What could "lavender-bag ancestors" mean in Ted Hughes' "Crow Improvises"? In _" Crow Improvises"_ (text version), the protagonist conjoins a list of disparate objects, where each pair of objects ignites a spark. Putting aside the symbolic meaning of each object, it is clear to me what each object _is_ \- except for one: > There was this man > Who took the sun in one hand, a leaf in the other - > The spark that jumped burned out his name. > So he took his **lavender-bag ancestors** under one arm > And his twisting dog under the other - > The spark that flash-thumped fused his watch of all things, > And left a black orifice instead of a time-sense. Considering that: * A _" lavender bag"_ is a kind of sachet. * _" lavender-bag"_ is used here as an adnoun for _" ancestors"_. What could _" lavender-bag ancestors"_ mean?

It popped up to me that it could be a typical Hughesean macabre way of referring to the protagonist's ancestors' cremation remains, put into a sachet bag.

This interpretation suits well to the refraining chorus of burned up objects, and also with those two lines that refer to mourning and burial:

> [...]
> The spark that banged burned out his weeper.
> So he leaned one hand on a gravestone
> [...]