Poppies Flashcards
“spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding around your blazer”
Semantic field of pain conveying the mother’s pain of saying goodbye to the son, and also shows the son’s pain in death.
“blackthorns of your hair. All my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt, slowly melting.”
Partial imagery of nature, suggesting his purity.
“threw it open, the world overflowing like a treasure chest”.
She realises that letting him go is offering a great treasure of the life outside.
The mother realises she is letting her son free to have a good life despite causing her pain.
“After you’d gone I went into your bedroom, released a song bird from its cage”.
The songbird is a metaphor for the soon being freed from the family home.
“The dove pulled freely against the sky, an ornamental stitch, I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind”.
A dove is a symbol of peace, the son is free to live his life and the mother can write her poetry.
The playground voice shows that the mother wants to recapture the son when he was young.
What does the lack of form symbolise?
It is a mother exploring her own feelings, so there is no structure to the poem. It is meant to feel like a monologue.
