Poppies

Question 1

Jane Weir

Answer 1

Jane Weir is a writer and textile designer who grew up in Manchester and Italy, and has also lived in Belfast.
‘Poppies’ was one of a collection of 21 st-century war poems commissioned in 2009 by Carol Ann Duffy.

Question 2

Form

Answer 2

The first-person narrative means that the reader gets a strong impression of the mother’s emotions. There is no regular rhyme or rhythm, which makes it sound like the narrator’s thoughts and memories. Long sentences and enjambment give the impression that the narrator is absorbed in her own thoughts and memories, whilst caesurae show how she tries to hold her emotions together.

Question 3

Structure

Answer 3

The poem is chronological, describing preparations for the son leaving, his departure and then what the mother does afterwards. However, the time frame is ambiguous — memories of the son’s childhood are intermingled with memories of him leaving, and they’re often not clearly distinguished.

Question 4

Use of the senses

Answer 4

The mother’s separation from her son is emphasised by the way she can’t touch or
hear him. She touches other things and listens for his voice “on the wind”, but this can’t replace her son.

Question 5

War imagery

Answer 5

Images of war and violence symbolise the son’s new identity and the danger that he’s in.
References to “Armistice Sunday” and the “war memorial” make the reader question whether he is still alive.

Question 6

Domestic imagery

Answer 6

— The images of war are mixed with poignant images of home and family lite.

Question 7

Run my fingers through your gelled blackthorns of your hair

Answer 7

Refers to Jesus crown of thorns and suggests he is sacrificing himself to the country black being the colour of death and sacrifice his hair is like a metaphor of how he feels prickly to her fighting against her and he wants to leave

Question 8

Hoping to hear your playground voice catching the wind

Answer 8

Links to joining the army with leaving for school