Family Love/relationships- Mother, Any Distance and Follower Flashcards
Ts1: both poems show how a strong family relationship can negatively impact the son’s adulthood and how they have to move on to become independent.
‘Anchor.kite’
‘Shadow’
TS2: both poems show a very supportive relationship between the parent and son.
‘Rode me on his back’
‘You at the zero-end’
TS3: Whilst in ‘Mother, Any Distance’ the Mother and son now have to physically move away from each other and their close relationship, in ‘Follower’ at the end of the poem, the father is now dependent on the son in his old age, showing their close relationship.
‘Fall or fly’ (‘Acres of the walls’ ‘Prairies of the floors’) ‘Ladder’ ‘Yapping always. But today...’ ‘Stumbling’
Structure: Mother any Distance uses a rhyming couplet to show how even though they are physically distant, they are still emotionally bonded, where as in ‘Follower’, the full rhymes and half rhymes are used to reflect how they have a very close relationship but are still very different people.
MAD: ‘fly’ ‘sky’
F: full rhymes- ‘arm’ ‘farm’
Half rhymes- ‘strung’ ‘tongue’
‘Anchor.Kite’
S- caesura emphasises their need to separate.
L-Metaphor- she represents everything steady and stable in his life (anchor)
I-Alternatively, his mother being symbolised as an anchor could be negative as it could show that she has held him back and prevented his freedom.
The speaker- kite- shows he has to fly free and become independent.
Tension- he loves her mother but has to fly free to move on into adulthood.
D= kite- no control- fly with no direction- maybe not ready.
‘Shadow’
L= noun shows he’s literally following in his fathers’ footsteps. I= alternatively, it symbolises how the speaker has to move out of his fathers’ shadow in order to grow and thrive as an independent adult. R= the reader feels sympathy for the speaker as he is expected to follow in his fathers’ footsteps but he may not want to. C= reflects how the poets’ family descended from generations of farmers. Shows how the poet was expected to carry on this line of farmers.
‘You at the zero-end’
Literally at the zero-end
L/I= alternatively, it is a metaphor showing how she was there at the moment of his creation and his moving out stage. He has never known life without her so difficult for him. Shows she’s supported him his whole life. Close family relationship.
‘Rode me on his back’
L=phrase shows they have a close and supportive relationship. He’s tired so is supported by father. Child is trying and failing.
D= implies his father is also emotionally supportive of him.
(Physical and emotional support)
‘Fall or fly’
L= alliteration and oxymoron
Used to emphasises how he will either thrive as an independent adult or he will fail and make mistakes.
D= BIRD IMAGERY- bird is tested at its first flight, just like him. It has to flee the nest to become independent. Some fail, some thrive.
C= based on poets experience of moving away.
‘Ladder’
L= metaphorically represents his journey to independence. Bond has to give for him to reach independence. (D)
‘Acres of the walls’ ‘Prairies of the floors’
L= hyperbolic metaphors
Shows he tells very daunted and overwhelmed about moving out. Not used to all this space.
Whole life before= dependent on someone else. Now- he has to be independent and adapt to new surroundings.
‘Yapping always. But today…’
S= caesura emphasises the contrast between the past and the present. Tables have turned, father is now ‘stumbling’ L= verb appears twice (‘stumbling’) to emphasise that the situation is now reversed. D= father is not stumbling as he’s frail in old age.
‘Fly’ ‘sky’
MAD ends with a rhyming couplet which suggests no matter how far they are from each other, they will still be emotionally bonded.
‘Arm’ ‘farm’
‘Strung’ ‘tongue’
Full rhymes show close relationship between father and son
Half rhymes indicate that they are different people but bonded by blood.
