Grandpa’s soup
Why is her Grandpa’s soup so important to the poet?
In my opinion the soup made by the Grandfather is important to the poet, because she is describing a good memory she has of her own Grandfather in real life. Often Grand-parents cook for their grandchildren and this can have a positive effect on the child’s relationship with them, but also help them explore new foods which have been home cooked sometimes to the family member’s own recipe. In the first paragraph of the poem the poet writes, ‘No one makes soup like my Grandpa’s’. This states that the poet believes her Grandpa’s soup is the best in the world, because he makes it himself and it has helped them bond over meal times. In real life many people all over the United Kingdom sit with their elders eating soup because the elders cannot chew or digest solid foods easily, and so soup is often a popular choice in the household. Soup itself is a very healthy and staple food which can be made with almost what-ever the person wishes, and so anyone can eat soup no matter what their dietary needs, which makes it very ideal of elderly people.
What techniques have the poet used to describe her Grandfather’s soup in the opening stanza?
In the opening stanza the poet uses descriptive nouns to help describe the soup made by her Grandfather, but uses Scottish language in her writing which makes the reader realist that the girl in the poem is from Scotland and soup is very popular in Scotland. For example a sentence writes: ‘and its wee soft bits- what are their names? And its big hit of hough, which rhymes with loch floating like a rich island in the middle of the soup sea’. This sentence tells us that the soup contains little soft bits which is in-fact barley (a type of grain), which is popular in Northern made soup. The girl in the poem does not know what the barley is so she calls them ‘wee soft bits’ because the grains are small and soft when boiled in the soup. She also describes how the ‘hough’ is in the soup, which is a chicken’s thigh meat. She then describes how the meat floats in the middle of the bowl of soup like an island.
What techniques has the poet used to make the speaker sound like a young girl? Why has the poet done this?
A technique the poet has used to make the speaker sound like she is a young girl, is by using child-like language in her writing. For example one sentence states: ‘He knows when I’m older I will avoid soup altogether’. This shows that the speaker is young, possibly of child age and she describes that when she is older, if her Grandfather has passed on the thought of eating soup will be too painful because it will remind her off him, and it won’t be the same as eating his home made soup.
What dialect is some of the poetry written in? List and explain a few of these. What is the effect of this?
The dialect used in this poem is Northern, possibly Scottish and I say this because of the types of words used in the description of the ingredients. As I wrote above words such as ‘wee’ and ‘loch’ are known as Scottish words which mean ‘small’ and ‘lake’. I can prove this because Scotland is where the legend of the Loch Ness Monster ‘Nessie’ was born, and the name ‘Loch Ness’ comes from the word ‘Loch’ meaning ‘Lake’.