Whilst Leila Sleeps (SQA National 5 English): Revision Note

Below is a guide to Jackie Kay’s poem ‘Whilst Leila Sleeps’ in preparation for the SQA National 5 English exam. It includes: 

• Overview: a breakdown of the poem, including its possible meanings and interpretations

• Writer’s methods: an exploration of Kay’s techniques and methods

• Understanding the poem: an exploration of the themes and ideas within Kay’s poem

• Linking the poems: an understanding of how ‘Whilst Leila Sleeps’ connects to Kay’s other prescribed poems for the Scottish text section

Overview

'Whilst Leila Sleeps' overview

'Whilst Leila Sleeps', written by the poet Jackie Kay, is a poem about an anxious mother fleeing in the middle of the night with her daughter Leila. While the poem is a universal depiction of a mother protecting her daughter as she flees, Kay implies the woman is an immigrant facing deportation. 

'Whilst Leila Sleeps' translation 

Lines 1-3

Translation

• The poem begins with the speaker preparing to leave home in the middle of the night

• The speaker is nervous as they pack and turn out the lights

Kay’s intention

• Kay immerses the reader into the first-person narrator’s frightening experience

• Present-tense continuous verbs (“moving”, “packing”, and “turning”) suggest the narrator is in a rush 

• A simile compares the narrator’s nervous hands to “fish nets” which links to the idea of a stomach in “knots”

Lines 4-6

Translation

• In the middle of fleeing, the narrator suddenly feels a desire to be with their mother

• Their mother, though, is in another country and far away:

  • This may link with the image of “fish nets”, suggesting the narrator is from a rural community in a less-developed country

Kay’s intention

• Kay uses enjambment across the stanzas to convey the narrator’s panic

• A sudden need to be close to their mother raises the theme of family relationships:

  • Kay emphasises a family separated by distance: “all the way over / the other side of the world”

Line 7-11

Translation

• The narrator is now in the car with her young daughter in the car seat

• They appear to be reversing and their view is obscured by boxes of their belongings

• The child is fast asleep and the mother wonders if her deep sleep is because of a lack of worries or concerns (“oblivion”), unaware of their circumstances

Kay’s Intention

• The theme of motherhood is raised: the mother is aware of the danger, but the child is safe in their protection 

• Kay contrasts the mother’s fear with the “innocence” of her daughter:

  • The daughter’s vulnerability is emphasised by the description of her as a “bundle” with a “small mouth”

Lines 12-13

Translation

• The narrator describes their car headlights as if they are eyes searching for danger

• The mother is feeling paranoid: they are not sure how the danger will appear 

Kay’s intention 

• A tone of suspense is built as Kay reminds the reader of the dark night

• Personification of the car headlights as “eyes” emphasises the narrator’s fear

• A dash and rhetorical question recreates the narrator’s paranoid thoughts:

  • Kay alerts the reader to imminent danger

Lines 14-15

Translation

• Some people appear just as the narrator thinks they may be out of danger 

• The narrator is not sure what may happen 

Kay’s intention

• The suddenness of the appearance of an unknown group of people (“they”) creates tension as Kay introduces an enemy

• A short sentence and caesura conveys the narrator’s fearful thoughts: “What is that fear.”

Lines 16-17

Translation

• The narrator asks if the “fear” has a name, suggesting a sense of confusion

• The people who have arrived ask for the mother’s name:

  • Although they are polite, the people (the authorities) make the mother nervous and fearful 

Kay’s intention

• Kay describes the mother’s danger, suggesting a threat:

  • Short sentences recreate the tense experience

  • Kay does not state explicitly, but as the narrator’s mother is in another country, it is implied the mother is fleeing as a result of her nationality

• The politeness of the authorities adds a psychological element, highlighting the mother’s vulnerable position  

Lines 18-21

Translation

• The narrator is scared: her identity papers are handed over and the authorities insist she must go with them

Kay’s intention

• Kay describes “faces”, implying they are close to the mother in a threatening manner

• Visceral descriptions such as “bite my tongue, hard” emphasise the speaker’s terror

• The broken lines emphasise the mother’s isolation: “I have no witness”

• The phrase “Now there is nothing left” runs to the next line to highlight the narrator’s vulnerability

Lines 22-25

Translation

• Leila, the narrator’s daughter, wakes up

• The mother tries to comfort her but she does not know what to say

Kay’s intention

• Kay portrays the mother’s immediate need to comfort her daughter:

  • The line ends with a dash to highlight that the mother is at a loss

• The metaphor of her voice being a “house with the roof blown off” connotes to the chaos around her and, perhaps, her sense of being exposed

Lines 26-28

Translation

• The mother accepts their fate: they are ruined (“done for”)

• She needs to be honest with her daughter as the situation is impossible to hide

• The mother is very scared and feels overwhelmed

• They are driving very fast and there is a car headlight behind them

Kay’s intention

• Kay destabilises the rhythm and subverts the expected response of a mother soothing their child with a lie: “There is a need to worry”

• Kay describes the mother’s fear with confusing and psychological imagery: “night dreams my terror”

• The oxymoron of “slow” and “fast” creates an intensity by blurring the speaker’s sense of reality

• The immersive experience is described with sensory imagery: “a slow light”

Lines 29-30

Translation

• The poem ends unresolved: the mother tries to comfort her daughter Leila with a whispered lullaby, but her daughter is scared and “holds on”

Kay’s intention

• Kay ends her poem with a tender image of a mother singing to her scared daughter:

  • The poem highlights the bond between mother and daughter, suggesting that, despite the terrible circumstances, they find comfort in each other 

  • The “cradle song” juxtaposes the terrifying experience with an image of a nursery

Writer’s methods

Although this section is organised into three separate sections — form, structure and language — it is always best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they have. 

Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme and includes Jackie Kay’s intentions behind her choices in terms of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

Jackie Kay’s poem ‘Whilst Leila Sleeps’ is a first person dramatic monologue that immerses the reader in a mother’s psychologically and physically intense experience. 

Structure

The poem’s six stanzas follow the narrator’s experience moment by moment, creating immediacy and tension. Although the stanzas are regular, each with five lines of regular length, the narrator’s voice is tense and unstable.   

Language

Jackie Kay uses vivid imagery to portray the terror the mother feels as she tries to drive her daughter to safety but is stopped and arrested.

Understanding the poem

For the SQA National 5 English exam, it’s important to show a clear and thoughtful understanding of the poem’s themes and main ideas, as well as how the poet’s techniques and intentions help to convey meaning. This section focuses on two main themes that Kay examines in 'Whilst Leila Sleeps':

• Isolation  

• Relationships

Isolation 

• The poem 'Whilst Leila Sleeps' presents the theme of isolation primarily through the speaker's sense of being alone and unsupported during a moment of crisis: 

  • She is "packing things, turning out lights," on her own in the “dead of night”

• She feels alone when confronted by the men: "I have no witness"

• Kay’s narrator is exposed and vulnerable because she is alone, raising the theme of single motherhood and the vulnerability of being far from home: “I thought I was safe”:

  • Kay builds empathy with the absolute “Now there is nothing left”

• The speaker's confused mental state reflects her isolation and fear: her "headlights are paranoic eyes" and the cars are “slow” and “fast”

Relationships

• The poem represents the necessity of a mother’s comfort: the baby is in “oblivion” and fast asleep while they flee:

  • The narrator emphasises her desperate need for her own mother: "I want to be in my mother’s house"

  • However, as her mother is "all the way over / the other side of the world", she is alone and vulnerable

• The poem relates the mother's protective, desperate love for her daughter, heightened by the background of danger:

  • Kay juxtaposes the child’s “innocence” against the mother’s terror

  • The child’s "small mouth hanging open" contrasts with the mother’s "voice” described as a “house with the roof / blown off"

• As much as the mother wants to soothe her daughter she cannot protect her: "There is a need to worry./I cannot lie to her"

• Despite being driven away by the men, the mother maintains her protective duty by whispering "her cradle song" while Leila "holds on" to her coat

Linking the poems

Most students who study Jackie Kay’s poetry for the SQA National 5 exam use it to answer the Scottish text section. However, you can choose to write your critical essay on Kay’s poetry.

If you choose Jackie Kay for the Scottish text section, you’ll need to demonstrate a broader understanding of her poetry in the final question, as required by the SQA. This means referring to ideas, themes, or techniques from at least one of her other poems.

The six prescribed poems by Jackie Kay are:

• 'Gap Year'

• ‘Keeping Orchids’

• ‘Whilst Leila Sleeps’

• ‘Grandpa’s Soup’

• ‘Darling’

• ‘Maw Broon Visits a Therapist’

The final question will likely concentrate on an aspect of content, such as theme or characters in the poems, or on a technique, such as use of imagery or contrast. 

Below are some useful comparisons between the six prescribed poems.

Sources

Koval, Ramona, and Jackie Kay. “Jackie Kay - Poet.” Scottish Poetry Library (opens in a new tab). Accessed 9 December 2025.