Poppies

Question 1

content, meaning and purpose

Answer 1

-A modern poem that offers an alternate interpretation of bravery and in this case a mother who is left behind and must endure the pain of the death of her son.

-The narration covers her visit to a war memorial,
interspersed with images of the soldier’s childhood and his and his departure for war.

Question 2

context

Answer 2

-Set around the time of the Iraq and Afghan wars, but
the conflict is deliberately ambiguous to give the poem
a timeless relevance to all mothers and families.

-There are hints of a critical tone; about how soldiers
can become intoxicated by the glamour or the military:
“a blockade of yellow bias” and “intoxicated”

Question 3

Form and Structure

Answer 3

-This is an Elegy, a poem of mourning.

-Strong sense of form despite the free verse, stream of
consciousness addressing her son directly - poignant

• No rhyme scheme makes it melancholic
• Enjambment gives it an anecdotal tone.

-Nearly half the lines have caesura ʹ she is trying to
suppress her emotions, but her fluidity is broken as she suffers from her pain.

-Rich texture of time shifts, and visual, aural and touch
imagery.

Question 4

sewing imagery conveying her agitation and physical feelings of anxiety

Answer 4

“my stomach busy/ making tucks, darts, pleats”

Question 5

simile shows the world from the son’s perspective venture off to war

Answer 5

“the world overflowing/ like a treasure chest”

Question 6

symbolises allowing her son to leave

Answer 6

“released a song bird from its cage”

Question 7

wishing and begging for her son’s safety, perhaps shows her desperation and helplessness

Answer 7

“leaned against it like a wishbone”

Question 8

alliteration echoing her strain to reach the boy,
enjambment and “wind” highlight how it is unattainable
feeling is universal to all mothers

Answer 8

“hoping to hear/ Your playground voice catching on the

wind”