Aunt Julia by Norman Maccaig (National 5 English)

Which sentence best summarises the poem?

• The speaker recalls his vibrant Gaelic-speaking Aunt Julia, regretting he learned her language too late to truly know her.

• Aunt Julia teaches her nephew Gaelic through spinning wool, and they share many conversations before her peaceful death.

• A young man fondly remembers living with Aunt Julia in her modern city apartment, where she collected coins.

• The speaker celebrates finally learning Gaelic in time to answer all of Aunt Julia's questions before she moved away.

Which of these structures does MacCaig NOT use in this poem?

• Free verse

• Repetition

• A regular rhyme scheme

• enjambment

Answer explanation

MacCaig does not use a regular rhyme scheme.

Writing in free verse helps to create a conversational style and tone, while the use of enjambment and repetition allow him to emphasise key aspects of the poem.

Why did the speaker find it difficult to communicate with Julia?

• Because she only spoke Gaelic

• Because she could not write

• Because she was hard of hearing

• Because she had old-fashioned ideas

Answer explanation

MacCaig found it difficult to communicate with Julia because she "spoke Gaelic/very loud and very fast." and he did not understand Gaelic:

"I could not answer her —
I could not understand her."

MacCaig remembers his aunt using the spinning wheel.

What fabric is associated with the Isle of Harris (where his Aunt lived)?

• Cotton

• Tweed

• Jute

• Denim

Answer explanation

Tweed is traditionally made on Harris.

In Stanza 3, the poet recalls lying in bed at his aunt’s house.

Which of these words best describes how he felt?

• Lonely

• Afraid

• Safe and secure

• Freezing cold

Answer explanation

He felt safe and secure.

When he lies in "the absolute darkness/of a box bed", there is a sense that he is content as he listens "to/crickets being friendly."

Which technique is used in the line "She was buckets/and water flouncing into them"?

• Metaphor

• Alliteration

• Simile

• Onomatopoeia

Answer explanation

"She was buckets/and water flouncing into them" is a metaphor.

The metaphor conveys a woman in constant motion - “flouncing” water gives a description of the deliberate, vigorous way she moved.

In Stanza 4, Julia is compared to elements like the wind and the rain.

What does this convey about her character?

• That she often became angry when the weather prevented her from working

  
  

• That she enjoyed the outdoors and rural lifestyle

  
  

• That she wanted to move to a warmer climate

  
  

• She liked to stay indoors to keep warm and dry

Answer explanation

Julia enjoyed the outdoors and rural lifestyle.

In the poet's memory, she is intertwined with the natural forces of wind and rain, in the description of the "winds pouring wetly/round house-ends."

At the same time he remembers her through a series of objects typical of a rural setting:

"She was buckets/and water flouncing into them and also brown eggs, black skirts/and a keeper of threepennybits."

What had happened to Aunt Julia by the time MacCaig learned a little Gaelic?

• She had died

• She had learned to speak English

• She had moved to Edinburgh

• She had forgotten how to speak Gaelic

Answer explanation

By the time MacCaig had learned a little Gaelic, his aunt was dead, lying "silenced" in her grave.

Which technique is employed in these three lines?

"By the time I had learned
a little, she lay
silenced in the absolute black..."

• enjambment

• repetition

• caesura

• rhyming couplets

Answer explanation

The contrast between the loud, talkative vibrant Aunt Julia in life and utter, absolute quiet of death is emphasised using enjambment to position "silenced" at the opening of line five.

Even after her death, the poet imagines his Aunt still "getting angry".

What could be the cause of her frustration?

• That she is bitter because she never married

  
  

• That she is still annoyed that the language barrier never allowed her to communicate fully with some of her family

  
  

• That she had a long running feud which was never resolved

  
  

• That her children moved away from Harris and rarely visited

Answer explanation

Aunt Julia could have been annoyed that the language barrier never allowed her to communicate fully with some of her family.

This is hinted when MacCaig refers to "so many questions
unanswered."