Storyteller

Storyteller: Overview

Overview

In order to answer an essay question on any poem, it is important to 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 Liz Lochhead’s intention and message

‘Storyteller’ overview

The poem ‘Storyteller’, written by Liz Lochhead, describes a storyteller who is central to a community of peasant women. The poem celebrates the way listening to stories offers escape from the women’s work, and explores the social importance of stories and tales. 

‘Storyteller’ breakdown

Lines 1-5

Translation

• The omniscient narrator introduces a woman (“she”) in a simple kitchen:

  • There are some “cracked delft” (Dutch plates) on the “dresser”

• She has finished all her domestic chores:

  • The table has been scrubbed, the floor swept, and it is dark (“daylight” has been “salted away”)

Lochhead’s intentions

• Lochhead begins an immersive description of a woman at the end of a day of domestic chores:

  • Lochhead uses metaphor “crumbs of daylight” and “salted away” to convey the idea that the woman’s life revolves around domestic activities

• The setting is a simple, yet well cleaned kitchen, introducing themes of domestic labour, as well as pride in one’s environment

Lines 6-11

Translation

• The speaker goes on to say that everyone agrees the stories have a purpose

• The woman tells long stories (her tongue “clacked”), while other women prepare food (grate “corn”) or sew (“stitched” and “darning”)

Lochhead’s intentions

• The enjambment and alliteration in these lines, such as “patchwork was pieced”, reflects long, passionate stories that help the women through dull work 

• Lochhead highlights the power of storytelling, and the sense of community between the women despite their many chores:

  • The tasks are combined with listening to the tales, implying the stories are just as important as the work

 Lines 12-14

Translation

• The speaker refers to how the storyteller told her stories while others worked, so she was “shiftless” 

• They did not mind, though, so they would not “slander” or speak ill of her

• They liked the storyteller, whether untidy (“sloven”), and if the soup was “tasty” or like “dishwater”

Lochhead’s intentions

• Lochhead emulates the excitement of the stories by portraying how all other matters were ignored, which shows a close community 

• The strange and ambiguous combination of words may reflect the way the storyteller crafts her stories

Lines 15-18

Translation

• The speaker says that telling stories was the woman’s job

• When she tells stories it is as if she is spinning cotton (“thread”) 

Lochhead’s intentions

• The present tense verbs “spinning” and “gathering” creates a sense of immediacy, which helps to convey the excitement of the storytelling

• The simile, “like spinning”, connotes to the suspenseful stories the storyteller tells:

  • The metaphor ‘spinning a yarn’ is a nineteenth century sailors' expression

  • It is thought to describe the custom of telling stories during dull work such as yarn-twisting or thread weaving

• The metaphor “gathering air”  may allude to the storyteller pausing for breath

Lines 19-20

Translation

• The speaker adds that each night they would meet to hear the rest of the story, even though they often knew exactly how it would end 

Lochhead’s intentions

• Lochhead emphasises the intrigue of the stories, and how the storyteller builds anticipation that lasts all day, which is a welcome relief from the boring routine

• The power of stories is conveyed in the emotive “we knew by heart”, alluding to how well loved they were, like fairytales

Lines 21-25

Translation

• The speaker explains that the stories were told at night and then, in the morning, the women finally moved to make a fire and find their shoes (“clogs”)

• The speaker describes the “grey” sky and “flat fields” outside the home

• The night’s stories run around in their heads (“in the whorl of the ear”)

Lochhead’s intentions

• Lochhead describes a cosy domestic scene with a “fire” and the alliterative “feet felt”

• This is contrasted with the landscape outdoors, which is “thin grey” and “flat”

• Despite the dullness and routine of their lives, the stories bring excitement  

Lines 26-30

Translation

• The speaker compares the stories with bats who sleep “upside down” during the day

• The stories are in the children’s minds, and they will be spoken of again at nighttime

Lochhead’s intentions

• Lochhead’s poem ends with a metaphor that brings a sense of mystery to the stories:

  • The final line alludes to stories as bats flying at night, presenting stories as mysterious and exciting, but that disappear to a degree during the day

• Reference to “sleeping children” may allude to the stories being passed down, and the importance of the oral tradition

Storyteller: Writer's methods

Writer's methods

This section is organised into: form, structure, and language. All three are valuable “writer’s methods” to explore when you answer the poetry question in the CIE Literature for English exam. You should consider the poet’s choice of form (its shape and the perspective of the speaker), its structure (the speaker’s tone of voice), and the language used to create effect and meaning.  

Examiners require you to focus on the poem’s deeper ideas, and in a sensitive way. So, discuss how the poet’s methods reveal their ideas or themes. That is why all the analysis below is arranged by theme and includes Liz Lochhead’s intentions in terms of her choices of:

• Form

• Structure

• Language

Form

Liz Lochhead creates a long, immersive, free flowing form to portray the significance of stories to peasant women in a small community. 

Structure 

Lochhead’s free verse poem reflects the long and passionate stories the peasant woman tells, and conveys how her stories bring excitement and relief from the routine of daily work. 

Language 

Liz Lochhead’s poem creates a vivid image of how the dull lives and mundane chores of modest and marginalised women are enriched and motivated by stories told around a kitchen table. 

Storyteller: Understanding the text

Understanding the text

The poetry questions in the CIE Literature for English exam encourage an informed, personal response, which means that it is not enough just to know the poem, but that you will also need to develop a sound understanding of the poem’s themes, main ideas, settings, situations and events to explore the writer’s intentions and methods. This section has been divided into two main themes that Liz Lochhead examines in her poem ‘Storyteller’:

• Individual identity

• Cultural identity  

Individual identity 

• Liz Lochhead is a Scottish poet, born in 1947

• Her work is inspired by American feminist writers who rework old myths, as well as Scottish oral culture and European myths

• The poem ‘Storyteller’ is the introduction to a series of poems called The Grimm Sisters, written in 1981:

  • The collection reworks old fairy-tales and myths with a feminist perspective, particularly those written by the Brothers Grimm

• Lochhead’s work re-enchants or subverts everyday reality with mythic and fairytale elements:

  • In her poem ‘Storyteller’, the lives of domestic women are enriched by magical stories that dissolve in the “into the whorl of the ear”

  • In ‘Storyteller’ Lochhead presents a female orator who is able to capture the attention of a community all night because of her masterful narratives

• Some of the references in the poem suggest the setting is Dutch:

  • For example, there are “flat fields”,  the women wear “clogs”, and the plates are “cracked delft”

  • Arguably, the poem represents the daily chores of any domestic woman

  • They sit around a “scoured table” and a “swept” floor

Cultural identity 

• Twentieth century literature saw a revival of the oral tradition of storytelling, and often celebrates the power of performance poetry:

  • Liz Lochhead’s poetry uses alliteration and onomatopoeic words to elevate the sound of the language 

  • For example, in the lines, “the tongue clacked/five or forty fingers” or in “darning was done” and “peasant’s feet felt for clogs”

• Lochhead’s poem ‘Storyteller’ raises the idea of cultural continuity through storytelling:

  • The celebrates the way a woman captivates her community with her suspenseful storytelling around a kitchen table

  • For instance, in the line, “she’d have us waiting, held/breath” 

  • Metaphor alluding to “spinning” wheels and “sleeping heads of children” refers to the way fairytales are passed down “by heart” and continually loved