"The Lammas Hireling" was written by contemporary British poet Ian Duhig. The poem is a dramatic monologue set some time in the past and is based on Northern Irish folklore. The speaker—a farmer—tells the story of a hireling (young man) he employed around the time of the Lammas Harvest (which celebrates the harvesting of the wheat). At first the hireling seems to have a natural aptitude for work on the farm. One night, however, the farmer catches the hireling in a fox-trap under the full moon and realizes that he's a witch. The hireling transforms into a hare, and the farmer kills his new employee with a gunshot to the heart. Switching to the present tense at the end, the farmer tells the reader—who acts like the speaker's priest hearing confession—that he rarely sleeps, and spends his nights making ammunition for his gun. The poem won the U.K.'s National Poetry Competition in 2000.

• Read the full text of “The Lammas Hireling”

• “The Lammas Hireling” Summary

• “The Lammas Hireling” Themes

  • 

    Passion, Sin, and Guilt

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-24
  • 

    Superstition and Folklore

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 3-5
    • Lines 6-21

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Lammas Hireling”

  • Lines 1-5

    After the fair, ...
    ... Yields doubled.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    I grew fond ...
    ... his pale form.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-13

    Stock-still in the ...
    ... runs, muckle care.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-18

    I levelled ...
    ... rose like bread.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 18-21

    I carried him ...
    ... my herd’s elf-shot.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-24

    I don’t dream ...
    ... my last confession.

    

    

    

    

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• “The Lammas Hireling” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Allusion

    

    

    

    

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    Where allusion appears in the poem:

    • Lines 11-18: “I knew him a warlock, a cow with leather horns. / To go into the hare gets you muckle sorrow, / the wisdom runs, muckle care. I levelled / and blew the small hour through his heart. / The moon came out. By its yellow witness / I saw him fur over like a stone mossing. / His lovely head thinned. His top lip gathered. / His eyes rose like bread.”
    • Line 21: “Now my herd’s elf-shot.”
    • Lines 23-24: “Bless me Father for I have sinned. / It has been an hour since my last confession.”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “heart”
    • Line 2: “heavy,” “he struck so”
    • Line 4: “cream”
    • Line 5: “company”
    • Line 6: “knew,” “night”
    • Line 7: “disturbed,” “dreams,” “dear”
    • Line 8: “hunted,” “her,” “his”
    • Line 9: “Stock-still,” “light,” “lantern”
    • Line 10: “stark,” “but for,” “bloody boot,” “fox”
    • Line 11: “him,” “warlock,” “with,” “horns”
    • Line 12: “go,” “gets”
    • Line 17: “His,” “head,” “His”
    • Line 18: “His,” “him”
    • Line 19: “sack,” “step”
    • Line 21: “don’t dream”
    • Line 22: “casting,” “crowns”
    • Line 23: “Father for”

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Lines 17-18: “His lovely head thinned. His top lip gathered. / His eyes rose like bread.”

  • Assonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where assonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “I’d,” “light”
    • Line 2: “heavy,” “he,” “cheap”
    • Line 3: “him: in his,” “time”
    • Line 4: “mine,” “fat as cream”
    • Line 5: “Yields doubled,” “grew,” “company”
    • Line 6: “knew when to shut up. Then one”
    • Line 7: “dreams,” “dear”
    • Line 8: “torn,” “form”
    • Line 10: “but,” “one bloody”
    • Line 11: “warlock,” “horns”
    • Line 12: “go,” “sorrow”
    • Line 13: “runs, muckle”
    • Line 14: “blew,” “through”
    • Line 15: “moon,” “ witness”
    • Line 16: “him,” “over,” “stone”
    • Line 17: “His,” “thinned. His,” “lip”
    • Line 18: “His”
    • Line 19: “sack that,” “every step”
    • Line 22: “my nights casting,” “half”
    • Line 23: “here,” “me,” “sinned”
    • Line 24: “It”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “fair, I’d”
    • Line 2: “purse, he”
    • Line 3: “him: in”
    • Line 4: “heifers, fat”
    • Line 5: “doubled. I”
    • Line 6: “up. Then”
    • Line 11: “warlock, a”
    • Line 13: “runs, muckle,” “care. I”
    • Line 15: “out. By”
    • Line 17: “thinned. His”
    • Line 18: “bread. I”
    • Line 20: “bridge. There”
    • Line 21: “splash. Now,” “elf-shot. I”
    • Line 23: “here. Bless”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1
    • Line 2
    • Line 3
    • Line 4
    • Line 5
    • Line 6
    • Line 7
    • Line 8
    • Line 9
    • Line 10
    • Line 11
    • Line 12
    • Line 13
    • Line 14
    • Line 15
    • Line 16
    • Line 17
    • Line 18
    • Line 19
    • Line 20
    • Line 21
    • Line 22
    • Line 23
    • Line 24

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “heart / and”
    • Lines 3-4: “time / mine”
    • Lines 5-6: “company / that”
    • Lines 13-14: “levelled / and”
    • Lines 15-16: “witness / I”
    • Lines 18-19: “him / in”
    • Lines 20-21: “no / splash”
    • Lines 21-22: “dream / but”
    • Lines 22-23: “half-crowns / and”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “a light heart”
    • Line 8: “her torn voice”
    • Line 11: “a cow with leather horns”
    • Lines 13-19: “I levelled / and blew the small hour through his heart. / The moon came out. By its yellow witness / I saw him fur over like a stone mossing. / His lovely head thinned. His top lip gathered. / His eyes rose like bread. I carried him / in a sack that grew lighter at every step”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Line 4: “fat as cream”
    • Lines 15-16: “By its yellow witness / I saw him fur over like a stone mossing.”
    • Line 18: “His eyes rose like bread.”

• “The Lammas Hireling” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • The Lammas Hireling
  • Fair
  • Light Heart
  • Heavy Purse
  • Struck So Cheap
  • Doted
  • Dropped Heifers
  • Yields
  • Stock-still
  • Fox-trap
  • Warlock
  • Muckle
  • Levelled
  • Small Hour
  • Elf-Shot
  • Casting Ball
  • Half-Crowns
  • (Location in poem: )

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Lammas Hireling”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “The Lammas Hireling” Speaker

• “The Lammas Hireling” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “The Lammas Hireling”

• More “The Lammas Hireling” Resources

  • External Resources

    • More Poems and a Bio of Duhig — A valuable resource from the Poetry Archive. 

    • Witchcraft and Britain — A short and interesting take on witches' place in society through the centuries.  

    • The Allansford Pursuit — A witches' chant restored by poet Robert Graves from manuscript fragments (which the Duhig's poem alludes to).  

    • Duhig Interviewed — An insightful interview with the poet for The Compass magazine.  

    • A Reading by Ian Duhig — Footage of Duhig performing the poem in 2016. 

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