View of Scotland/Love Poem: Theme; Memory

“View of Scotland/Love Poem: Theme; Memory” - Insights and Characteristics

Evocation of Memory

• The poem encapsulates the powerful role that memory plays in our perception of love.
• Remembering past events is a significant theme as the recollections colour our emotions, views and feelings.
• The speaker recalls past experiences which resonate with feelings of warmth, love, and a longing for the beauty of the Scottish landscape.

Sense of Place and Belonging

• The unique attributes of Scotland, its landscapes and its culture, form part of a collective memory, reflecting a deep connection to the place.
• Phrases such as “soft winds”, representing the mellow beauty of Scotland, generate a vivid impression of the country’s natural beauty.
• The Scottish dialect is incorporated in the poem as a nostalgic link to the past, again emphasising the connection with place and tradition.

Contrast: Memory vs Reality

• The poem points at how memory can sometimes create more appealing images than the reality we face. Remembering can help transform and enhance reality through the lens of nostalgia.
• The character being in London causes her to remember Scotland more fondly, indicating the distance from home enhances the memory.
• The poem depicts a slightly surreal, subjective version of Scotland, as seen through the speaker’s nostalgic lens.

Key Quotes

• “Everybody spoke in the same slurring singsong”

• “Across the city soft winds had blown in from the sea”

• “a good Scots tongue in your heid is a fine thing”

These quotes reinforce the theme of memory in the perception of love, longing, and nostalgia that shapes the speaker’s associations in Liz Lochhead’s “View of Scotland/Love Poem”.