For My Grandmother Knitting (Scottish Highers English): Revision Notes

For My Grandmother Knitting

Liz Lochhead's poem explores how society treats elderly people and how the ageing process changes how we see individuals. The poem uses the image of the grandmother's hands to trace her journey from a young fisher girl to an elderly woman, examining the disconnect between how her family sees her and how she sees herself.

Overview of the poem

The poem asks readers to consider how we treat older people and how ageing changes our perception of them. Lochhead centres the poem on the symbolism of her grandmother's hands. Throughout the grandmother's life, her hands have been constantly active, but their purpose has shifted. As a young woman, they gutted fish and provided her livelihood. As a wife and mother, they scrubbed and cleaned. Now, in old age, they knit, though her family insists this is no longer necessary. The hands connect all these life stages, showing that the elderly woman of today is the same person as the capable young woman of the past.

The poem challenges the way the grandmother's children view her. They see her as belonging to a bygone era, out of step with modern life. They fail to understand that her need to knit stems from a need to feel useful and to contribute something meaningful. By dismissing her knitting, they unwittingly reinforce her sense of uselessness.

Form and structure

The poem consists of five stanzas of unequal length, arranged in a broadly chronological order that moves between the grandmother's present and her past. The structure itself reinforces the poem's themes about memory and the connection between different life stages.

• Long sentences and enjambment: Every stanza except the last is written as a single, extended sentence. Lochhead uses enjambment (where a sentence continues beyond the line break) to draw attention to particular words and phrases. This technique creates a flowing quality that mirrors the continuous movement of the grandmother's hands and the way memories flow from one time period to another.

• Parallel structure: The first and second stanzas follow a similar pattern. Each opens by focusing on the grandmother in the present, then shifts to depict her youth as a fisher girl gutting fish. This parallel construction emphasises the connection between the elderly woman and her younger self, forcing readers to see both versions of her simultaneously.
• Chronological progression: The third stanza depicts the grandmother as a young wife and mother. The fourth returns to the present, showing her with her family. The final stanza shows her alone at the window, waving goodbye to her children and grandchildren after their visit.
• Narrative voice: The poem is written in the second person ("you"), but from the grandmother's point of view. This technique allows readers to experience events and emotions from her perspective, creating empathy for her situation. Rather than being told about the grandmother, we are placed inside her experience.

• Shift in the final stanza: The last stanza breaks the pattern of long sentences. Lochhead uses a series of single-word sentences to change the rhythm and pace, preparing readers for the poem's conclusion. This structural shift mirrors the fragmentation and isolation of old age.
• Repetition: Two key phrases repeat throughout the poem: "There is no need they say" and "but". These refrains create a sense of ongoing tension between the grandmother and her children. The repetition invites readers to question the children's assertions and to see validity in the grandmother's perspective.

Detailed analysis

Stanza one: introduction of key themes

The opening phrase "There is no need they say" establishes the poem's central conflict immediately. This refrain appears in almost every stanza, reinforcing the grandmother's increasing sense of uselessness. The word choice of "they" creates distance and separation between the grandmother and her children, who present a united front in dismissing her knitting as unnecessary.

The repetition of this phrase invites readers to doubt its truth. If the grandmother's children must keep insisting there is no need, perhaps there is a need after all – just not the practical need they recognise. The grandmother's need is emotional and psychological: a need to feel purposeful and to contribute something tangible.

The lines "but the needles still move/their rhythms in the working of your hands" introduce the central image of the grandmother's hands. The needles are personified, as if they possess their own life and agency. This suggests the grandmother's hands move instinctively and automatically, guided by decades of skill and muscle memory. The word "rhythms" emphasises the repetitive, meditative quality of knitting.

The word "but" also repeats throughout the poem, appearing in every stanza. It provides a counterpoint to the children's view, presenting the grandmother's perspective as equally valid. What the children see as pointless, she experiences as essential.

The stanza moves seamlessly from present to past through the continuation of the same sentence. The hands that now knit were once "sure and skilful" when the grandmother was a "young fisher girl". This temporal shift, aided by enjambment, establishes a pattern that continues throughout the poem. The hands act as the constant linking image between the elderly woman of today and the capable young woman of the past.

Stanza two: contrasting present and past

The stanza opens with a direct statement: the grandmother "is old now" and her "grasp of things is not so good". The word "grasp" carries a dual meaning. Literally, it refers to her weakened physical grip. Figuratively, it suggests her mind is also becoming less sharp and her memory less reliable. This dual meaning captures both the physical and mental decline that comes with age.

However, Lochhead immediately contrasts this image of decline with a flashback to the grandmother's youth. Once again, she is gutting fish, described as "deft and swift". This contrast forces readers to see the elderly woman in multiple contexts, not just as someone whose abilities have diminished. The young woman still exists within the old woman; they are the same person.

The line "you slit the still-ticking quick silver fish" uses assonance (repetition of the short 'i' vowel sound) and alliteration (repetition of the 's' sound) to emphasise the dexterity and speed of the young grandmother's hands. The short vowel sounds increase the pace of the line, reinforcing how quickly and efficiently she processed fish. The phrase is almost tongue-twisting in its complexity, reminding readers that while she made the work look effortless, it required considerable skill and coordination. The image of the "still-ticking" fish emphasises their freshness and the immediacy of the work.

The final lines – "Hard work it was too/of necessity" – introduce the key theme of necessity. In her youth, the grandmother's hands were essential for survival. They were her livelihood, allowing her to support herself and contribute to her family's income. Now, she knits not out of financial necessity but from an emotional need to feel useful and productive. By rejecting her knitting, her children unknowingly reject her, reinforcing the uselessness and irrelevance she already feels. They cannot see that for her, knitting is still a necessity, just of a different kind.

Stanza three: wife, mother, and hardship

The opening "But now they say there is no need" echoes the poem's first line, emphasising the growing distance between the grandmother and her children. The word "But" again provides resistance to their perspective.

This stanza depicts another stage of the grandmother's life: as a young wife and mother. She had a "hand span waist" (emphasising her tiny frame) and raised six children. Despite her small size, she was strong and capable, scrubbing her husband's back in a "tin bath by the coal fire". This detail evokes a time of austerity and hardship, when hot water was not readily available and bathing required significant physical effort.

The line uses sibilance (repetition of 's' sounds) to describe how she "scraped and slaved slapped sometimes". The harsh, hissing sounds emphasise the day-to-day difficulties faced by working-class families. The verb "slapped" suggests not just hard work but also moments of frustration and the physical discipline of children. Lochhead does not romanticise the past; she presents it honestly as a time of toil and struggle.

This depiction invites comparison between past and present. The grandmother grew up in a world of austerity and physical labour. Her children live in relative comfort, enjoying conveniences and quality of life their mother's generation could not have imagined. This generational difference contributes to the disconnect between them. They literally cannot understand her world because they have never experienced it.

Stanza four: the children's perspective

The fourth stanza is devoted entirely to the children's point of view. The refrain continues: there is "no necessity" for their mother to knit. Yet this repeated insistence only highlights how profoundly they misunderstand her. For the children, "need" is defined solely in practical terms. Do they require hand-knitted garments? No, they can buy clothing easily. Therefore, in their minds, the knitting is unnecessary.

They fail to see that their mother knits not primarily for them but for herself. The act of knitting allows her to feel that her skills are not obsolete, that she can still contribute something tangible and meaningful. It provides continuity with her past, when her hands were always productively occupied. By dismissing the products of her labour, her children inadvertently tell her that she herself is no longer needed or relevant.

This stanza is painful in its lack of understanding. The children are not unkind or neglectful – they visit regularly and express concern. Yet their concern is misdirected. They focus on what they perceive as unnecessary effort rather than on their mother's emotional needs and sense of purpose.

Stanza five: conclusion and defiance

The final stanza shows the grandmother at the window, waving goodbye to her children after their Sunday visit. They are "attentive and dutiful", yet they fundamentally misunderstand their mother. To them, she belongs to a "past, bygone era" that has no place in the modern world. Her skills and values seem outdated, irrelevant.

The meter changes dramatically in this stanza. The long, flowing sentences of earlier verses give way to short, abrupt phrases. The grandmother's hands are described in a series of single-word sentences:

"Swollen – jointed. Red. Arthritic. Old."

These stark adjectives force readers to confront the cruelty of the ageing process. Each word lands with harsh finality, emphasising the physical deterioration that comes with age. The hands are no longer "sure and skilful" as they were when gutting fish, or strong as they were when scrubbing backs. They are now damaged, painful, limited.

Yet these adjectives could describe not just the physical state of the hands but how the grandmother is viewed by society and even by her own family. She has become defined by her age and limitations rather than by her lifetime of skill, hard work, and contribution.

However, the poem ends on a note of quiet defiance. The final lines return to the refrain: "But the needles still move/their rhythms in the working of your hands/easily".

The word "but" is deliberately resistant, refusing to accept defeat or obsolescence. The enjambment isolates the word "easily" on its own line, emphasising that despite her physical limitations, the grandmother's lifelong skills have not abandoned her. Her hands still remember, still move with practiced ease through the familiar motions of knitting.

The final lines suggest that the "patterns and rhythms" of knitting provide comfort and solace. In a world of constant change where she increasingly feels out of place, the familiar movements offer certainty and continuity. The knitting connects her to her past, to her identity as a skilled and productive person. It is an act of resistance against the message that she is no longer needed or useful.

Key themes

Ageing and diminishment

The poem confronts the physical and social realities of growing old. The grandmother's body has deteriorated – her hands are swollen and arthritic, her grip weakened, her memory less reliable. Yet Lochhead insists that physical decline does not erase the person's history, skills, or value. The capable young woman still exists within the elderly body. By moving between past and present, the poem forces readers to see the grandmother as a complete person, not just as someone defined by age and limitation.

The need to feel useful

At the heart of the poem is the grandmother's need to contribute and to feel her skills are still valued. Her children misunderstand this need, seeing it only in practical terms. They have clothing; therefore, knitting is unnecessary. They cannot grasp that for their mother, knitting fulfills a psychological need to feel productive and purposeful. The rejection of her knitting becomes, by extension, a rejection of her.

Generational disconnect

The gap between the grandmother and her children is not just about age but about fundamentally different life experiences. She grew up in a world where skills like knitting were necessities for survival. Her children live in a world of abundance and convenience. They literally cannot understand her values because they have never lived in her world. This disconnect leads to unintentional hurt, as the children cannot see that what seems obsolete to them represents purpose and identity to their mother.

Past versus present

The poem constantly juxtaposes past and present, youth and age, capability and decline. This structure reinforces the theme that the past continues to live within the present. The grandmother is simultaneously the young fisher girl, the young wife and mother, and the elderly woman at the window. All these versions of her coexist. The poem challenges readers to see elderly people not just as they are now but as the sum of all they have been.

The value of traditional skills

Lochhead subtly critiques modern society's dismissal of traditional skills and values. To the grandmother's children, knitting is an outdated hobby from a bygone era. They cannot see its value because they measure value only in practical, modern terms. Yet the poem suggests that something important is lost when we dismiss the skills and traditions of previous generations. These traditions provide continuity, connection to the past, and a sense of identity and purpose.