Walking Away Vs Mother Any Distance Flashcards

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1
Q

Exploring concept of letting children go off into adulthood

Different perspectives

A

‘Mother’

  • first word - emphasises the importance of his mother (from child’s POV - stability, love, protection)
  • suggesting he is reliant on her and has appreciation for mothers help

‘Half fledged thing set free’

  • from fathers POV, unformed and not ready
  • protective and sees son as vulnerable
  • dehumanising ‘thing’ (almost doesn’t recognise son)
  • connotations of hope when letting out trapped things juxtaposes with the unready child setting out into dangerous unknown
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2
Q

Both use extended metaphors to present connection

A

‘Winged seed loosened from its parent stem’

  • simile, parent is secure and reliable provider, father views child as vulnerable and exposed
  • suggests a natural cycle, inevitable

‘The line still feeding out, unraveling years between us’

  • extended metaphor for maternal bond, symbolises ageing and natural stretching of bond
  • reference to umbilical code, feeding them, emotional nourishment, reliant and connected
  • ‘zero line’ x mother is contestant, mirroring many mother daughter relationships
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3
Q

Use ending of poems to conclude the poems reflections with a hopeful message

A

‘Love is proved in the letting go’

  • strong declarative, shift from melancholic rest of the poem to understanding of necessity and inevitability
  • end stopped line, resolved after coming to his own conclusion

‘Endless sky / to fall or to fly’

  • never ending opportunities
  • daunting and uncertainty yet exciting feeling of potential
  • written as Sonnet (typically love, perhaps to reflect mother and daughter bond)
  • however these uneven lines reflect shift and breaking point, dramatic emphasis on bittersweet independence
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