure
• Written from a first person stance
in the past tense, the poem is
divided by stanzas into three main
sections.
Main idea of poem
That although her death
has already happened,
the sense of loss is with
the speaker every single
day.
Main idea - Form and
Structure – Stanza 1
In the first stanza, the speaker
establishes her loss is everywhere
– preventing him from interaction
and relationships.
Main idea - Form and
Structure – Stanza 2
Shifts perspective to time before her death (though still
described as if happening now) and the love and heroism
of the dying woman.
She was not worried about her own death or herself, but
the effect of her death on those whom she left behind (the
speaker).Idea that she tried to ‘soften’ her own death for
him, but nothing could prepare him for losing her.
Main idea - Form and
Structure – Stanza 3
Reinforces ideas of Stanza One and Stanza
Two through speaker / poet’s description of
himself as a living tribute to the woman who
has gone.
Form and Structure
The fluidity and looseness of the structure helps to
reinforce the key message of the poem which focuses on
death and the grieving process. Death of a loved one itself
represents a formlessness, a loss of structure, the
disintegration of close bonds of love and affection.
Central Themes
Sense of unending grief that is felt when someone we
love dies.
• Loss / regret
Conveyed through tone
utterly hopeless in its despairingly bleak outlook.
Nevertheless, there is an occasional glimpse of optimism and
beauty contained within the image of the crocus, which is
“never carved more gently than in the way her dying shapes my
mind.”
This seems to imply one of the abiding effects of his grief is that
it will forever and indelibly continue to shape and impact on
his creative work.
Analysis – Stanza One
Sentence structure - blunt opening line - immediately emphasises
the constant impact of his loved one’s death.
Paradox – how can she die everywhere? For him her death is
everywhere: everything around him makes him think of it.
Repetition of “Everywhere” – suggests that the poet cannot escape
the awareness of the death of his loved one.
Word Choice – “I go” – emphasises what he is experiencing now
Statements are simple and direct to show the directness and
bluntness of his feelings.
Analysis – Stanza One
Juxtaposition (two things being placed beside
each other for comparison or comfort) of “I” and
“She” suggest the strong bond between the two
people.
Repetition of “No” emphasises that nothing
remains untouched by her death.
Analysis – Stanza One
Builds up to a climax which shows that even in the
most beautiful surroundings her death is present.
Listing of places: these places are not usually
associated with death. A city square is usually a
bustling and busy place with many people, a sunrise
and mountain are associated with providing
aesthetic pleasure through their beauty. Show how
much speaker is affected by grief. These places
have now been tainted with death. Grief pervades
everything and is everywhere for the speaker.
Analysis – Stanza One
Present tense of “lurking” implies that his pain is
still very present – it is there within him and
around him all the time.
Enjambment / Word Choice of “but” indicates a
change in direction and highlights contrast of
the beautiful surroundings with the pain of
death.
Punctuation: full stop highlights finality of death.
Analysis – Stanza One
Paradox – “silence of her dying sounds through
the carousel of language”. ‘Language’ = words
of sympathy. The grief he feels creates a silence
so intense that no words of comfort make a
difference to him.
Metaphor “carousel of language”. Language
compared to something light-hearted and
frivolous. By contrast the “silence” of her death
seems much more profound and serious.
Analysis – Stanza One
Metaphor – silence becomes ‘a web’ on which
laughter (loved one’s attempts to comfort him
and / or feelings of joy) is doomed to be stuck
and not penetrate because neither comforting
words nor language can penetrate his grief.
Stanza One – final three lines
Stanza ends with a rhetorical question. Creates
a deeply pessimistic note. How can his hand
clasp another’s when his constant thoughts
about death come between him and the rest of
the world. Rhetorical question as we know the
answer – it can’t. Reinforces his continued
isolation.
Stanza One – final three lines
Metaphor “thick death”. Grief is like a fog that
we cannot get through.
Word Choice “intolerable distance” – death has
created an unbearable distance between the
speaker and normal life / the rest of the world.
Stanza Two – let’s read
She grieves for my grief. Dying, she tells me
that bird dives from the sun, that fish
leaps into it. No crocus is carved more gently
than the way her dying
shapes my mind. – But I hear, too,
the other words,
black words that make the sound
of soundlessness, that name the nowhere
she is continuously going into.
Analysis – Stanza Two
• Word Order - the opening of this stanza involves
a subversion of the usual order by
asserting “She grieves for my grief”.
• Effect - this reinforces the bond the two shared
while she was alive implying she couldn’t bear to
see him sad and suffering. She wanted to
protect the speaker from the pain of her death.
Analysis – Stanza Two
Positioning – “Dying” – is emphasised and
stresses reality of situation – she is dying, but
she tries to portray her death as part of a natural
cycle
Analysis – Stanza Two
lines 1-3
“That bird dives from the sun, that fish leaps into
it”.
Imagery - both images represent a reversal of the
normal order of things. The bird should fly towards
the sun, and the fish should dive into the depths of
the sea away from it. Death, by implication, is seen
as a reversal of the natural state of living.
Analysis – Stanza Two
lines 3-5
“No crocus is carved more gently than the way her
dying shapes my mind” - IMAGERY
•Crocus spring flower suggesting beauty and nature
coming alive again.
•“Crocus” has been ‘carved’ / created carefully with
love.
•Her message is that death is natural and that life goes
on – he must try not to suffer.
Analysis – Stanza Two
lines 3-5
Symbolism: CROCUS - could be a symbol for hope
and renewal, especially as the crocus is a spring
flower. Spring can be equated with new life and a
new beginning and a sign of hope.
Is there a suggestion that the poet could be
working through his grief?
Analysis – Stanza Two
NO!! He is still grief stricken Dash - the use of the dash - creates a stark contrast and
change of direction. The conjunction "but" also creates
contrast. INTRODUCES CHANGE OF TONE. Rest of stanza
dominated by negative images and word choice conveying
bleakness of death. CONTRASTS with gentle and loving
feelings beforehand.
Word Choice - The word “black”carries connotations of death
and misery, showing that the words of well-wishers do not
console but upset him deeply.
Analysis – Stanza Two
SYMBOLISM - chilling image of her
"continuously" going into a "nowhere" these
black words "name". Well-wishers refer to
heaven, but this seems of little relevance to him.
This is because the speaker like the poet is not
religious and does not believe in life after death.
Word Choice “continuously” reinforces neverending nature of her death – his loss.
Analysis – Stanza Two
Word Choice “nowhere” = nothingness. There is
no comforting sense of her presence still being
with him. She keeps on disappearing into
nothing as he relives the horror of her death
again and again. This reinforces never-ending
nature of her death – his loss. There is no
positivity as he believes death is the end of
everything.
Analysis – Stanza Three
Stanza opens with a flat, matter-of-fact statement
that reminds us of the opening line “ Ever since
she died/she can’t stop dying”.
Within the poet’s consciousness she can’t stop
dying– he is constantly tortured by this
overwhelming experience of the death of his loved
one. This sums up his continual experience of
loss.
Analysis – Stanza Three
Simple statement follows as he begins to reach his
conclusion “She makes me/her elegy”.
An elegy is song or poem associated with death.
His grief is so raw, so deep and all-consuming that
he identifies entirely with it to the exclusion of all
else.
Suggests that his whole life is dominated by her
memory, that he is a living tribute to her.
Analysis – Stanza Three
Word choice: he describes himself as “a walking
masterpiece / a true fiction / of the ugliness of
death”.
The term “masterpiece” is used satirically to
convey how successful his transformation into
“ugliness” - a mascot for death, despair and
despondency has been as he has been so badly
affected by her death. Does it suggest some solace
in artistic creation?
Analysis – Stanza Three
Word choice: “of the ugliness of
death” are blunt and brutal. They
contrast with and undermine any
sense of comfort in the ending.
Analysis – Stanza Three
The short and simple (and therefore emphasised)
final line sums up one of the central ideas in the
poem, “ I am her sad music”.
This pessimistic note again emphasises the
ceaseless, all-encompassing nature of the grief
and sorrow that consumes him and pervades every
aspect of his consciousness.
Overview - theme
The sense of unending grief that is felt when someone
we love dies.
Nevertheless, there is an occasional glimpse of
optimism and beauty contained within the image of the
crocus, which is “never carved more gently than in the
way her dying shapes my mind.”
This seems to imply one of the abiding effects of his
grief is that it will forever and indelibly continue to
shape and impact on his creative work.
Success Criteria
We understand the poem
We understand the form and structure of the poem
We can identify and explain the effect of poetic
techniques used in the poem
We understand the theme of the poem and the way in
which they are conveyed through an effective use of
poetic techniques