“Revelation: Stanza 3” - Overview

Context

“Revelation: Stanza 3” is a continuation of a autobiographical poem by Liz Lochhead, a leading Scottish poet and playwright.
Lochhead often includes her childhood experiences in her work, and this poem focuses on a key memory of hers.

Structure

Stanza 3 consists of five lines which break from the consistent quatrain structure in the rest of the poem. This could reflect the distressing shift in Lochhead’s world view.
The use of enjambment allows the action in the poem to flow and gives an overall sense of connectivity to the child’s stream of consciousness.

Themes

Innocence and Experience: In “Revelation: Stanza 3”, Lochhead moves from the innocence of childhood to an unsettling world of knowledge and understanding. Her perception changes drastically after seeing a bull which is alluded to in the third stanza.
Nature and Animals: Animals, particularly farm animals, are a recurrent theme in the poem and are symbolic of her rural upbringing. The bull’s violent image breaks her innocent perception of farm animals.

Language

The abrupt and harsh language used, like “dehorned” and “dangerous”, in this stanza contrasts with more peaceful, idyllic descriptions of animals earlier in the poem.
Through powerful imagery of a bull as a “Monster. Threat.”, Lochhead articulates her sudden fear and the resulting loss of innocence.
The colloquial phrase “tied up” contributes to the authentic, personal voice of the poet.

Key Lines

“Monster. Threat.”
“It was dehorned, of course, tethered”
“So it could do no further damage.”

These lines highlight Lochhead’s fear of the bull and contribute significantly to the transformation happening in this third stanza as her innocence slips away.