Poppies

Question 1

Poppies

Answer 1

• Relates to war
• Symbolic
• Universal symbol of respect and loss

Question 2

Individual war graves

Answer 2

• Imagery
• Instantly sent as war as the focus
• Semantic field of separation

Question 3

Crimped petals, spasms of paper red

Answer 3

• Asyndetic listing: detailed memory shows significance
• Semantic field violence/ lack of control

Question 4

Still the softening of my face, I wanted to graze my nose across the tip of your nose

Answer 4

• Painful memory
• Maternal affection
• Graze : injury, juxtaposes the maternal affection, war prevents normality

Question 5

I was brave

Answer 5

• Not physically, but emotionally
• Contradicts, conventional ideas of bravery - fighting

Question 6

The world overflowing like a treasure chest

Answer 6

• Intimidation
• Enjambment: symbolic of overflowing
• Treasure chest : opportunity, hope for her child
• Alludes to love

Question 7

You were away intoxicated

Answer 7

• Personal pronouns
• Loss
• Temporarily lost
• Overtaken
• Not self

Question 8

A winter coat or reinforcements of scarf gloves

Answer 8

• Reflects impact of war on every day life
• Contrast between domestic and violent militant imagery : emphasises the way the war changes lives

Question 9

Leaned against it like a wishbone

Answer 9

• Fragility
• Inevitability of death
• War will always win
• Memorial is tall and overpowering
• She can’t save her son

Question 10

I listened, hoping to hear your playground voice catching on the wind

Answer 10

• Playground : childish, lost time, too young, loss of innocence, different types of grief
• Metaphor
• Catching: not concrete, grasping for collection, fleeting childhood
• Wind : transience