Ian Crichton Smith :: essays research papers

Grief is a state of regnant emotion, when friends and relatives atomic number 18 plagued with guilt and distress over unspoken address and wasted moments. This is the emotive basis for the powerful poem Youll take a bath by Scots poet Iain Crichton smith. Throughout the poem Crichton metalworker successfully creates a haunting portrayal of his guilt-laden grief over his mothers final years and the role he played in her neglect. This neglect is patent in the vivid image of his mothers home combine with her frailty. Crichton Smith adds to this his give birth role in failing to rescue her and subsequently emphasises the extent to which he is plagued by regret. The poem is divided into three stanzas, the for the first time relations with Smiths memories of the early(prenominal) when his mother was alive whilst the remaining two explore the present. The first stanza, dealing with the ancient, is twice as long as the remaining two. It may therefrom be assumed that Crichton S mith uses the structure to reflect the fact that to him the past seems more substantial or dominant than the present.Crichton Smith initially uses the first stanza to convey then threatening nature of his mothers tenement home, referring tothe second act of the stony stair.At this point, Crichton Smith effectively employs alliteration on the words stony and stair. Using harsh sounds to emphasise the harsh nature of the place. In summation to this the poet also uses the phrase stony stair. Which also has double meaning - referring both to the insentient hard stone and also to threatening looks from other inhabitants. Furthermore we are told that this cold harsh location had been vandalised. The phrasegraffiti were black letters in a book.The word choice of were used out of context emphasises the intensity level of vandalism .This is supported by the effective imagery of letters in a book suggesting that the graffiti covered the wall from top to bottom as in a book.. Crichton Smit h adds to the sense of menace by describing the writing a misspelt and menacing. At this point, the poet employs words which have connotations of threatening ignorance. Such techniques are successfully combined to convey an image of a place that is both harsh and threatening. The design of the malign nature of the tenement is developed throughout the first stanza with Crichton Smith exploring his own role in his mothers confinement. He tells the reader that whilst he drive away, his mother would wave from the window.