Poppies Flashcards
Who is poppies written by?
Jane Weir
Who is this poem inspired by?
- Poem inspired by Wilfred Owen’s mother (Susan Owen.)
- Wilfred Owen died a week before Armistice day: she references this in her poem.
How are the poppies described in the first part of the poem?
- “spasms of paper red.”
- Spasms - connotations of being wounded
- “red” - blood
- WAR IMAGERY
What is the significance of the poem being from the perspective of a woman (specifically a mother?)
- Most war literature from perspective of men fighting.
- This poem is about mother-son relationship when son goes to war (a lot more emotional twist.)
Where were British soldiers fighting at the time this poem was published?
- British soldiers were fighting in Iraq/ Afghanistan.
What could the mother pinning a poppy “onto the lapel” of her sons uniform be symbolic of?
- Symbol of protection.
- Reminding her son of all of the people that have died in war.
What could the mother “disrupting a blockade of bias binding to (his) blazer” by a metaphor for?
- She is trying to disrupt her son from going to war.
- “Binding”: she feels as though he has binded himself to go to war/ forced himself when in reality, it is his decision.
- “Blockade” - military language –> she wants to distrupt the mere concept of war.
What is the significance of the imagery of the poppies in first stanza: “spasms of paper red?”
- “Red”
- Symbolic of the death/ destruction associated with the war the son is going to fight in.
What types of domestic imagery are used throughout the whole poem? What is the significance of this?
-“sellotape”
- “turned into felt”
-“tucks, darts, pleats”
- “ornamental stitch.”
- Shows how the mother cares for her son in the home and always will.
- The caring nature of the mother.
How does the mother make her son look presentable in the 2nd stanza? Why is she doing this?
- “rounded up as many cat hairs.”
- “smoothed down shirt.”
- This is the only thing she can control when her son is going so far away from her.
What does the mother have the impulse to do when arranging her son’s uniform? Significance…?
- “graze (her) nose across the tip of (his) nose.”
- Still feels like her son is a child and therefore wants to protect him. Only a child in her eyes so it’s difficult to see him taken away.
- She resists this feeling to try and seem “brave” so her son doesn’t get upset.
What is the significance of the phrase:” all my words, flattened, rolled, turned into felt?”
- Metaphor.
- Insignificance of her words: nothing will stop her son from going to war (because he wants to go.)
- Doesn’t know what to say to her son because she is so emotional (shows how close she is to her son.)
What is the significance of the enjambement between the 2nd and 3rd stanzas (from sorting uniform to her son leaving?)
- Shows how quickly her son went away: she feels as though she was unable to say goodbye properly.
- This is also seen by the fact that he is gone in a “split second.”
What is the significance of the “world overflowing like a treasure chest” when the mother “threw” the door open?
- Shows the treasures that the son will experience for going to war. Links to idea of him being: “intoxicated” - drunk with the excitement of something new.
- “Threw”: trying to get it over and done with as soon as possible because she is too emotional/ it’s too difficult for her to say goodbye.
What is the significance of the mother “releasing a song bird from its cage?”
- Symbol of letting her son go.
- “song bird” - child- like innocence, still views her son as a child who she needs to protect.
What is the significance of the image of the “dove that pulled freely against the sky?”
- “Dove” = symbol of peace.
- The son is now at complete peace because perhaps he has died?
- Pulling freely = him going to heaven.
- SIDE NOTE: doves normally come in pairs but he has been PULLED AWAY from her.
Why might’ve the mother gone to the “church yard?”
- War memorial there: a way for her to remember her son (maybe died/ maybe not.)
- To pray for him to be as safe as possible at war.
What is the significance of the mother leaving her house: “without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf and gloves?”
- She doesn’t care about protecting herself from the cold, she is only concerned about her son.
What is the significance of the mother leaning against the “war memorial like a wishbone?”
- Simile
- Hoping/ wishing that her son won’t die.
What is the significance of the mother wanting to her her son’s “playground voice catching on the wind?”
- Personification.
- Wants to go back to when he was young to protect him from any dangers.
- Is he dead? –> she is thinking about his old voice rather than his voice NOW. Reminscing on his life??
What type of conflict is shown in this poem?
- Internal conflict of the mother of taking her son to war.
- Conflict of her son wanting to go to war but the mother wanting him to stay.
What type of power is shown in this poem?
- The power of their relationship.
- The power of the mother’s love to her son.
