Poppies - Jane Weir Flashcards
CONTEXT - What collection of poems was this poem from?
Exit Wounds (about women and war, put together by Carol Anne Duffy)
CONTEXT - What influenced many of the similies in the poem?
The fact that Jane Weir is a designer
CONTEXT - This poem is based on her real life experience. True or false?
False - she does have a son, but he never fought as a soldier.
What is the main story of this poem?
The mother is dealing with her son’s absence when he was fighting as a soldier. She thinks of when he was young, when he left, when she found out he went, and finally when she visited the war memorial.
What is the first line of this poem?
“Three days before Armistice Sunday”
What is the last line of this poem?
“I listened, hoping to hear
Your playground voice catching on the wind”
List some references to clothing/ textiles in the poem
“lapel”
“spasms of paper red”
“yellow bias binding around your blazer”
“Sellotape”
“shirt’s upturned collar”
“All my words flattened, rolled, turned into felt, slowly melting”
“my stomach busy making tucks, darts, pleats”
“hat-less, without a winter coat or reinforcements of scarf, gloves.”
“an ornamental stitch”
Why does she say she has no “reinforcements of scarf, gloves”?
If her son has died in the army, and reinforcements is a war reference. Perhaps she feels upset that there weren’t any reinforcements to save her son, so he died instead. So, she refuses to take reinforcements to her own metaphorical war against her loss
What can you say about “wind”? at the end?
Wind is strong, but temporary
How does Jane Weir present the mother as in denial about her son’s death/ absence?
“After you’d gone” - temporary
Second person “your playground voice” - talking to him
She went into his bedroom, immediately went to the memorial (present tense) “this is where it has lead me” - the bedroom is still his, she hasn’t changed it
“the world overflowing like a treasure chest” What can be said about this quote?
The mother tried to protect her son from the world, but he thought it was treasure. She protected him for this very reason, and now she will feel more guilt as she failed to protect him
Why does she bandage her hand with “Sellotape”?
Fragile - Can easily be broken, and very painful to take off her skin - way of punishing herself for failing to protect her son?
Ordinary - thousands of other mothers have to deal with the same thing, and they aren’t rich enough to get that much help for it.
Transparent - she is trying to hide her injuries and sorrow, but it is obvious
Her hand is breaking away - Sellotape is the obvious choice to mend something falling apart. Also, as a designer her hands are extremely important to craft. Without her son, her hands are falling apart, and the most important parts of her life are crumbling away too
Wow, that got depressing…
How is her son’s death foreshadowed?
“poppies had already been placed on individual war graves”, and then “Before you left, I pinned one onto your lapel”. She placed a poppy on an individual, and shortly afterwards he went.
