Poppies

Question 1

What is the rhyme scheme?

Answer 1

No rhyme or rhythm (written in free verse) shows that these are the speakers uncensored thoughts through which she desperately tries to make sense of the situation.

Question 2

Who is the poet?

Answer 2

Jane Weir

Question 3

Form

Answer 3

Takes the form of a dramatic monologue which makes the reader directly empathise with the speaker. The speaker uses a second person narrative to directly address their son however, he never replies, implying that he is no longer there which creates a sense of death and loss. This form services to focus the listener on the mother.

Question 4

What’s the first line?

Answer 4

‘Three days before Armistice Sunday’ this establishes the theme of remembrance from the start.

Question 5

What is the last sentence?

Answer 5

‘I listened, hoping to hear the playground voice catching on the wind’. The poem ends with sad metaphor.

Question 6

What enjambment?

Answer 6

‘Rolled, turned into felt // slowly melting’ which gives the sentence a fragmented feeling. This alludes to the narrator having to grasp at incomplete memories. And uses long sentences to reflect the rather rambling nature of memories. Feelings are uncontrollable of her breaking down

Question 7

Main theme

Answer 7

War, human loss, remeberance, relationships
Semantic field of textiles amd military terms.