Climbing My Grandfather - Andrew Waterhouse

Question 1

Summary

(5 things)

Answer 1

1. Grandson imagines climbing his grandfather from feet to top of head
2. Sees himself as a mounataineer
3. Detailed description of his clothes and features as elderly man
4. Once speaker reaches shoulders he rests and takes a drink
5. Then proceeds to summit where lies exhausted, staring above him

Question 2

Key Aspects

(7 things)

Answer 2

1. Main theme is family memory
2. Other themes - achievement, mountaineering and childhood, also separation
3. Free verse poem
4. aslo a narrative as a journey
5. Enjambment and caesura frequently used
6. Poem is an extended metaphor with related images
7. Told in the first person

Question 3

Key Setting: the Mountain

Answer 3

1. Grandfather depicted as a mountain - reflects how adults, especially men, seem gigantic to children.
2. Emphasizes that this is a memory from childhood, despite being written in the present tense
3. Extended metaphor - “the glassy ridge of a scar” - on the arm where speaker can place his feet
4. “Still firm shoulder” - mountains also described as having shoulders - a place to rest

Question 4

Key Voice: the Mountaineer

(4 things)

Answer 4

1. Familiar tone of a story teller
2. Climb is a challenge “to be performed without rope or net”
3. Tone captures the childlike nature of the memory - an innocent excited child setting off on an adventure
4. The climb may be a literal memory of a childhood game, but is also an image reflecting the speaker searching his mind for memories of his grandfather - is this a difficult challenge, and why? (See “memory” card)

Question 5

Memory - a challenge to remember?

Separation

(4 things)

Answer 5

1. Difficulty in remembering:
   
   1. because it is a memory from early childhood?
   2. because image of grandfather only available through memory - grandfather has now died and it is a painful memory - “climbing has its dangers” - but one the speaker decides to do “free, without rope or net” - and face the difficult emotions
   3. Or because speaker did not know him well and finds it hard to recall?
   4. Ending poem with “slow pulse of his good heart” suggests that the act of remembering was positive , a recollection of great love and affection

Question 6

Memory - Intimate memory / family ties

(4 things)

Answer 6

1. Great detail of the grandfather suggests a close intimate relationship - “thick hair (soft and white / at this altitude)” - “Earth stained hand”, “glassy ridge of a scar”; speaker places feet “gently in old stitches”
2. The glassy ridge is “discovered” - suggesting a forgotten detail recalled in the act of remembering, also suggests experience / outdoor work
3. Images are positive - “smiling mouth”, “slow pulse of his good heart” - grandfather is calm, kind,
4. Ending poem with “feeling his heat , knowing / the slow pulse of his good heart” suggests that the act of remembering was positive in the end, a recollection of great love and affection

Question 7

Viewpoint

(3 things)

Answer 7

1. First person speaker
2. Although clearly written by an adult, memory is that of a child - sense of an adult speaking to himself
3. Creates sense of openess, honesty, self-discovery

Question 8

Structure - the journey

(4 things)

Answer 8

1. Begins energetically with pace at feet/foot of mountain
2. As progresses becomes tired - rest at his “still firm shoulder” (note still - still as in calm, or still as in it remains firm in the memory after all these years)
3. At the end is “gasping for breath” and “can only lie”
4. Reaching the summit - goal of remebering and perhaps reconciling himself with the memory and loss has been achieved

Question 9

Language Techniques

Answer 9

1. Metaphor: “Trying to get a grip” - get a grip on reality, the fact of his loss, as well as a grip on the mountain
2. Oxymoron - “warm ice” - contradiction contrasts warmth of memory, with the cold pain of loss and separation, along with the ice of a mountain,
3. “Still firm shoulder” -
   
   1. mountains and people have shoulders
   2. to shoulder something is to take responsibility, offer a shoulder to cry on - signifies mental strength
   3. “still” - been through experiences that have given him his glassy scar and their stitches
   4. (note still - still as in calm, or still as in it remains firm in the memory after all these years)
4. Sibilant - “I cross the screed/ to stare into his brown eyes/ slowly open and close” - soft s enhances exploration of the eyes, searching for who he is

Question 10

Natural environment

(3 things)

Answer 10

1. “dusty and cracked” - suggests grandfather worked outide or cared little about appearance
2. “earth stained hand. The nails/ are splintered”
3. Context - Waterhouse’s had special knowledge of landscape reflected in the poem

Question 11

Enjambment and Caesura

Answer 11

1. Enjambment used throughout the free verse
2. Provides emphasis, for example “feeling his heat, knowing / the slow pulse of his good heart” - placing “knowing” at the end of the line emphasises the speaker coming to understand his grandfather, knowing and accepting their separation
3. Caesura - e.g. “to an earth stained hand. The nails” - emphasise step by step progression of a climb,