Revelation

Stanza 2

Stanza two begins outside of the barn where the hens are keeping to themselves. The sound of the bull's chains sound hard and aggressive sounding to the narrator, but to the hens, it sounds pleasant and welcoming:

.. oblivious hens.. festive tinking.. Black Mass, straining at his chains.

By referring to the hens as "oblivious", I think that this is Lochhead suggesting that they are somewhat ignorant. The poet could also be suggesting that the female gender often don't realise the dangers that they are surrounded by. I feel that when the poet mentions the bull straining, I think of ideas that suggest no matter how hard you try to lock something away or try to hide it, in the end, it will always try to break free. In this sense, I think the bull's anger is building up, so he is attempting to break through the chains, like a man not being able to control his emotions:

I had always half-known he existed- / this antidote and Anti-Christ his anarchy / threatening the eggs...

The moment that the Anti-Christ was mentioned, the reader assumes that this was a horrifying experience for the poet, since she uses something as powerful and sinister such as Lucifer himself as an example of how scarred she felt. The speaker feels that the eggs are being threatened by the bull, so it suggests that women can sometimes feel threatened by men who have been pushed too far.