The Poem

The poem ‘Praise Of A Collie’ was written by Norman McCaig. In this essay I will be writing about Lassie the sheepdog, and her life rounding up sheep. The poem is both happy and sad as she progresses to the end of her sheepdog days.
In the first verse Lassie is described as a: ‘Small dog, neat and fluid.’ This is very unusual for a Collie as they are quite big and very scruffy dogs. She was a quiet dog; ‘She greeted you with bow, never bow wow.’   This shows she will not bark twice when greeting someone.
The second verse mentions she has two sons, much larger than Lassie: ‘Her sons stood monumentally over her.’ She may have been a small dog but she was the boss, but that can also suggest her sons have great respect for her. Lassies sons looked a lot older than Lassie: ‘Each grew grizzled till it seemed he was his own mother’s grandfather.’ This shows Lassie has been really well looked after by her owner Pollachen. Lassie is also seen as a fit and healthy dog, she is the oldest, but is still a really lively dog. ‘When the sheep bolted in an unforeseen direction over the skyline came – who but Lassie, and not even panting.’ She may be an old dog, but this clearly shows that she is just like a young fit dog.
Lassies owner Pollachen loves his dog which is shown in the poem as he boasts about Lassie a lot. ‘Where’s a burn – she’s first on the other side.’ This shows Lassies owner Pollachen is boasting about how fast Lassie can get over a burn. ‘Her tact – and tactics.’ This means that Lassie is an intelligent dog. Her intelligence is mentioned a number of times. It also shows two types of intelligence as ‘tact’ meaning politeness or an emotional intelligence and ‘tactics’ more of planning out what’s best for rounding sheep. I think the way this verse has been written is very skilled, the author has also added a little humour with ‘tact – and tactics.’
It is a fact that Collies are really smart dogs, this is shown a lot in the poem. In verse four Lassie is being...