The Lammas Hireling by Ian Duhig (Edexcel A-Level English Literature): Flashcards
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Practise the cards
10 cards from this deck
Lammas festival in the poem's title
Lammas festival in the poem's title
Traditional festival marking wheat harvest
Structure: number and type of stanzas
Structure: number and type of stanzas
Four sestets (six-line stanzas)
Form of 'The Lammas Hireling'
Form of 'The Lammas Hireling'
Free verse without regular rhyme scheme or metre
Who is the speaker?
Who is the speaker?
A farmer recounting a tale about a hireling he employed
Theme: guilt in the poem
Theme: guilt in the poem
Speaker haunted by actions, seeks confession frequently
Theme: superstition and folklore
Theme: superstition and folklore
References to witches, supernatural transformations, warlock
Simile: 'His eyes rose like bread'
Simile: 'His eyes rose like bread'
Adds surreal, unsettling quality to transformation
Metaphor: hireling's transformation into hare
Metaphor: hireling's transformation into hare
Represents speaker's guilt and paranoia
Purpose of enjambment in poem
Purpose of enjambment in poem
Creates urgency, reflects speaker's fractured mental state
'Elf-shot' meaning
'Elf-shot' meaning
Cursed (referring to the speaker's herd)