Mother, any distance - Simon Armitage Flashcards
Mother, any distance
Parents often find it difficult to let their children go but young adults need to be given independence to thrive.
Context Links
Armitage based the poem on a real event : he moved to a new home close to his parents after graduating from university.
‘Mother, any distance’
The title of the poem is the fist line of the poem cut short.
It means however far mother is from the poet geographically, they will always be emotionally close as she will always be his mother.
‘the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors’
L - hyperbolic metaphor
Shows that the speaker is overwhelmed by the space of his new environment. It makes him feels lonely and empty.
‘you at the zero-end’
L - metaphor
I
1. the mother is literally at the zero-end as she is holding the tape measure.
2. she has also been with the speaker since the ‘zero hour’ of his birth.
‘Anchor’
L - metaphor
I
1. mother is holding the speaker back from gaining independence as she wants to keep him close.
2. she offers him stability and security.
‘Kite’
L - metaphor
I
1. the speaker wants to fly freely and becomes independent, not controlled by anyone.
2. an unsecured kite lacks direction and can be damaged. Meaning without his mother, he may lack direction in life and be unprotected.
‘Anchor. Kite.’
L - caesura
It shows that they are close but the caesura separate the mother ‘anchor’ and the child ‘kite’. This shows they need to be independent of each other.
‘I space-walk through the empty bedroom’
L - metaphor
The speaker metaphorically describes himself as space-walking through the house as he is pacing out the measurement of the house.
The reference to outer space also emphasises that he is moving into a whole new world of independence.
‘still pinch the last one-hundredth of an inch’
L - symbolism
The speaker’s mother does not want to let go of the speaker.
‘fall or fly’
L - alliteration
It means the speaker may either fall and fail to be independent or fly and thrive as an adult.
Mixture of long and short sentences in the poem
Symbolises the speaker’s desire to move away from his mother and be independent but also be close with her emotionally.
A line break after the verb ‘leaving’ but also an enjambment
It suggests about the speaker’s conflicting feelings.
The end of the line emphasises his need to break free of his mother, as the line breaks.
The enjambment shows he is still connected to her emotionally.
Changing rhyme scheme in the final stanza
The rhyme scheme changes from AABB to only the last two lines rhyme in the last stanza.
This represents the son gaining independence from his mother but the last two lines rhyming shows how close their blood is even though they are going to be separated geographically.
Reader Response
- sympathy
- worry
- negative emotions
