Born in 1910 in Edinburg, Norman MacCaig divided his time between his native city and the Assynt,

Scottish highlands where is mother was from. MacCaig studied classics in the University of Edinburg and during the 2nd world war, he registered as a conscientious objector. A conscientious objector is an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service. This meant that he did not want to fight in the second world war. The poem summer farm hints to us that it is about a farm in the summertime. This poem has a formal structure of 4 quatrains with an aabb rhyme scheme with the exception of stanza 3 which has an aeff rhyme scheme. There are usually 10 syllables in each line. In addition, the poem is split into two parts, the 1st and 2nd stanza describes the poets surroundings but the 3rd and 4th stanza is the poets reflection on himself. There is also a slight iambic pentameter This poem is filled with oxymorons which are two contradicting words put together such as a deliberate mistake. Lightnings are definitely not tame, they kill thousands of people each year. When ducks are wobbling, they sway from side to side which means that it is almost impossible for them to walk in a straight line. When the hen stares at nothing, how is it supposed to pick it up if there is nothing? Enjambment when ideas run on line after line. In line 5, the hen stares at nothing with one eye then it skips to line 6 when the hen picks it up. Furthermore, near the end of the poem, poet sees a pile of selves which he stands on then it skips again to line 14 where it is threaded on time. If you read the two lines as though it was one, the poets message becomes clearer. Alliteration. Throughout the poem there are four examples of alliteration. Green as glass in line 2, falls and flickering in line 7, threaded on time in line 14 and farm within farm in line 16. There are also many similies in the poem which are green as glass in line 2, straw like tame lightings in line 1 and lift and farm like a lid in line 15 The imagery used in the poem helps the poet to describe his surroundings. The zigzag on hedges are not made by the lightning striking the hedge. It is by the straw hanging on the hedge. The water in the horse-trough is green as glass. The water is crystal clear like glass but it is green because it reflects the greenery of the surroundings. Thus, the poet described the water as green as glass. The image of the nine ducks wobbling helps to identify line 4 as an oxymoron. It is not possible for nine ducks to wobble in a straight line. There are two metaphors used in the poem. The comparison of the hen and the grasshopper to humans. When the hen stares at nothing in line 5, it symbolizes the thoughts of humans. Our ideas are invisible and we cant see them. In the next line, the hen picks it up. The hens hesitation represents how humans think about something first, weighing out the pros and the cons before putting our plan into action. The poet expresses his thoughts through the grasshoppers actions. The grasshopper has the intelligence to think but it is afraid to as it does not know where its idea may lead it. The grasshopper puts his thinking cap on, unfolds his legs and finds himself in space, outer space. This proves that as long as we humans think, we are able to do anything and will find ourselves in space sooner or later. The punctuation in this poem brings out the poets thoughts as it puts emphasis on certain points by making us slow down. For example, in line 15, lift the farm like a lid and see/ farm within farm. The enjambment there makes readers pause for a second. This makes questions pop into their heads, what did he see? Farm within farm, and in the centre, The use of the two commas there is to build up the tension to make readers keep reading till the end. The word me at the end of the poem remains in readers heads for a while. Mac Caig puts emphasis on the word me because the last 2 stanzas were his thoughts and his reflections. The first and second stanzas are extremely descriptive and filled with similes, metaphors and other literary devices. They aid readers to imagine the atmosphere of where the poet is standing. In the second section, the tone changes and the poet starts to reflect on how he sees his life.

The theme of this poem is metaphysics which is a division of philosophy that is concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and being For example, science can tell us how a universe works but it does not explain to us why it exists. The 1st 2 stanzas of the poem are the poets description of is environment. He does not question why the ducks wobble in straight lines and he doesnt wonder why the swallow falls and then dives up again. The poet states that he is afraid to think as he does not know where a thought would take him. Those who are not afraid of thinking have found themselves in outer space. In addition, this poem gives readers 3 dimensional feeling. First the ducks are wobbling, then a swallow falls and dives up again. The poet lies in the grass looking up at the sky and at the end, the poet realises that he is an insignificant person in the world. If you ever stood alone in the empty sports hall that is how you would feel. Just like how we wonder what is life from an ants point of view. At the end of the poem, the poet now knows that he does not have to think and wonder why he is on earth because he is an insignificant person in the whole world. It was then that he realised the world was not as small as he thought. In short, this poem is merely the poets dream in which he sees a clear blue sky, grassy meadows and in a farm, himself.