Poppies. Flashcards
How many stanzas are there in Poppies?
- The first and last with six lines, the second with eleven and the third with twelve.
What are breaks in the middle of lines called?
Caesuras.
What does the use of Caesuras represent in the poem?
The inner emotion of a narrator who is trying to remain calm and composed but is breaking with sadness inside.
What is the song-bird a metaphor for?
The mother setting her child free.
“Sellotape bandaged around my hand.”
Familiar noun/military metaphor The reference to sellotape is quite a
familiar homely image, ‘bandaged’ can be used to imply wound or injury/harm.
“upturned collar, steeled the softening.”
Sibilance, The words ‘steeled, shirt, softening’ etc. gives a calm tone to the
scene described in the poem.
“across the tip of your nose.”
Aside, the personal anecdote creates a sense of intimacy and human
realism in the speakers voice. Juxtaposed with the military side of her son.
“flattened, rolled, turned into felt”
Power of three, reflects the way the mother is tongue tied and doesn’t
know what to say, she is proud of her son but also doesn’t want him to go.
Structure.
Written as a monologue in 4 stanzas and no rhyme scheme. The stanzas are structured along events in the
life of mother and child.
