Climbing my grandfather 🏔 Flashcards
‘earth-______ hand’
Hint: C
‘earth-stained hand’
- grandfather likes gardening and enjoys physical labour (works with his hands).
C= speaker’s interest of gardening reflects how Waterhouse perhaps inherited this interest, as he lectured in Agriculture.
C= But Waterhouse was also brought in North-East England, where the area had a worse quality of life than other areas so he alternatively, he could have also gained this interest because of the large connection of nature that was in this area.
Fill in the gaps: Dusty and cracked, an ____ ________’
‘Dusty and cracked, an easy scramble’
L= juxtaposition of this quotation contuines the idea of a generational divide between the two of them, + a lack of understanding which leads to uncertainty in the grandson.
L= oxymoronic language in ‘easy scramble’. To an extent, the juxtaposing connotations of ‘easy’ and ‘scramble’ can further set up a divide between the grandson + the grandfather- this is somewhat paradoxical.
Fill in the gaps and give analysis: ‘The skin of his finger is ______ and _____ like ____ ___’
Hint: L-melting of the emotional barrier.
‘The skin of his finger is smooth and thick like like warm ice’
L= use of simple oxymoronic simile for a child-like effect
- smooth and calloused with physical wear like ice, but warm. This shows that the grandfather is warm hearted.
- juxtaposition of this quotation highlights how the grandson finds the grandfather unfamiliar + cold yet soft and kind at the same time.
- However this oxymoronic simile might actually imply that there is a melting of the grandfather- melting of the emotional barrier?
Fill in the gaps and give analysis: ‘the glassy _____ of a scar’
Hint: L, D + think about physical and emotionak scars- who has them?
‘the glassy ridge of a scar’
L= metaphor
- glass is smooth but like a scar, it is also raised like a ridge.
D= On a deeper level, it suggests the grandfather has not just physical scars, but emotional scars as well + the grandson is aware of this as he places his feet ‘gently’ in the old stitches.
Fill in the gaps: ‘where _______ for ______’
Hint: L- suggets the effect of the climb is difficult…
‘climbing has it’s _______
Hint: L, suffocated with lack of social connection with between them because the speaker feels he can’t open it + this is contextually important because alternativey Waterhouse could have felt suffocated with social connection.
‘where gasping for breath’
L= verb- suggest the effect on the climb (a metaphorical journey to know his grandfather) is difficult and exhausting.
- Because it presents challenges as he might uncover parts of his grandfather that he would rather not know. This suggests the metaphorical climb is also emotionally dangerous.
L= metaphor- implies the difficulties of getting to know his grandfather are similar to the struggle of altitude sickness, which perhaps implies his grandfather is stronger + wiser than he is.
- As the speaker knows that ‘climbing has it’s dangers’ but he is relying on his grandfather to keep him safe.
- this contuines the theme of independence contrasting with the trust he places in his grandfather.
‘By the overhanging shirt I change direction,’
L- enjambment- reflects the change of direction of formatting in the text, through the enjambment in this line, it perhaps present the complex process of getting to know someone
R- gives reader the idea that speaker is determined to learn what his grandfather was like, even though this process is so complicated (emotionally).
- This shows that he wants to be able to relate to his grandfather, to provide his love to him.
L= However there is also caesura which imitates natural speech but by the speaker pausing at the word ‘direction’.
- it could also suggest that life with and without the speaker’s grandfather naturally has different aftermaths- Because it can change the direction of a person’s life.
This is another question about the quote. ‘I decide to do it free…’ Fill in the gaps + give analysis: ‘I decide to do it free, without _ ____ __ ___.
‘I decide to do it free, without a rope or net’
- repeated motif of grandfather’s body being a mountain to climb, implies danger but reward in this relationship (which could be getting to know his grandfather once he has reached the end of his climb).
- And this quotation highlights the trust he feels for his grandfather to such a metaphorical risk.
[- also contuines the extended metaphor of climbing and the semantic field of mountaineering].
But why is the grandfather difficult for the speaker to climb- is the grandfather too old and fragile?
verb shows that the speaker will do it without anything in, return, which shows his love towards his grandfather
I – it may also suggest he feels safe with his grandfather because getting to know someone deeply carries emotional risk.
R- this displays to the reader the love between the grandfather and grandson as the grandson is displaying trust towards his grandfather.
Fill in the gaps and give analysis: ‘I decide to do it ____’
Hint: I, L, L, R
‘I decide to do it free’
I= It’s something the speaker will have to do himself. But alternatively, it could cause peril because the knowledge he has may not all be good.
L= free- adjective
L= decide- verb. The speaker has made a deliberate decision to get to know his grandfather
R= present tense of ‘decide’ involves the reader, by presenting the speaker as an active character.
Fill in the gaps about the structure of Climbing my Grandfather: The poem is written is ____ ____ with no rhyme scheme which reflects the speaker is ________ the journey without _______
The poem is written is free verse with no rhyme scheme, which reflects the speaker is completing the journey without support.
Fill in the gaps about the structure of Climbing my grandfather: The poem has no _______ _____ and there is lots of _________ which reflects the speaker’s continuous journey.
The poem has no stanzaic breaks and there is lots of enjambment which reflects the speakers continuous journey.
What do the full stops in Climbing my grandfather represent?
Represents how the speaker at different stages of his journey- this symbolises the different stages of becoming closer to his grandfather.
Fill in the gaps: the effect of the _________ between lines _ and _ also emphasises the contuinous nature of his journey + how he sometimes need to change direction, as the speaker decides to ‘change direction,’
Fill in the gaps: the effect of the enjambment between lines 5 and 6 also emphasises the contuinous nature of his journey + how he sometimes need to change direction, as the speaker decides to ‘change direction,’
Quick question: why do you the last 6 lines have no full stops (except at the end)?
The speaker is nearing the end of his journey to get to know his grandfather.
What poems can we compare Climbing my grandfather to?
- Follower
- (Before you were mine)
- Eden rock
What are the themes in Climbing my grandfather?
- family relationships (paternal)
- childhood
- familial love
