Climbing my grandfather Flashcards
“Free”
D: he needs to do the climb for himself
I: what he discovers might be perilous
“Decide”
L: verb
It’s a deliberate decision and he wants to get to know his grandfather better
“Trousers”
L: noun
Implies the grandfather is emotionally shut and doesn’t speak about himself often
The speaker is trying to “push in” which suggests he’s trying to force him to open up
“Earth-stained hand”
L: adjective
Tells us the grandfather enjoys physical labour and likes gardening
C: Waterhouse perhaps inherited this interest, as he lectured in agriculture
“His finger is smooth and thick like warm ice”
L: oxymoronic simile
His hand is smoothed and calloused with the physical wear like ice but it’s warm - emphasises that he’s warm hearted
He dares not to “look[ing] down”
Implies that he wants to look up at his grandfather literally and figuratively or he might lose his nerve and stop him
At his “shoulder”
L: metaphor
In a metaphorical sense this could represent how his grandfather is supportive of him
The wrinkles are well spaced and “easy”
L: adjective
They provide ridges to climb
What can you say about the structure of the poem (stanzaic breaks)
There are no stanzaic breaks and a lot of enjambment which reflects the speakers’ continuous journey
Why do you think the full stops are placed in those places?
They represent how the speaker rests at different stages of the journey
- this symbolises the different stages of becoming closer to his grandfather
What is the effect of enjambment between lines 5 and 6?
It emphasises the continuous nature of the journey and how he sometimes needs to change direction
Why do the last 6 lines have no full stops?
Emphasises that he’s near the end of his journey
The poem is written in free-verse, why?
This reflects how he’s completing his journey freely
Why do you think Waterhouse wrote the poem?
To show that we need to respect elders and we can learn a lot from experiences and wisdom
C: the old should not be marginalised in society, they should be valued