poppies Flashcards
give the quote about poppies from the very begining of the poem and why they are used
“three days before armistice sunday and the poppies had already been placed”
they are a symbol of violence and dead so is forbodeing
give a quote where ‘I’ and ‘You’ is used to emphasise the closeness of the speaker and subject
“before you left I pinned one onto your lapel”
give two quotes where military refrences are used
“spasms of paper red, disrupting a blockade of yellow bias binding”
“without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves.”
what is the impact of the line “selloptape bandaged around my hand”
sellotape is a very domestic, familiar image
banaged links to war and to a wound
what is the impact of the words “softening” “steeled” “smoothed” in the second stanza?
sibilance gives a calm tone to the scene described in the poem
give a quote where the mother is preventing herself from showing emotion
“steeled the softning of my face”
give the quote where the mother is tidying up her son
“sellotape bandaged around my hand, I rounded up as many white cat hairs as I could”
give a quote where the mother gives a personal anecdote to create intimacy and realism
“I wanted to graze my nose across the tip of your nose, play at being Eskimos like we did when you were little”
what is the effect of “gelled blackthorns of your hair”
refers to the short hair needed in the army - makes her son appear aggressive to her
give a quote that is symbolic of the mother accepting her sons choice
“I walked with you, to the front door”
give a simile that is representative of her sons perception of the world
“the world overflowing like a treasure chest”
give a metaphor that connotes how the mother understands that he needs to be set free
“I went into your bedroom and released a song bird from its cage”
what is the purpose of ‘this’ in “this is where it has led me”
it is both the location and also the situation (her sons death) and she is too pained to say it out loud
vauge pronoun
give a quote where the mother lists to distract herself
“my stomach busy making tucks, darts, pleats, hat-less”
give a quote from the end with lots of senses and what the purpose of this is
“on reaching the top of the hill I traced the inscriptions on the war memorial”
reflects the intimacy of mother and son and connotes hypersensitivity and jumbled emotions
