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A child to his sick grandfather (Analysis (Themes throughout the poem.…
A child to his sick grandfather
AABBCC rhyme scheme throughout the poem.
Form and Tone
The poem consists of 8 stanzas all consisting of six lines and containing a consistent AABBCC pattern, despite the poems sad undertone the pattern gives it a nursery rhyme-like quality.
By Joanna Baille
Joanna Baille was the daughter of a Church of Scotland minister. She was a poet who was born and raised in Scotland, but spent much of her adult life in Hampstead, just outside London.
Baillie was born on 11 September 1762 in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland (her twin sister died just after birth). She came from an intellectual family with important links to the major philosophical and scientific communities of the time, in particular the “common sense” school of philosophy.
Repetition of "and" throughout.
Lines 20-24 start with "and" which puts emphasis on how upset and depressed everybody is because he is ill.
puts emphasis on just how illl his grandfather is by showing that he has one problem on top of another and another .
some examples of allteration
So sad
Own old
Are ailing
Scarce support
Repetition of "dad" throughout
every stanza apart from 5 and 6 finishes with "dad" but stanza 5 has "dad in the last line
The fact that "dad is not present or used in stanza 6 suggests that the grandson has seen how ill his grandfather is and has accepted that he is not going to get better, because he was previously in denial, so is trying to make the most of the time he has left with him.
Suggests that his grandfather is very tired, and his grandson is checking wheteher he is alright and if he is listening to what he is saying
Analysis
Themes throughout the poem.
Perhaps the grand in the opening line is a description of how grand the narrator perceived their father to be?
The word dad is used as a refrain at the end of each stanza which could lend ambiguity to whether this poem is about a father or a grandfather.
Throughout the poem they use the word dad, though this could just be their nickname for their grandfather.
Stanza 2
The poem is directed at the grandfather. It is possible to envision he narrator talking to their grandfather whist sat beside him as described in the second stanza.
Stanza 1
In this first stanza the narrator describes how they used to use their “grandfathers” staff, presumably his walking stick, as a pony and how that is no longer possible. There is a suggestion then that seeing their grandfather grow towards death is starting to rob them of their enjoyment of childhood.
The poem is directed at the grandfather. It is possible to envision he narrator talking to their grandfather whist sat beside him as described in the second stanza.
It revolves around the grief felt by a child over the grandfathers sickness. Within a reader can see evidence of some of the stages of grieving including bargaining, depression, denial and eventually a sense of acceptance as their father finally passes.
Stanza 3
Words like lank and hollow would certainly not be considered positive descriptors and perhaps describe the narrators mind set toward their grandfathers condition as well as describing his physical appearance.
This stanza is seemingly less focused on reflection and is more grounded in the present as the narrator describes the appearance of their grandfather.
The adjectives they use to describe the old man help to create an image of being very frail.
Stanza 4
The first line of this stanza is very interesting. The narrator mentions housewives and the brewing of potions the allusions here are possibly to witchcraft. I think the narrator finds the actions of the people who gossip about her grandfather’s condition to be heinous. The narrator further adds that “good men” say their prayers.
There is an obvious comparison here on how the narrator perceives the two different types of people, firstly those that see her grandfather as a source of salacious gossip and those that seem to be concerned with his well-being.
Stanza 5
In this stanza the narrator seems to be exhibiting an almost denial state. And later bargaining as they start by asking their grandfather not to “leave” they plead with him to return to his “old ways” they then proceed to almost barter with their grandfather promising to be quiet. As if these simple actions could possibly do anything to change their fathers ailments.
Stanza 6
he words used in this are very clever, describing the hand holding as being “kindly” and describing themselves as being “serving” there is an air of desperation, and therefore a morose sadness about this stanza as clearly the child would do anything to see their grandfather’s health return.
The burning of the fire could be a symbolic nod to the cremation process.
The entirety of this stanza is effectively the narrator trying to bargain with their grandfather. Making promises of how they will be with him.
Stanza 7
It is suggested that the fox that is stealing from their “brood” could be death, hence the use of the phrase “dead of midnight” however it is suggesting that the fox was led their by the hen, which again one would assume is another word to describe the mother.
Quite how the mother is responsible for the father’s condition is unclear.
There is some really interesting imagery in this stanza and it takes some deciphering. In the second line the narrator claims the story is about a partlet, which is an unmoving item, however it is an item of clothing associated with women and the following line about her brood suggests that perhaps the narrator is referring to their mother.
Stanza 8
It becomes clear in this stanza that the narrator is just trying to hold their grandfathers attention as the tell him stories about a knight. It seems pretty clear that by the end of this stanza the narrator’s grandfather has passed away as their head symbolically sinks and the grandfather can no longer hear what is being said.