Poetry Flashcards
What is Mother Any distance by Simon Armitage about?
Mother and child bond, growing up and developing. The Son has to live life on his own and is looking forward to the adventure and is ready for responsibility but also fears the scary future of being alone however, he knows he has to take risks to gain freedom. The mother is the ‘anchor’ and holds him down as she is reluctant to ‘let go’
Explain and identify the technique for the quote “ ‘span’ ‘measure’ ‘acres’ ‘prairies’ ‘metres’ ‘centimetres’ “
There is a semantic field of distance, which emphasises the distance growing between the mother and child. The world ‘acres’ in the quote ‘the acres of the walls’ is also hyperbolic and has childish imagery which could represent how the child is not ready to move out without his mother.
Explain and identify the technique for the quote ‘You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape’
There is a metaphor for an umbilical cord which could represent the connection a mother and child has and could highlight how now the child is growing up and further away from his mother.
Explain and identify a technique for the quote ‘I reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky/ to fall or fly’
There is a use of bird imagery which suggests that he is now ‘flying from the nest’ and it shows his independence and desire to break free no matter the outcome. It’s something they he feels is imperative in order for him to flourish and grow and for his development.
Explain and identify a technique for the quote ‘Anchor. kite’
There is a use of juxtaposition in this climactic line. On a surface level, we could infer the speaker is reminded of flying a kite in their childhood while the mother holds the measuring tape. Metaphorically however, the mother could represent the safe and secure ‘anchor’ and the child is the free- flying ‘kite’. The speaker is growing increasingly independent, flying higher and further from the safety pull of the mother.
State some structural techniques found in Mother any distance.
•Juxtaposition + Caesura - ‘anchor.kite’ - reflects conflict
•Unnatural rhyme - ‘I reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly’ - emphasises the importance the importance of flying and being free
•Volta of the poem is in the middle - there is a break in the regular AABB rhyme scheme and the narrator shifts from addressing their mother at the start of each stanza (‘Mother’ then ‘You’ to ‘I space-walk’) change in personal pronouns and Volta signals a shift in the speaker
What themes are there in Mother any distance ?
• Letting go
• Changing relationships
What can Mother Any distance- Simon Armitage be compared to?
• Before you were mine- Carol Ann Duffy
• Follower- Seamus Heaney
• Eden Rock- Charles Causley
• Walking Away - Cecil Day Lewis
What is Walking Away by Cecil Day Lewis about?
The speaker watches his school boy son waking away to school.
Explain and identify the technique for the quote ‘like a satellite wrenched from its orbit’
The use of a space simile represents going into the unknown and the unfamiliarity with this lack of control the father has. The strong verb ‘wrenched’ demonstrates Day-Lewis’ pain and connotes an agonising parting for him as his son is no longer solely his responsibility. Satellites are supposed to orbit and the parent is the child’s ‘planet’- the satellite would not exist without the planet.
Metaphor of ‘satellite’ and ‘orbit’ created the image of the reliance of the child on the parent. Shows the parent as being possessive and protective over their child.
Explain and identify the technique for the quote ‘gnaws’ ‘wrenched’
The use of the strong verbs indicate pain and hardship
State some structural techniques found in Walking Away.
- Caesura - ‘Behind a scatter of boys. I can see/ you waking away from me towards the school’ - Father is losing control, it is a dramatic pause and moment of realisation
- enjambment - ‘Go drifting away/ behind a scatter of boys’ - The huge gap between the stanzas signifies a shift in relationship as son goes to join other boys, represents conflict between conflict and letting go. The gaping hole between the two is sudden which is shown through the enjambment which splits the sentence over the stanza break.
What themes are there in Walking Away?
•Sacrifical nature of parental love
•Letting go
•Changing relationships
What can Walking Away- Cecil Day Lewis be compared to?
•Mother any distance- Simon Armitage
•Before you were mine- Carol Ann Duffy
•Eden Rock- Charles Causely
•Follower- Seamus Heaney
•Climbing my grandfather- Andrew Waterhouse
•When we two parted- Lord Byron
What is Follower by Seamus Heaney about?
Son looking back at his childhood relationship with his father, who was a farmer, as he ploughed fields. He looks back at the way he followed him and the way it had changed as he’s grown up. The poem can also be read as a commentary on writing poetry itself.
