Personification can be found in the poem ‘Yellow’ right from the beginning. ‘The hedge has its hair cut and stand between us and the neighbours’. The first line gives an idea of the family. It suggests Jackie Kay may have lived in a successful family, as they make sure the garden is tidy. It also suggests appearance and reality. This is because the garden may look clean and tidy but inside, the family have problems, which Jackie Kay mentions in both poems. The second example of personification can be found in the following, ‘The crocuses’ yellow tongues try to talk’. This reflects the situation of Jackie Kay in the poem. She does not communicate verbally in the poem, like the crocuses. This may be because there is no room for her to talk in the poem as the family are too busy. The food is also personified. The following, ‘…happy yellow pineapple ring’, contrasts on the family. The family are unhappy whilst the pineapple ring is the opposite. Jackie Kay finds comfort in characterising objects as human relationships in her home only make her unhappy.
‘Brendon Gallacher’ doesn’t seem to have any personification apart from Brendon Gallacher himself. Instead of personifying objects, Jackie Kay imagines a dominant figure, which she can look up to and feel sorry for, as this may be absent in reality. The idea of a dominant figure is continued in the poem. ‘He would hold my hand and take me by the river’; this shows that the imaginary friend is the dominant figure. The idea of relationship is intimate between the imaginary friend and Jackie Kay, suggested by the holding of the hand, as it is sweet and innocent. The physical contact given by the imaginary friend compensates for the absent of hugs and kisses from the family, in particular the mother.
In both poems, Jackie Kay gives an idea of the family. They seem successful, wealthy and middle-class. In ‘Brendon Gallacher’, the image of the family is contrasted in Brendon Gallacher’s family. They are poor, dysfunctional and desperate. Maybe Jackie Kay thought of Brendon Gallacher in this way because she wanted someone to look down to and feel sorry for.
Both poems suggest that the mother is not suited for caring and communicating with a child. It seems that she is ‘old-fashioned’. In ‘Yellow’, an example can be found in the following, ‘…eat what she calls a plate…’. In this poem, Jackie Kay makes the generation gap between herself and her mother quite clear. This again gives an idea of relationship and shows us that the mother-daughter relationship of Jackie Kay was not happy. In ‘Brendon Gallacher’, Jackie Kay continues the image of the mother, ‘There have never been any Gallachers next door’. The mother does not understand about the imaginary friend. This backs the suggestion that Jackie Kay’s adoptive mother was not suited to understanding and loving a child and Jackie Kay may have had a rough childhood. The poem ‘Yellow’ also suggests no notice is taken of her hard work for the family. ‘…and weeps into it before drying the dishes…’. As the poem seems so lively, the verb ‘weeping’ seems quite out of the blue. It makes us feel sympathy for the mother by linking the two actions washing dishes and weeping, suggesting the weeping is common and no one takes notice of her anymore.
Each poem has a different tense. ‘Yellow’ is set in the present tense. This is effective in giving immediacy of the moment although it is the past of Jackie Kay’s life and she is reliving the moment in the poem. ‘Brendon Gallacher’ is set in the past tense. This is Jackie Kay looking back on the moment. This gives a feel of a story. The idea of a story is backed with the repeated ‘one day’ in the poem.
Both poems have a different ending. The poem ‘Yellow’ has a peaceful ending whilst the poem Brendon Gallacher has a melodramatic ending. The peaceful ending has an effect of a ‘happy ever after’ ending, backing the suggestion of a story. The family relationship in ‘Yellow’ ends on a high note with the ‘happy pineapple ring’ and the ‘passionate beetroot balls’. This may show that Jackie Kay went through bad times in her childhood, an example being the beginning of the poem but she still seemed to love and care for them, having good times, an example being the end of the poem.
The poem ‘Brendon Gallacher’ has a melodramatic ending. The ending shows that not everything ends ‘happily ever after’ in reality. Although Brendon Gallacher ‘died’ at the end of the poem, it ends on an optimistic note. Despite his death, the strong adjectives ‘spiky’ ‘impish’ and the alliteration ‘funning flapping’ show he is still living in her memories. This shows how effective the past tense is in the poem because Jackie Kay is looking at the past, thinking she will never forget Brendon Gallacher.
A change of atmosphere occurs in each poem. In the poem ‘Yellow’ the change happens in lines 5-7, when the mother weeps into the towel. The family seem so perfect and happy but when the mother weeps, problems arise and the original image is changed. In the poem ‘Brendon Gallacher’ the change of atmosphere comes in lines 15-16. At this point in the poem, Jackie Kay is about to be told that Brendon Gallacher is not real. The change of atmosphere is shown in the weather. When Jackie Kay used to have fun with her imaginary friend, it would be bright, warm and sunny. Before Jackie Kay was to be told about the existence of Brendon Gallacher, the weather was bad with ‘pouring’ rain and cold with grey skies. The weather is quite effective in changing the mood because it affects how we feel everyday.
There is a sense of appearance and reality near the end of ‘Brendon Gallacher’. Jackie Kay describes the physical appearance of her imaginary friend at the end of the poem. This is because Jackie Kay felt that physical appearance was not as important to her as his personality and character, which was first given in the poem. The parents think differently though. The most important thing to them is their appearance in the public view. An example would be the mother and father’s communist beliefs. Jackie Kay liked to shock her mother with comments about her imaginary friend, whom the mother thought was real. The mother asked Kay to invite him round to dinner, which she thought would be the kind thing to do. The mother might have then been able to change Brendon Gallacher to a kind, loved person. This way she would have looked good in the public eye.
Jackie Kay’s experiences as a child were not particularly pleasant when the relatives visited. In the poem ‘Yellow’, Aunt Peggy visits. She seems quite a strict character. Her speech is written in italics, alike the father’s speech. This gives a better idea of how loud Aunt Peggy may be talking to Jackie Kay. Aunt Peggy ‘shoves’ Jackie Kay’s head into the yellow egg yolk. This shows that Aunt Peggy may be quite nasty and violent, giving the reason why Jackie Kay might dislike her. Jackie Kay finds comfort by personifying the food. The ‘passionate beetroot balls’, rolling across the plate conveys an image of close, intimate relationship. The colour of the beetroot balls, red, is also related to love and affection. Jackie Kay did not appear to get any of this in the poem.
Throughout both poems, Jackie Kay cleverly revealed her childhood and her family relationship with the other members of her adoptive family through the language of each poem. Everything seems to be linked to family relationship in some way, in particular the relationship between a mother and daughter. Both poems are full of imagination from Jackie Kay as child with the poems containing both negative and positive times in her life.