Poppies Flashcards
What is the rhyme scheme in Poppies?
Free Verse
What is the effect of the rhyme scheme?
The usage of free verse creates the impression that the poem is an outpouring of emotion and love for her son who has left for war. The chaotic structure of the poem reflects the narrator’s lack of control over not only her own emotions, but also her son’s decisions.
What form is the poem in?
Dramatic Monologue + Second Person Narrative
What is the effect of the form in Poppies?
The Second Person Narrative directly addresses their son, however, he never replies, implying he is no longer there physically, creating a sense of death and loss.
What is the structure of Poppies?
Free Verse
What is the effect of the structure?
Enjambement - Gives the sentences a fragmented feeling, which alludes to the narrator having to grasp at incomplete memories.
Good Quotes
“I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals, spasms of paper red”
“all my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt / slowing melting”
Analysis of “I pinned one onto your lapel, crimped petals, spasms of paper red”
The asyndetic listing used shows how detailed the memory is to the speaker in the poem. The imagery of “red” obviously connotes blood, but may also connote her love for her likely son, especially as the red colour is pinned onto his “lapel” which is around his heart. However, this is undermined by the usage of “spasms”, which has strong connotations of physical pain and anguish, and while she is not feeling physical pain, she is feeling a strong emotional pain as she longs for her (likely) son to return.
What is the effect of setting the poem at an Armistice Sunday Service?
Tone of Remembrance
What is the effect of the tone of remembrance?
Show the reader that both the speaker, and her son, are victims of war. One physically, one emotionally.
Analysis of “all my words // flattened, rolled, turned into felt /// slowly melting”
This breaks the structure of the poem to correspond with the mother emotionally breaking, her repeated reminiscing of past events is clearly incredibly difficult for her.
