'Old Highland Woman' (SQA National 5 English): Revision Note

Below is a guide to Norman MacCaig’s poem ‘Old Highland Woman’ 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 MacCaig’s techniques and methods

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

• Linking the poems: an understanding of how ‘Old Highland Woman’ connects to MacCaig’s other prescribed poems for the Scottish text section

Overview

In order to answer questions on any poem it is vital that you understand what it is about. This section includes:

• An overview of the poem

• A ‘translation’ of the poem, section-by-section

• A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Norman MacCaig’s intention and message

‘Old Highland Woman’ overview

‘Old Highland Woman’, written by the poet Norman MacCaig, describes an old woman sitting by a fire; the speaker reflects on her past. She is an embodiment of her Gaelic heritage, and through this presentation MacCaig explores the loss of a traditional way of life.

‘Old Highland Woman’ translation 

Line 1

Translation

• The poem begins in the present tense, immediately introducing the nameless “She”, the subject of the poem

• She is presented as perpetually fixed in a room next to a “fire”

MacCaig’s intention

• The use of “all day” establishes the sedentary nature of the woman, with the monosyllabic short sentence conveying the mundane ordinariness of her existence

• Overall, the tone of the first line is quiet and depressed, even if the “fire” suggests warmth and comfort

Lines 2-5

Translation

• The speaker gives some context to the woman’s isolation, of how she has lost touch with the world beyond her “door”

MacCaig’s intention

• The opening of the question “How long” emphasises a period that cannot be measured by a timescale, such is the long duration of the woman’s isolation

• The words “opened the door” are both literal and metaphorical (opens in a new tab): just as the door has stayed shut, so too has the woman emotionally retreated from life beyond the walls of her home

• The use of the verb “confusing” refers back to an era when the woman was able to be active and busy, and play an important role in the running of the croft

• The image of “scuffling hens and the collie / dreaming” paints a vivid picture of energy and rural life, but the word “dreaming” suggests that these experiences are no longer tangible

Line 6

Translation

• The speaker explains how old age has severely restricted the old woman’s ability to move around

MacCaig’s Intention

• The final line of the stanza (opens in a new tab) carries a tone of both sadness and finality

• The bustling activity of the “hens” is juxtaposed (opens in a new tab)with the simple activity (“walking”) that the woman is no longer able to carry out

• The short, simple sentence mirrors the opening sentence and brings the stanza back to the present

Lines 7-9

Translation

• The woman becomes a symbol for the Gaelic culture and tradition

MacCaig’s intention 

• The phrase “She has come here” implies a journey of enormous proportions as illustrated by “through centuries”

• The speaker makes a specific reference to “Gaelic” to indicate the language the woman speaks, as well as her culture and longstanding identity

• The reference to “labour and loves”, suggesting both hard work and joy, gives an insight into how the Gaelic tradition has persevered, with the alliteration (opens in a new tab) of ‘“l” binding the contrasting ideas suggested by the words

• The reference to “rainy funerals” then creates a listing effect, emphasising a variety of aspects of Gaelic culture

• Like “labour”, the images of “rainy funerals” adds a sense of hardship, with the pathetic fallacy (opens in a new tab) of “rainy” further emphasising the sadness of the “funerals”:

  • The reference to “funerals” also has a wider significance, signalling the metaphorical funeral of the woman’s culture

Lines 9-12

Translation

• The speaker emphasises the importance of her ancestors in framing the woman’s identity

• Despite the loneliness of her present state, MacCaig establishes a wider connection between the woman, her ancestors and her heritage

MacCaig’s intention

• The profound metaphor: “Her people / are assembled in her bones”, suggests that the woman’s ancestry is an essential part of her existence

• This is followed by a short sentence that strongly reinforces the idea that she represents the parts of all these people, with the word “summation” literally meaning a process of adding things together:

  • The woman is seen as the end point of this process

• The caesura (opens in a new tab) (“...summation. Before…”) emphasises her symbolic role at the culmination of that process

• “Before her time” is a saying which suggests a person is too modern or advanced to be understood in the time they live in:

  • MacCaig is emphasising that this is not true of this woman (“has almost no meaning”), who can only be understood in her historical context

Lines 13-15

Translation

• MacCaig recounts how the old woman responds to the voices she hears outside

MacCaig’s intention

• The word “When” offers a vague time frame, highlighting her loneliness

• The reference to “neighbours” suggests she has no family, or no next generation, to carry on her ways

• In “laugh”, however, MacCaig reveals a warmth and sense of mischief about the woman, while “love” suggests she delights in the company of others and finds vitality in laughter and gossip

• Contrastingly, the witchlike “wicked cackle” reveals a streak of immorality and a sense of ill created by the gossiping “neighbours”

Lines 15-22

Translation

• The speaker continues the ideas of the previous lines by characterising the old woman as a keen observer of her neighbours 

• This leads to a sad conclusion, with the reader left with a final image of the woman as exhausted, much like the heritage she represents

MacCaig’s intention

• The words “sly” and “malice” have a similar effect to “cackle” in line 14, portraying her as somewhat deceitful, with the “neighbours” also being presented as having some kind of ill will

• The “gossip” is personified (opens in a new tab) through the use of “bristle”, a word that means to take offence or to be angered:

  • But, as such, the “gossip” brings her dull, quiet existence alive

• The repetition (opens in a new tab) of “relishing” emphasises the idea above: she thoroughly enjoys the “gossip”:

  • However, a sharp and active mind is contrasted with bodily passivity in “her hands / lying in her lap”

• The imagery of “her hands” as “holy psalms” helps to portray the juxtaposition between mischief (“gossip”) and spirituality, capturing the spirit of the old woman:

  • Psalms are devotional prayers often sung in Gaelic and integral to Sunday worship, but these are now distant memories, suggesting a loss of tradition and a break with religious observance

• The repetition of “once” highlights the woman’s lack of purpose

• The poem began in the present and ends with a reflection on the past, while the woman’s mind has perhaps wondered, revealed by the longer stanza length

• The word “sing” then contrasts to “cackle” in line 14, highlighting the moral and physical decline of the woman

• The poem ultimately ends sadly with the woman effectively silenced, standing as a metaphor for the decline of a way of life that had existed “through centuries”

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 Norman MacCaig’s intentions behind his choices in terms of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

Through the use of the character of an old woman, MacCaig laments the degradation of Gaelic culture, tradition and heritage. The poem takes the form of an observation of the woman, with a growing sense of third-person omniscience (opens in a new tab) as the poem develops.

Structure

‘Old Highland Woman’ is composed of three verses: two verses of six lines, then a final verse of 10 lines. MacCaig uses a variety of structural features, notably sentence length, caesurae and enjambment (opens in a new tab), to effectively convey the theme of isolation.

Language

While ‘Old Highland Woman’ is a poem about a loss of tradition and culture, it is perhaps most relatably about the inevitable human experience of growing old. MacCaig presents ideas of ageing through word choice and imagery (opens in a new tab).

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 MacCaig examines in ‘Old Highland Woman’:

• Loss

• Isolation

Loss

• ‘Old Highland Woman’ describes loss in a number of ways:

  • Loss of agency due to a physical decline caused by age

  • And more widely a loss of culture, heritage and tradition

• In the first verse, contrast between the past and present is used to explore what the old woman has lost:

  • The ability to go outside and engage with the simple, joyful pleasures of rural life

• This loss is underlined by the blunt statement that “Her walking days are over”, implying the inevitability of the old woman’s decline

• Loss of Gaelic culture and tradition is then explored through the symbolic old woman whose life comes to stand for her ancestors

• In the final verse, while the woman still gains pleasure from the “gossip” she overhears, it is clear she has no voice or opportunity to reply, with the closing image of her sitting alone emphasising the scale and sadness of her loss

Isolation

• As a rural Highlander, the old woman is already isolated, but her old age further isolates her in a small, rural community

• This isolation is emphasised by her aloneness: at no point in the poem does she associate with a human or animal in the present:

  • Instead she is presented as a virtual prisoner in her own home

• Her lack of name also suggests her isolation and lack of identity, highlighting her symbolic significance, but as an individual she is is forgotten and invisible

• Contrast is used to suggest how her life was once different, highlighting that isolation is a tragic consequence of old age

Linking the poems

Most students who study MacCaig’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 MacCaig’s poetry.

If you choose to study MacCaig 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 his other poems.

The six prescribed poems by Norman MacCaig are:

• ‘Aunt Julia’

• ‘Hotel Room, 12th Floor’

• ‘Old Highland Woman’

• ‘On Lachie’s croft’

• ‘Landscape and I’

• ‘Basking Shark’

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.