Climbing my grandfather Flashcards
Context
C: poet’s career in teaching agriculture was perhaps inspired by his grandfathers love of gardening
C: explores a grandsons quest to get to know his grandfather better at a time when men did not talk about their feelings easily
C: Poem is about the importance of generational bonds
The poem is a…
L: extended metaphor - compares the grandfather to a mountain
‘to do it free’
I: 1) he needs to do it himself
2) what he discovers might he dangerous
R: we feel sympathy for the child as he has to find out about his grandfather the hard way
‘earth stained hands’
The grandfather enjoys physical labour and likes working with the land
C: Waterhouse lectured in agriculture and perhaps inherited an interest
‘warm ice.’
L: oxymoronic simile - smooth and calloused by physical ware like ice but warm which shows he has a good heart
L: caesura
‘not looking down, for climbing has its dangers’
Theme of nostalgia - the journey of discovering is grandfather is hard and emotional
The speaker doesn’t want to look down as he wants to look up to his grandfather literally and figuratively
‘firm shoulder’
L: adjective ‘firm’
I: 1) he is physically fit
2) also emotionally strong as his past experience have shaped him as a person and made him stronger
D: represents how the grandfather is supportive of him by letting his rest on his shoulder
Structure
L: no stanzaic breaks and lots of enjambment - the speaker is not taking any breaks and is on a continuous journey
Enjambment between stanzas 5 and 6 - continuous nature of the journey and emphasises how he sometimes needs to change direction
Rhyme
Free verse: reflects the speaker is completing the journey freely without support
Mood
Caring - ‘gently’
Safety - ‘warm’
Supportive - ‘good heart’
Meaning and message
C: the old should not be marginalised in society and instead valued
I:1) symbolises the emotional character of the grandfather
2) shows close emotional relationship that is beyond words
