5️⃣ Poppies Flashcards
Who was it written by?
Jane Weir
What did Jane Weir do?
Poet and seamstress
Armistice Sunday
Poppies
Bandaged
Steeled
Graze
Brave
Reinforcements
War memorial
Semantic field of war
Paper
Blazer
Sellotape
White cat hairs
Shirt
Collar
Hair
Front door
Bedroom
Ornamental stitch
Wishbone
Playground voice
Semantic field of domestic
Petals
Blackthorns
Song bird
Dove
Sky
Semantic field of nature
Stanza 1
Shift in time, outside then in
Blockade
Military metaphor
All of her memories of her son have been tainted with thoughts of war
Sellotape bandaged around my hand, I rounded up as many white cat hairs as I could
Maternal gesture is disrupted by the semantic field of war
I resisted the impulse to run my fingers through the gelled blackthorns of your hair
Evokes pathos and sympathy
Resisted highlights the conflict between her wanting to protect and him being underdone
Blackthorns
Natural metaphor had connotations of emotional pain due to the sharp thorn
Between stanza 2/3
Enjambment shows the missed opportunity and how she didn’t articulate her feelings
The world overflowing like a treasure chest
Simile had connotations of overflowing happiness and excitement, leaving for war is something to treasure
Intoxicated
Connotations of drunkenness and anticipation of war, metaphor
Song bird
Metaphor for emotions
Dove and churchyard
Peace and death symbolism
Tucks, darts, pleats
Metaphor about her being nervous
Felt reference
A metaphor for grief, overlapping layers muffling barrier to pain/grief
Like a wishbone
Simile implies her wish for her sons return and has connotations of longing
I listened hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind
Sad, solemn and ambiguous tone
What is this poem good for writing about?
Memory
Effects of loss
Impact of war on civilians
Meaning of the poem:
Ambiguous
Preparing a dead body
Speaker is mother who is remembering her son leaving for war or remembering her son passing away
Potential form
Elegy (mourning poem)
Perspective
1st person singular creates a personal and initiate tone
Rhyme and rhythm
Irregular rhyme scheme and enjambment reflects thoughts and memories, reel of consciousness
