The roles of women, feminism, the theme of innocence and childhood are issues ecplored by the use of a dramatic monologue in Liz Lochheads Poem for my Sister and Revelation. Through Ideas explored, images created and symbols

, Lochhead moves away from the barn, outside, to where she creates the idea of the hens being compared to her and many other children alike. However, the hens are presented as silly as they are unaware of the world's truths and dangers that they live happily around everyday: "oblivious hens picked their way about. " This could simply be read as it is but when you read between the lines we see that the hens are an image or a metaphor created to compare them to children; naive, innocent and "oblivious" to the dangers and threats that the world poses for them. By comparing these hens to children (an effective analogy) and their carefree life style, Lochhead immediately establishes her new position in life with her new knowledge of "the real world". The word choice of "picked" shows that they are looking at the ground and therefore undisturbed by the "Black Mass" that lives with them. However, these hens that the poet is witnessing are completely unaware and undisturbed by the bull whereas Lochhead tells us that she has had an inkling to "its" existence: "I had always half-known he existed. " The poetic voice continues... "this antidote and Anti-Christ his anarchy threatening the eggs, well-rounded, self-contained" These images that Lochhead is trying to convey, on a deeper level, means that she thinks men are trying to 'break the eggs' (making her grow-up or have sex) and, over all, threatening her innocent childhood. "Well-rounded" is used as a symbol to compare the feminine icon of the eggs to the young, content girl that Lochhead was when she entered the farm. Here, she is conveying that she feels that the well-being of the eggs is being put in danger. This is a clever way to mirror her emotions and feelings towards men and their possible threat and danger without simply stating that she is now scared of men. To provide an example for the idea of fear and evil, Lochhead draws a close to her poem by reminding us of her youth but also the savagery that she is now aware exists in the world. The "big boys" (repeated plosive alliteration of the b,b reminds us of the bull and links the 'monster' to the boys showing the clear relation of the two) that Lochhead meets on her journey home are demonstrating such savagery actions pulling wings from butterflies and blowing up frogs with straws. These actions are vivid and are actually happening in front of young girl Lochhead, showing evil, anarchy and the chaos that exist around her. When analysed in detail we see that all these external factors lead to the fragile poet's inner turmoil of dealing with her coming of age and loss of innocence. To conclude the poem, Lochhead tells us that she is worried of the milk spilling which again reinforces her reluctance to grow up. This can be analysed to show that she is still a scared, naive, young girl that is now aware (hence "Revelation") of the dangers of reality and that she is fragile in the face of male threat:

"small and shaking hand on the jug's rim in case the milk should spill. " This could basically be interpreted as her being worried of spilling the milk on her journey home, however we know through in-depth analysis that it's not the milk she is scared oflosing, but her innocence. The action of her protecting the milk effectively conveys the idea of Lochhead trying to protect her innocence and herself. The hushing alliteration of "small and shaking" again enforces the fact that she is still young and scared creating a sympathetic tone to round-up the reflective poem.

After reading and analysing the poem we can easily see the relevance of title "Revelation" as Lochhead is suddenly aware of the real world and the existence of evil and darkness. As "Revelation" can be interpreted on two different levels, I feel that Lochhead gets her reader involved by using a familiar setting with an experience that most of us can relate to. However, she cleverly sews the deeper meaning into the lines to show the significance of this experience and the impact that this event had on her childhood. Through the ideas explored, images created and symbols used we the reader can related to the poem and see how Lochhead is standing at the gateway to adulthood and sympathise with her. The overall effect of the poem highlights how this single event leading to her coming of age, her feelings of fear toward men and her awakening to sexual nature.