Comin Back Ower The Border: The Scottish Poem

In her poem "Comin Back Ower The Border", Mary McCabe conveys the sentimental value that the scottish hold for their accent. Through structure,writing format and tone she provides us with perspective, proving hat the importance of coming home is truly set in the accent rather than the place.

In order to follow the quatrant structure of her stanzas, McCabe uses periods to define and categorize her ideas. In her first sentence, she establishes that it's not the "biggins" "caurs" or "corries" what matter when you come home. The enjambment after "cleughs" creates a visual effect of an actual cliff which ultimately creates more depth and importance to the content. By stating that "It's nae" the urban description in the first sentence, McCabe suggests that it's not the city that matters. In the second sentence the use of words like "pastels" and "wind" paint a naturesque picture, which alludes to the Scottish pastures. However, she, again denies their importance and closes them off with a period. Lastly, McCabe describes minuscule details that make the Scottish accent unique like " the 'O' sae straucht an lang" and "wee this."

McCabe's writing format aids the position taken by the poem in regards to the accentual value. By strategically writing the words semi-phonetically, McCabe makes the reader read them in the way they are said in the accent, hence further emphasizing her argument.