material Flashcards
structure
9 stnzas 8 lines each
disruption of flow 6th stanza symbolises that loss takes away regularity
iambic tetrameter
colloquial language
familiarity and warmth
‘serious and grey’
gender disparity
cesura
highlights gap between her and her mother
graveyard opposite dancing school
burial of childhood and familiarity of mothers generation
anaphora of step together
community, walking together
‘My mother was a hanky queen’
hanky is a colloquial term , reflects changing generations
queen- shows idolisation in the relationship
when hanky meant a thing of cloth,
not paper tissues bought in packs
shows tradition associated with mother and condemns waste culture
from late-night garages and shops,
but things for waving out of trains
modern day paper tissues suggested as an afterthought, contrasting the permenance of a hanky
hanky is symbolic of feelings and care and community
late night shops show sense of disconnect
evokes war imagrey, waving out trains evokes imagrey and nostalgia of mothers generation
and mopping the corners of your grief:
when hankies were material
she’d have one, always, up her sleeve.
shows sentimental value of hanky
tone is reflective and conversational
Tucked in the wrists of every cardi,
a mum’s embarrassment of lace
embroidered with a V for Viv,
cardi- colloquial term, enhannces conversational tone. also nostalgic looking back on mothers gen
mums embarrassment- refers to childrens embarrassment of parents and regreting this phase of life
V for Viv, familiarity and intimacy- refers to mothers friendly nature
spittled and scrubbed against my face.
And sometimes more than one fell out
as is she had a farm up there
where dried-up hankies fell in love
and mated, raising little squares.
sibilance in spittled and scrubbed reinforces sense of embarrassment
farm- anecdotal, shows comfort
fell in love raising little squares- humorous personification of hankies, anecdotal and highlights caring meternal nature through her abundance of hankies
She bought her own; I never did.
Hankies were presents from distant aunts
cesurea highlights seperation between the two
distant aunts- shows how hankies inadvertadly bonded the family
and script initials spelling ponce,
the naffest Christmas gift you’d get –
colloquial language enhances how the speaker once disproved of these hankies
naffest- nostalgic tone of wmbarrassment of youth
my brothers too, more often than not,
got male ones: serious, and grey,
and larger, like they had more snot.
refers to more traditonal gender roles, disparity in gender experienced in youth
It was hankies that closed department stores,
with headscarves, girdles, knitting wool
and trouser presses; homely props
you’d never find today in malls.
Hankies, which demanded irons,
and boiling to be purified
shuttered the doors of family stores
when those who used to buy them died.
closed department stores- personification
boiling to be purified- shows care and attention, shows speakers comfort in mother’s tradition
shuttered the doors- highlights modernity’s move to practicality and efficiency rather than the comfort of tradition (move to capitalism and production)
greengrocer George with his dodgy foot
delivering veg from a Comma van
is history, and the friendly butcher
who’d slip an extra sausage in,
use of name- knew personally, sense of community once but now modernity is wrapped in the impersonal company culture
sausage- symbol for community disappearing and sense of isolation, reinforces sense of isolation without speakers mother
lay opposite the dancing school
-graveyard of the old community of mothers geeration, fact its opposite dance school emphasises the disparity between the past and present (even the burial of the speakers childhood)
step-together, step-together, step-together,
point! The Annual Talent Show
when every mother, fencing tears,
would whip a hanky from their sleeve
and smudge the rouge from little dears.
step-together repetition- anaphora emphasises the shared community there once was walking together
rouge from little dears- emphasises tradition and sentimental value of hanky
-the fact the all women do it shows the passing generation and how large the shift was to consumerism
Nostalgia only makes me old.
The innocence I want my brood
to cling on to like ten-bob notes
was killed in TV’s lassitude.
And it was me that turned it on and eat
bought biscuits I would bake
if I’d commit to being home.
Nostalgia only makes me old.- volta/ shift is emphasised. living in the past will only make her be percieved as older in the present
ten bob- nostalgic and joyful ring associated with the past . wants children to have the childhood she had.
was killed in Tvs lassitude, and it was me that turned it on- speaker blames herself for being a part of the society killing the innocence of childhood
if i’d commit to being home- speaker criticises herself in comparison to the caring nature of her mother
There’s never a hanky up my sleeve.
I raised neglected-looking kids,
the kind whose noses strangers clean.
What awkwardness in me forbids
me to keep tissues in my bag
when handy packs are 50p?
I miss material handkerchiefs,
their soft and hidden history.
another admission of guilt, acknowledges difference in maternal style between her and her mother
rhetoric question emphasises sense of lostness in a world without tradition and comfort. cant bring herself to use tissue
But it isn’t mine. I’ll let it go.
My mother too, eventually,
who died not leaving handkerchiefs
but tissues and uncertainty:
and she would say, should I complain
of the scratchy and disposable,
that this is your material
to do with, daughter, what you will.
- she will adapt like her mother eventuially did
-embraces modernity and new present.
