Analysis: Summer Farm by Norman MacCaig

STRUCTURE:

4 stanzas each composed of 4 verses
variation of nb of syllables, around 10
AABB rhyme scheme (except “as” and “grass” do not rhyme)
A quite usual structure.

STANZA 1:

Description of the farm and what lies around the author.
“Straws like tame lightnings lie about the grass”. Lightening is unpredictable and usually perceived as dangerous, however in this case it has been tamed. This opposition gives a strength to the image and depicts the straws as some kind of a miracle: the untameable was tamed. The image is made stranger by its stillness, “lie around”, this opposes to the idea of lightening, which appears suddenly and just as fast disappears. The contradictions make a peculiar atmosphere and make any kind of understanding difficult.
“hang zig zag on hedges” (shape of lightening) no movement.
“Green as glass/ The water in the horse-trough shines”. Glass is not green, so this image reinforces the confusion created by the first image of the poem. This image also reinforces the impression of stillness in the beginning of the poem. The water is compared to “glass” which suggests a complete absence of movement on the surface of the water. this is supported by the fact the water “shines” which suggests something uniform and universal: no movement.
“Nine ducks go wobbling by in two straight lines”. First movement in the poem that interrupts the mood previously installed of stillness and therefore soundlessness. “Wobbling” is an onomatopoeia, so sound appears as well as movement. “two straight lines”: three monosyllabic words, something meant to be even but can’t be: indeed there are nine ducks so how can they be spread in two equal lines?
There is a lot of light in this first stanza, the glow of childhood. “lightning”, “shines”, “green”, we don’t see the source of this light, it feels like a childhood memory made brighter by the years. Its summer so light is everywhere.
The focus keeps changing from the “straws”, to the “water”, to the “nine ducks” that are “wobbling by”.

STANZA 2:

“A hen stares at nothing with one eye,/ Then picks it up.” Nothingness is huge, has no boundaries of space whereas the action of picking up is small. Its interesting that the hen would stare with only “one eye”, what is it doing with the other? The impossibility of picking up something that does not exist creates a sense of unrealism. The farm is no longer a rational place it spills into imagination. The hen seems to be dealing with her own metaphysical thoughts, totally lost in the contemplation of emptiness.
“Out of an empty sky” (without clouds?) A sky cannot be empty and this reinforces this idea of the imaginary mixing into reality. Sense of space, enormity, the sky does not contain anything, its endless. The poem starts to zoom on the thoughts of the poet, he is no longer just observing, he is imagining, we are in his head.
“a swallow falls” : large movement. Has the bird just appeared out of nowhere in the “empty sky”?
“flickering through/ The barn” : enjambement, the author presents the “barn”, puts an emphasis on it.
“dives up again into the dizzy blue” : reverse perspective (diving up). Creates a sensation of dizziness “dizzy blue”, the author is springing us in every direction, confusing us. It is as though the barn is the one diving up, due to the enjambement. Everything is going in every direction, the author is questioning the reality of the farm.

STANZA 3:

The author is presented to us, “I lie”. He is grounded, his entire body attached to reality, touching the earth.
“not thinking”, by observing the author is meditating, he is trying to convince himself not to think. This idea is later reinforced “Afraid of where a thought might take me”. “take me” => he is not in control the thought is and it has a will of its own, a purpose.
The author tries to fight off thought by grounding himself the most possible. He feels the “cool, soft grass”. He concentrates on his physical feelings rather then on the mental ones. Tries to keep his concentration on what is around him, the grass.
“as/ This grasshopper with plated face/ Unfolds his legs, and finds himself in space”. The word “as” is here used as a connective but might as well serve to create a comparison between the grasshopper and the author. Small action: unfolding legs, huge place “space”. Once again contrast big/ small. “finds himself”, just as the author can be taken by a thought and has no control, the grasshopper makes an involuntary movement. This image metaphorically shows that the thought has come and taken him. There is a stillness about this action as though it is a succession of frames, and the grasshopper just stops in space, he does not fall back down.

STANZA 4:

The author has now been ‘taken’ by his thoughts and we are deep in his mind.
“self under self””Threaded on time” => evolution over time. “a pile of selves I stand”. This represents the succession of different people he has been , from the moment he was born to the present. He is all these selves, they make him who he is.
The author is both insignificant and powerful, “lift the farm like a lid”. He can lift it (power), but he is only one person between so many (insignificance).
“farm within farm, and in the centre, me.” Identity, the poem is about him, not the farm, he is at the centre of the farm, it cannot live without him. “Farm within farm”, goes with “self under self”, each farm has a self, (cyclical?).

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