anthology: poppies.

Question 1

what is the purpose or meaning of the text?

Answer 1

 A modern poem that offers an alternative interpretation of bravery in conflict: it does not focus on a soldier in battle but on the mother who is left behind who must cope with his death.
 The poem covers her visit to a war memorial, interspersed with images of the soldier’s childhood and his departure for war.

Question 2

what is the context around the text?

Answer 2

 Set around the time of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but the conflict is deliberately ambiguous to give the poem a timeless relevance to all mothers and families.

Question 3

language and structure: explanation and quotes.

Answer 3

 Contrasting semantic fields of home/childhood (“cat hairs”, “play at being Eskimos”, “bedroom”) with war/injury (“blockade”, bandaged”, “reinforcements.”)
 Aural (sound) imagery: “All my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt” shows pain and inability to speak, and “I listened, hoping to hear your
 playground voice catching on the wind” shows longing for her son.
 “I was brave, as I walked with you, to the front door”: different perspective of bravery in conflict.
 Nearly half the lines have caesura – she is trying to hold it together, but can’t speak fluently as she is breaking inside.

Question 4

key quotes.

Answer 4

 “Three days before Armistice Sunday and the poppies have already been placed”
 “After you’d gone I went into your bedroom, released a songbird from its cage”
 “The dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch.”