SUMMER FARM

By: Norman MacCaig Group: Camila Luna and Estrella Lin

POEM STANZAS
Summer Farm (Stanzas 1 & 2) : Straws like tame lightnings lie about the grass And hang zigzag on hedges. Green as glass The water in the horse-trough shines. Nine ducks go wobbling by in two straight lines. A hen stares at nothing with one eye, Then picks it up. Out of an empty sky A swallow falls and, flickering through The barn, dives up again into the dizzy blue. Summer Farm (Stanzas 3 & 4) : I lie, not thinking, in the cool, soft grass, Afraid of where a thought might take me as This grasshopper with plated face Unfolds his legs and finds himself in space. Self under self, a pile of selves I stand Threaded on time, and with metaphysic hand Lift the farm like a lid and see Farm within farm, and in the centre, me.

NORMAN MACCAIG
Norman MacCaig was born in 14 November 1910 and died in 23 January 1996. He was a Scottish poet. His poetry, in modern English, is known for its humour, simplicity of language and great popularity. MacCaig was born in Edinburgh and divided his time, for the rest of his life, between his native city and Assynt in the Scottish Highlands. He was schooled at the Royal High School and studied classics at the University of Edinburgh. He won the Cholmondeley Medal in 1975 and he was awarded the Queens Gold Medal for Poetry in 1985. During World War II MacCaig registered as a conscientious objector, a move that many at the time criticised. Douglas Dunn has suggested that MacCaig's career later suffered due to his outspoken pacifism, although there is no concrete evidence of this. For the early part of his working life, he was employed as a school teacher in primary schools. In 1967 he was appointed Fellow in Creative Writing at Edinburgh. He became a reader in poetry in 1970, at the University of Stirling. He spent his summer holidays in Achmelvich, and Inverkirkaig, near Lochinver.[2] His first collection, Far Cry, was published in 1943. He continued to publish throughout his lifetime and was prolific in the amount that he produced. After his death a still larger collection of unpublished poems were found. MacCaig often gave public readings of his work, in Edinburgh and elsewhere, these were extremely popular and for many people were the first introduction to the poet. His life is also noteworthy for the friendships he had with a number of other Scottish poets, such as Hugh MacDiarmid and Douglas Dunn. He described his own religious beliefs as 'Zen Calvinism', a comment typical of his half-humorous, halfserious approach to life.

INTRODUCTION
Summer Farm is written by Norman MacCaig, who spent much of his life in Edinburgh and other Scottish cities until his death in 1996. His mothers family, however, came from quiet rural parts of the country as Assynt, in the Scottish Highlands. This background is reflected in Summer Farm. He was schooled at the Royal High School and studied classics at the University of Edinburgh. The poem begins with some simple descriptions of what he sees, feels and thinks. Its describing all the surroundings and living things that he could see. He related those images with his life conditions by writing his thoughts and feelings.

POEM STANZAS REFERENCES

In the first stanza is describing what the author sees about the farm surroundings such as: the straws like green grass, the hedges like glass, the water in the horsetrough and the ducks going in two straight lines. In the second stanza is talking about some living things he looks at like: the hen staring at nothing and the swallow flying around over the blue sky. In the third stanza, he is reflecting about his fears when his thoughts were taking him somewhere as: himself in space or lying on cool grass. In the forth stanza he is describing that the farm has been in the family for generations and now its time for him to care about it.

ANALYSIS AND WAY OF THE POEM

In the first stanza MacCaig examines the external world around him. This examination can be viewed as a description of a setting for the poem, it also speaks about the thought process of the narrator (MacCaig). The second stanza it describes the continuation of the description of setting and the observation of the world around MacCaig. It also describes at how MacCaigs observation leads him into deep thought. The swallow is used as a metaphor of his thoughts because its represents that the summer comes and the freedom by flying through the sky. The hen stares at nothing with one eye, its representing that something is missing. The world dizzy gives a sense of confusion. In the third stanza it changes the focus of the poem by the use of I.MacCaig shows fear of contemplating something that we cannot understand and also of not knowing what thoughts it will lead him to. MacCaigs to see better himself in a figurative way or try and view himself objectively, he imagines himself as the grasshopper, which jumps free through the grass. Finding himself in space refers to his conscious being above himself as he looks down and could see the world in which he was in the farm. In the forth stanza he starts talking about his thoughts of the past and the future which came all at the same time. The metaphysic hand is his mind reaching out and looking all the farm, seeing the past and future of the farm as well as he is going to be its owner in a present. In the last line farm within farm, and in the centre, me shows that himself is in the centre but there are more farms in the past and the future.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE POEM

In this case, the poem has four stanzas. The author uses really extravagant words for the descriptions such as: the water in the horse-trough shines, straws like tame lightnings, empty sky, himself in space, etc. The rhyming scheme is A-A-B-B-C-CD-E-A-A-F-F-G-G-H-H. The author uses an emotional and exaggerated mood and tone to write this poem. Theres no alliteration and assonance in it.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we felt that this poem was not so difficult to understand and analyze it because there were few words that we didnt understand the meaning and searched for it. We also thought that the idea by lying in the grass and looking at the farm let him become aware of the many generations and many farms that have continued this one. The main idea of the poem is tough to figure out what is meant by the word 'identity', but it can be summarized in this poem as: thinking about the meaning of life, sense of self, or life as a journey.