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The difference between the poems is the conviction of the perpetrators’ belief in the mythology or pretence in carrying out their actions. In contrast to the aforementioned certainty created by a distorted reality in ‘Lammas Hireling’, ‘Giuseppe’ portrays a feigned belief as a means to sublimate the atrocity of such actions. This is seen through the chinks in the spontaneous storytelling narrative that portray the mermaid as having human qualities, such as the false start of “she, it”. The personal pronoun “she” would suggest a human facet of the mermaid, whereas “it” objectifies her. That the former is said first would suggest that the speaker himself is aware of these human traits but chooses to conceal them in his story. This is also reinforced in the last stanza where the narrator’s uncle, who participated in the act (“behind the aquarium”/”the aquarium keeper”) “couldn’t look [the narrator] in the eye”, which suggests guilt. Thus, whilst ‘Lammas Hireling’ conveys the corruptive effects of an indoctrinated mythology, ‘Giuseppe’ portrays the exploitation of pretence as a means to not only justify actions to others but also themselves – to maintain a clear conscience.

Both poems interestingly allude to Christianity. In the Lammas Hireling, we find that the narrator has been speaking to a priest (“Father”), and one is also present at the execution of the mermaid in ‘Giuseppe’. In juxtaposition to the archaic mythology of “warlocks” and herd being “elf-shot”, which has since been regarded as mere superstition, we are presented with an institution and religion that has been sustained into modernity. The image of the narrator asking for blessing (“bless me, Father, I have sinned”) is one of absolution of immorality just as the mythology grants him. This, in conjunction with impotence of such absolution (“it has been an hour since my last confession”) may be Duhig’s critique Christianity - that it serves as much purpose as archaic mythology, and therefore begs the question as to whether such religious institutions have a place in modern society.

This is part of an essay I wrote for an AS English Literature class last year. Both ‘The Lammas Hireling’ and ‘Giuseppe’ have been two of the most ‘theme-hungry’ poems of the Poems of the Decade collection. By that I mean that people have struggled to find a theme of comparison for these to use with other poems of the collection. What is important to realise with these poems is that there is a distinct blend, or distinct blurring, of the real and the fantastic. What you might want to think about when looking at these poems is why the poets have decided to juxtapose these elements, and what does this say about the nature of war (in Giuseppe) and human nature’s susceptibility to having our reality be so easily distorted.

Image Credits: AS English Blog